Richard Steven Horvitz, sometimes credited as Richard S. Horvitz, Richard Horvitz, or Richard Wood, (born July 29, 1966) is an American actor and voice actor best known for his work as the voice of the original Alpha 5 in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Power Rangers Zeo, and Power Rangers Turbo, as Raz in Psychonauts, Billy in The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, Daggett in The Angry Beavers and the title character Zim from the show Invader Zim and as Orthopox in the Destroy All Humans! series. He continues to provide the voice of Zim, albeit in mostly video games as the series was canceled in 2002
Career[]
Horvitz's film career began in 1976 with a Freshen Up Gum commercial, which led to other commercial apprearences as well as several hand modeling jobs. After a brief stint in an off-Broadway production of Oliver!, he went on to make appearances on TV shows such as Kids Incorporated and Safe at Home and movies such as Summer School, How I Got Into College and Deadly Weapon. He also starred as Howie for two seasons on the 1988 syndicated television sitcom The Munsters Today which lasted three years until 1991. Howie was best friend of Marilyn Munster (played by actress Hilary Van Dyke).
Starting in 1993, he changed the focus of his career to voice acting, starting with voice of Alpha 5 on the live-action series Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers. This is one of Richard's often-forgotten roles that he has performed. From here, he expanded into several other regular voice roles on such animated shows as The Angry Beavers (Daggett), Invader Zim (Zim), Kim Possible, Dave the Barbarian (Ned Frischman), Zatch Bell! (Kanchomé), and currently the shows The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy (Billy, Billy's dad), Ben 10 (Grey Matter), Squirrel Boy (Rodney), and Shorty McShorts' Shorts as Dudley.
After his stint as Alpha 5 ended, Horvitz went on to voice a few monsters in other Power Rangers series, and was also the voice of Alpha 7 in the Power Rangers: Wild Force episode, "Forever Red".
He also played the main character Razputin in Psychonauts and Orthopox in Destroy All Humans!, Destroy All Humans! 2, and Destroy All Humans! Path of the Furon, in a voice that closely resembles that of Zim (rather, what would happen if Zim adopted an English accent). However, he does not voice Orthopox in Destroy All Humans! Big Willy Unleashed. He has voiced various NPCs in Everquest 2. He also does the voice of the Berserker Darklings in The Darkness.
He also had a minor part as a grocer that Sophie buys potatoes from in Howl's Moving Castle.
In a behind-the-scenes style interview on the first Invader Zim DVD collection, when questioned about how hard it was to do Zim's voice (meaning all the screaming he did), he simply stated "Did I find doing the voice of Zim hard on my voice? How do I put this?...yes." He also claims his favorite line from the entire series is "You! Obey the fist!"[citation needed] from Career Day but his favorite exchange was in Rise of the Zitboy, where Zim angrily yells out "Why was there BACON IN THE SOAP?!".
Personal life[]
Horvitz was born, grew up, and currently works and resides in Los Angeles, California. On the side he also taught voice acting and theater at the California State University, Northridge. He is friends with comedian actor Fred Willard. He is friends with fellow voice actor Billy West who did the voice of Invader Zim in the pilot episode. He is presently living in his home in the state of California with his wife, playwright and screenwriter Kristen Lazarian, and their three young sons; Jake, Cole, and Wyatt. The couple's oldest of their three sons, Jake Elliot Horvitz, was born April 11, 1997, an event proudly mentioned in one of his shows, The Angry Beavers. He and his wife also wrote "Keeper of the Reaper", an episode of The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy.
Filmography[]
Anime[]
- Duel Masters - Fritz
- Zatch Bell! - Kanchome (2005-2006), Additional Voices
Animation[]
- El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera - Dr. Chipotle Sr., Diego/Dr. Chipotle Jr.
- Ben 10 - Grey Matter, Sublimino, Additional Voices
- Codename: Kids Next Door - Crayon Boy, Miss-matched Eye Kid (Episode: OPERATION C.R.I.M.E)
- Dave The Barbarian - Ned Frischman
- Invader Zim - Zim, Additional Voices
- Kim Possible - Aviarius (in "Go Team Go")
- Squirrel Boy - Rodney J. Squirrel
- Static Shock - Jimmy Osgood (in "Jimmy")
- The Angry Beavers - Daggett Beaver
- Rugrats - Various Teenage Characters
- The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy - Billy, Harold, Additional Voices
- Underfist: Halloween Bash
- Totally Spies! - Theodor
- Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil - Mouth
- The Mammal Team - Nutbite
Live-action[]
- MMPR/PRZ/PRT - Alpha 5 (1993-1997) (voice; credited as Richard Wood, credited in Christmas video as Richard Horvitz)
- Power Rangers: Lightspeed Rescue - Smogger (voice) (2000)
- Power Rangers: Time Force - Mantamobile (voice) (2001)
- Power Rangers: Wild Force (Forever Red) - Alpha 7 (2002) (voice; credited as Richard Horvitz)
- Sabrina, the Teenage Witch - Various characters (voice)
- That's So Raven - Teddy: Donna Cabonna's Boyfriend (in "Adventures in Boss-Siting")
- The Adventures of Timmy the Tooth - Sherry the Fairy (voice)
- VR Troopers - "Minotaurbot" (2nd voice) (1995)
Movie[]
- Howl's Moving Castle - Additional Voices
- Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie - Alpha 5 (voice)
- Mulan - Additional Voices
- Osmosis Jones - Additional Voices
- Pom Poko - Additional Voices
- Sabrina Goes to Rome - Stonehenge (voice)
- Snow Dogs - Scooper (dream sequence) (voice)
- Son of the Mask - Otis (voice)
- Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie - Alpha 5 (voice)
- Shaolin Soccer - Cheating Team Captain (voice)
- The Informant! - Mark Whitacre's Attorney
- Billy & Mandy's Big Boogey Adventure - Billy, Billy's Dad
- Billy & Mandy: Wrath of the Spider Queen - Billy, Caveman (Billy's Dad)
- The Adventures of Galgameth - Kinch
- Summer School - Eakian (class nerd)
Video game[]
- Ape Escape: On The Loose (US)- Spike, Child
- Brütal Legend - Kabbage Boy Guitarist, Jack the Lift-Op, various voices
- Crash of the Titans - Brat Girl, Koo-Ala, Doom-Monkey
- The Darkness - Berserker Darkling
- Destroy All Humans! - Orthopox 13, Suburban Crazy
- Destroy All Humans! 2 - Orthopox 13,The Freak
- Destroy All Humans! Path of the Furon - Orthopox
- EverQuest II - Geredo, Guard Tanglor, Shawdowman, Skeleton, Snorgle Filthwallow, Gerbard the snitch, Cog Burn, Ogobre, Jubbs Tagglefoot, Gubbo Chaley, Farmer Walcott, Turtle
- The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy (video game) - Billy, Harold
- Mario Superstar Baseball - Lakitu (uncredited)
- Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots - PMC Soldiers
- Psychonauts - Razputin
- Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction - The Trio of Zoni
- Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest For Booty - The Trio of Zoni
- Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time - The Trio of Zoni
- Resistance: Fall of Man - Slipskull
- SpongeBob SquarePants featuring Nicktoons: Globs of Doom - Zim
- Zatch Bell! Mamodo Battles - Kanchome
- Nicktoons Nitro - Zim
- Rise of the Argonauts - Sinon
External links[]
- Richard Steven Horvitz at the Internet Movie Database
fi:Richard Horvitz