Below you'll find more information on the people behind the voices of the Planet Express crew. Many of the Futurama voice actors have quite an extensive work portfolio and you might be surprised when seeing what they did before.

• Billy West - Fry, Farnsworth, Zapp, Zoidberg and others
• John DiMaggio - Bender, Flexo and others
• Katey Sagal - Leela and Lee Lemon
• Lauren Tom - Amy and Inez Wong
• Phil LaMarr - Hermes and others

• Maurice Lamarche - Kif, Morbo, Calculon and others
• Tress MacNeille - Mom, Slurm Queen and others
• Frank Welker - Nibbler, animal voices and others
• Dave Herman - Slurms McKenzie, Wernstrom and others
• Tom Kenny - Yancy Fry, That Guy and others
• Kath Soucie - Cubert, Michelle and others
• Bumper Robinson - Dwight
• Dan Castellaneta - Robot Devil
• Dawnn Lewis - LaBarbara Conrad
• Phil Hendrie - The Waterfall family

Billy West Name: Billy West Birthdate: April 16th, 1950 From: Detroit, Michigan Voiced: Fry - Our frozen hero Voiced: Farnsworth - The Professor Voiced: Zoidberg - The poor doctor Voiced: Zapp Brannigan - DOOP captain Special Move: Whoop Whoop Whoop Whoop Whoop Billy West is without doubt one of the big guys in voice-over business. After a brief stand up period in his early days, he changed over to the airwaves doing comedy bits at WBCN Radio in Boston in 1980. Moving over to New York City's WXRK in 1989, he was fed up with promoting contests and products. That's when he joined The Howard Stern Radio Show as a part time voice imitator and in 1994 became a 3 days a week regular on the show. Not being able to strike a financial agreement with the production company behind the show, Billy quit the job a year later and moved on to Los Angeles. Having watched cartoons throughout the late 50s, Billy was always fascinated when he saw that the many dozen voices in a show were usually done by only a handful of people. This devotedness towards cartoons coupled with his voice talent had him going in the business soon after. Out of a few gigs, his starring-as list was soon filled with of well known characters such as both Ren and Stimpy, Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd starting with the feature film "Space Jam", Red M of the M & M's and Woody Woodpecker. With Fry, Farnsworth and Zoidberg, Billy does a total of 3 main characters on Futurama. He describes Fry's voice as the 25 year old Billy. The role of Zapp Brannigan was offered to him after fellow voice artist and original cast Phil Hartman died in 1998. Throughout the series' run, Billy also voiced a good share of the one time and minor characters including both Bill Clinton's and Richard Nixon's heads. Voice Samples: Zoidberg and Fry on the topic of love Leela: "It's amazing that your people can fall in love so fast." Zoidberg: "Love? That word is unknown here. I'm simply looking for a female swollen with eggs to accept my genetic material." Fry: "You and me both, brother." Zapp Brannigan getting diplomacy started Zapp: "You'll be negotiating with the aliens' mysterious leaders: The Brain Balls. They got a lot of brains and they got a lot of chutzpah." Farnsworth and the tooth fairy Farnsworth: "The Fountain of Aging? Hmm... It is just a legend. Still, they called the tooth fairy a legend and now it's head of the FBI." Links: Billy Wests's imDB entry Billy Wests's own site

John DiMaggio Name: John DiMaggio Birthdate: September 4th From: North Plainfield, NJ Voiced: Bender - The lovable rascal Voiced: Flexo - Evil Twin Voiced: URL - The Robo Cop Voiced: Sal - Job-a-Day guy Voiced: Elzar - Chef with a BAM! Special Move: Maniac's Laugh John DiMaggio started his show business career as a stand up comedian on tour not only in his home area, but also internationally. After appearing on "Caroline's Comedy Hour", "Evening at the Improv", "MTV's Half Hour Comedy Hour", "Apollo Comedy Club" and "MTV - Comikaze" he went with smaller TV series appearances on "Law & Order", "NYPD Blue" and "Chicago Hope" among others. One of his feature length roles was Steve Ballmer - the current Microsoft CEO - in "The Pirates of Silicon Valley". Around 1997 John auditioned for several voice acting jobs. He voiced characters for TV and cinema productions such as "Princess Mononoke", "The Animatrix", "Kim Possible" and "Samurai Jack" as well as video game character Wakka in "Final Fantasy X". Still, his biggest gig has to be Futurama on which Bender - the drinking, smoking, roboporn loving robot - is his most remarkable voice. But John does not only play his role model's voice, he plays them all. In total, he probably voiced around 50 characters on the show. The list goes from Elzar, Sal and Mr Panucci over URL the police robot and Mom's son Ignez right to the Puerto Rican transvestite bot which was only added to make use of that voice. In 2001, John DiMaggio won the Annie award for outstanding voice acting in his role as Bender in the episode "Bendless Love". Voice Samples: Bender doing acting Bender: "I read the script, and I think it would help my character's motivation if he was on fire." Director: "Don't worry about the script, baby. We rewrote the part to better suit your acting abilities." Bender: "Oh, now my character has a Brritish accent?" Director: "No, now your character's in a coma. Get in bed and don't move." Bender and Elzar on cooking Bender: "But I watch your show! You owe me!" Elzar: "I owe you nothing. For starters, your antenna is in my crotch. Also, I hate you. And finally, you can't cook for squat." Bender: "Whahahhaha. What was the first one again?" Elzar: "I hate you." Bender: "I thought that was number two!" Elzar: "I knocked it up a notch. Bam!" Links: John DiMaggio's imDB entry BBC interview with John DiMaggio

Katey Sagal Name: Katey Sagal Birthdate: January 19th, 195? From: Hollywood, California Voiced: Leela - The one eyed captain Voiced: Lee Lemon - Combat soldier in disguise Voiced: Cloberella - Leela's hero alter ego Special Move: Yeeeeha Off screen, Katey is a mother of two with two divorces behind her. But most people know her best for her on-screen career. Katey Sagal grew up in Los Angeles. Being born into a show business family, she started her career with as a part of a Shakespeare musical production after taking singing and acting classes in the early 70s. The band "The Group with no Name" she started with 4 other people never was a commercial success but got her a job as a back-up singer for Gene Simmons' solo album. Later on she sang for Etta James and others. During the late 70s and early 80s, she performed and went on world tour as a Bette Midler Harlette. Throughout this time, she had a few smaller appearances on TV productions which finally led her to a role as Mary Tyler Moore's co-worker Jo Tucker on "Mary". This in turn got her set up for her most well-known character: The pan-allergic mom and housewife Peggy Bundy on "Married ... with Children". After her Futurama voice work as Leela, she got a major role as the mother in "8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter" which lost its main actor John Ritter to heart conditions in September 2003. The show went into recess to be remodelled around Katey's character. Voice Samples: Leela on tolerance Leela: "Professor! Please! Society is never gonna make any progress until we all learn to pretend to like each other. Now let's go over there and make these hideous strangers feel welcome." Professor: "No!" Leela proving her sanity Leela: "I'll find Fry's coffin, get his corpse and keep it under my mattress to remind me that he's really dead. That'll prove I'm not insane!" Links: Katey Sagal's imDB entry Indepth Bio at Bundyology

Lauren Tom Name: Lauren Tom Birthdate: August 4th, 1961 From: Illinois (Chinese heritage) Voiced: Amy Wong - The sexy and clumsy Planet Express intern Voiced: Inez Wong - Amy's stinking rich mother living on Mars Voiced: Jrrr - The young poppler Special Move: The Cantonese Curse Coming from a largely Jewish community in Highland Park, Illinois, Chinese-American Lauren Tom started with a job on Broadway as a dancer for musicals including "A Chorus Line" and "Doonesbury". A year and a bit later, she moved on to acting. After a small role on "Cadillac Man" with Robin Williams, she got an offer to be a guest on Johnny Carson's "Tonight Show". This was her anchor in the L.A. business and led her to acting in smaller movies and multiple TV series with guest appearances in "Chicago Hope" and "The Nanny". Some might also remember her "Friends" role as Ross' season 2 girlfriend Julie. During the late 90s, she started doing more voices for animated predominantly Asian (she's Cantonese after all) characters. Speaking for several Marvel cartoons, "Extreme Ghostbusters" and "King of the Hill" among others, her Amy Wong rendition on Futurama was her longest lasting voice job after Connie from KotH. Newer projects include "New Scooby-Doo" and the upcoming Disney production "Mulan II". Voice Samples: Lauren as Amy and Mrs Wong talking about Kif Amy: "Mom, dad. You remember Kif?" Mr Wong: "This your boyfriend?! I have instant dislike of him." Mrs Wong: "He too scrawny to father grandchildren." Amy: "He's not scrawny. He's just small boned." Amy getting a pony Amy: "Spirit! Kif, that's the pony I always wanted but my parents said I had too many ponies already." Kif: "Yes, I programmed it in for you. Four million lines of Basic!" Links: Lauren Tom's official site (work in progress) Lauren Tom's imDB entry

Phil LaMarr Name: Phil LaMarr Birthdate: January 24th, 1967 From: Los Angeles, California Voiced: Hermes - The Jamaican Planet Express bureaucrat Voiced: Lionel Preacherbot - Straight to Hell Voiced: Helper - A surrogate Bender Special Move: The Exploding Head A gifted actor and comedian, Phil LaMarr brings his dexterous voice-over skills to the role of Hermes. A Los Angeles local, Phil attended Harvard School in North Hollywood where he began performing in school plays. He landed his first professional acting job, when during one summer vacation, he won a spot on the NBC animated series "Mr. T." Phil continued to Yale University where he studied English Literature and helped found the improvisational group The Purple Crayon. His passion for improvisation led him to further training in Chicago at The Second City and The Improv-Olympic under Del Close. A return to Los Angeles brought LaMarr a chance to work with The Groundlings, the award winning improvisational and sketch comedy group. In fact, he was a member of The Groundlings Main Company when the casting agents for a new late-night sketch comedy series came looking for him. Already making steady appearances on television shows including "Murphy Brown," "Wings," "Living Single," and "The George Carlin Show," Phil quickly became one of the most visible performers on "Mad TV." Moving back to Los Angeles brought Phil back to voice-over work as well, as he soon landed regular roles on the animated series "Futurama," "The Weekenders," "Static Shock" "Samurai Jack" and "Justice League" as well as recurring roles on "King of the Hill," Buzz Lightyear of Star Command," "Family Guy," "Da Mob" and "The Proud Family." On the big screen, LaMarr has appeared as Marvin, the guy who gets his brains blown out in Pulp Fiction, as well as in the comedies Free Enterprise and Kill the Man. He will also appear in the upcoming films: Speaking of Sex with Bill Murray and Catherine O'Hara and Back by Midnight with Randy Quaid, Kirstie Alley and Rodney Dangerfield. When not working, Phil enjoys performing improv and directing theater. He currently resides in Los Angeles. Voice Samples: Hermes losing his precious torso Hermes: "What are you hacking off? Is it my torso? It is! My precious torso!" Zoidberg: "Hermes, quiet! I'm deducing things." Hermes and (not) his cigars Dwight: *lights cigar* "Look! I'm Bender!" *pukes* Hermes: "Ras H. Tafari! What's going on here?" Farnsworth: "The ruffian smoked one of your cigars!" Hermes: "That's not a cigar! Uh, and it's not mine." Links: Phil LaMarr's imDB entry The Purple Crayon at Yale The Groundlings MAD TV

Maurice Lamarche Name: Maurice Lamarche Birthdate: March 30th, 1958 From: Toronto, Canada Voiced: Kif Kroker - Zapp's alien for everything Voiced: Morbo - The Anchoralien Voiced: Calculon - Acting Unit Voiced: Lrrr - Alien Invader Voiced: Walt - One of mom's sons For many people, Maurice Lamarche is The Brain. Besides voicing the smart part of the mouse duo, he also does Dr. Egon Spengler from "The Real Ghostbusters" and various supporting characters in a whole lot of cartoon shows. Voice Samples: Kif reporting damage Kif: "The Holo-shed's on the frits again! The characters turned real!" Brannigan: "Damn! The last time that happened, I got slapped with 3 paternity suits!" Morbo in Funky Town Morbo: "Oh won't you take me to ... funky town? Oh won't you take me to ... funky town ...." Links: Maurice Lamarche's imDB entry 88.1 The 'Burg Interview part1, part2 and part3

Tress MacNeille Name: Tress MacNeille Birthdate: June 20th, 1951 Voiced: Mom - Corporate Giant Voiced: Slurm Queen - Holder of the secret of Slurm Voiced: Single Femal Lawyer - Knocked off air by Fry Voiced: Guenter - The Smart Ape Voiced: Linda - The Newscaster Tress MacNeille does several recurring characters on Futurama along with a whole bunch of female one time characters. She's one of the few voice actors on Futurama's cast who gathered extensive experience on The Simpsons. Like Phil LaMarr, she once was part of "The Groundlings". Besides lots and lots of cartoon characters, she also worked with Weird Al. Voice Samples: Mom conquering Earth Mom: "Before I die, I'd like to be supreme overlord of Earth. So rebel, my little ones, and conquer the planet!" *robots mutter in disagreement* *Mom presses button* "Conquer Earth, you bastards!" Robots: "Conquer Earth, us bastards!" Linda presenting Death on TV Linda: "Tonight, the world watches in horror as an Earthling is eaten alive on network television. This grim scene of unimaginable carnage is brought to you..." *upbeat* "by Fishy Joe's! Try our new extreme walrus juice! 100% fresh squeezed walrus! Ride the walrus!" Links: Tress MacNeille's imDB entry

Frank Welker Name: Frank Welker Birthdate: February 16th, 1945 From: Denver, Colorado Voiced: Nibbler - Leela's mysterious pet in disguise Voiced: Lord Nibbler - without a disguise, but with a mission Voiced: Most animal voices on the show Frank is also part of the former stand up comedian bloc among Futurama voice stars. After starting out on-stage in 1967, his versatile voice helped him to score big on main and supporting cartoon characters. His credit list seems endless - going from Freddy on "Scooby-Doo" in the late 60s over hundreds of entries to Megatron on "Transformers: The Movie", to Barney Rubble in the 90s and starting with 2003, Scooby-Doo himself. His speciality are animal voices of all kinds. On Disney's "Mulan", he did the Lucky Cricket, Little Brother the dog and Khan the Horse. When animals won't cooperate with directors and sound clip libraries fail, Frank is right there. Voice Samples: Lord Nibbler on time travel Lord Nibbler: "I did not come back in time. My people lack that ability." Fry: "But... I know you in the future. I cleaned your poop!" Lord Nibbler: "Quite possible. We live long and are celebrated poopers!" Links: Frank Welker's imDB entry 12 page interview with Frank Welker

Dave Herman Name: Dave Herman Birthdate: February 20th, 1967 From: New York City, New York Voiced: Slurms McKenzie - The original party worm Voiced: Odgen Wernstrom - Farnsworth's nemesis Voiced: Turanga Morris - Leela's father Voiced: Poopenmeyer - NNYC mayor On DVD commentaries, the Futurama cast frequently refers to Dave as the most underrated voice actor on the show. This might be due to the lack of major characters and his rather short voice acting record outside of Futurama when compared to other voice business giants. However, the multitude of smaller voices he offers to Futurama is what makes him remarkable. His voice work includes various characters on "King of the Hill" and "Invader ZIM". Among others, he has had screen time on "Angel" as David Nabbit and as a main role in the 1999 Mike Judge production "Office Space". Voice Samples: Wernstrom and Poopenmeyer haggling Mayor: "Dr. Wernstrom, can you save my city?" Wernstrom: "Of course, but it'll cost you. First I'll need tenure." Mayor: "Done." Wernstrom: "And a big research grant." Mayor: "You got it!" Wernstrom: "Also, access to a lab and five graduate students...at least three of them Chinese." Mayor: "Did...all right, done. What's your plan?" Wernstrom: "What plan? I'm set for life. Au revoir, suckers!" Leela: "That rat! Do something!" Mayor: "I wish I could, but he's got tenure." Links: David Herman's imDB entry

Additional Voices Name: Tom Kenny On Futurama: Yancy Fry, Abner Doubledeal, Adlai and others Off Futurama: Voice actor with roles in Catdog, SpongeBob and many many more. Links: Tom Kenny's imDB entry Tom Kenny's ODP entry Name: Kath Soucie On Futurama: Cubert, Michelle and others Off Futurama: Voice actor working on many shows such as Rugrats, Gargoyles and Powerpuff girls. Links: Kath Soucie's imDB entry Kath Soucie's ODP entry Name: Bumper Robinson On Futurama: Dwight Off Futurama: Actor from his teen years onwards. "James" on "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch". Former Cosby kid on a Jell-O Pudding Pop commercial. Links: Bumper Robinson's imDB entry Bumper on a "Days of Our Lives" site Name: Dan Castellaneta On Futurama: The Robot Devil Off Futurama: Homer Simpson, Grampa Simpson and many more characters on The Simpsons and shows like "The Tick" and "Earthworm Jim". Links: Dan Castellaneta's imDB entry Interview on his Alma Mater's site Name: Dawnn Lewis On Futurama: Herme's wife LaBarbara Conrad Off Futurama: Singer, song writer and actress with appearances on "Any Day Now", "Spiderman" and "King of the Hill". Links: Dann Lewis' imDB entry Official site Name: Phil Hendrie On Futurama: Free Waterfall Senior, Free Waterfall Junior, Old Man Waterfall and Frieda Waterfall Off Futurama: Radio talk show host and voice actor for King of the Hill. Links: Phil Hendrie's imDB entry His radio show site

Guest Stars Throughout the 4 seasons, many guests stars appeared on Futurama voicing themselves, one time characters or their trademark TV characters. Some of them were brought into the show through Heads in Jars, and some others through the miracles of 30th century science. Here are the more well-known ones: Al Gore - Former Vice President of the USA Beastie Boys - Two of the musicians Beatrice Arthur - Golden Girl as Femputer Beck - song writer Bob Barker - The Price is Right host Claudia Schiffer - super model Conan O'Brien - Late night TV host Coolio - rapper as Kwanzaa-bot Dick Clark - Late Night host Donovan - song writer Gary Gygax - Inventor of Dungeons and Dragons George Takei - Mr. Sulu on Star Trek Hank Aaron - Baseball player legend Hank Azaria - Simpsons multi voice talent as Harold Zoid John Goodman - actor as Robot Santa (XMas Story only) Jonathan Frakes - William Riker on Star Trek: Next Generation Leonard Nimoy - Mr. Spock on Star Trek Lucy Liu - actress Nichelle Nichols - Uhura on Star Trek Pamela Anderson - actress Roseanne - just Roseanne. Sigourney Weaver - Alien Actress as Planet Express Ship Stephen Hawking - famous theoretical physicist Walter Koenig - Pavel Chekov on Star Trek William Shatner - Captain Kirk on Star Trek