Frank Welker Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids Frank Welker
Welker at GalaxyCon Raleigh in 2023
Born	Franklin Wendell Welker (1946-03-12) March 12, 1946 (age 79) Denver, Colorado, U.S.
Alma mater	Santa Monica College
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1967–present
Works	Full list

Franklin Wendell Welker (born March 12, 1946) is an American actor. He is famous for his amazing voice acting skills. Frank Welker started his career in the 1960s. He has voiced characters in over 860 films, TV shows, and video games. This makes him one of the busiest voice actors ever! His movies have earned a huge amount of money worldwide.

Welker is best known for voicing Fred Jones from the Scooby-Doo cartoons. He has done this since the show began in 1969. Later, he also became the voice of Scooby-Doo himself, starting in 2002. In 2020, he voiced Scooby-Doo in the movie Scoob!. He was the only original voice actor from the series in that film.

He has also voiced many other famous characters. These include Baby Kermit in Muppet Babies. He voiced Oswald the Lucky Rabbit in the Epic Mickey video games. In the Transformers series, he voiced Megatron, Galvatron, and Soundwave. On The Simpsons, he voiced Santa's Little Helper and Snowball II. He was also the voice of the main character in the Curious George shows and movies. He voiced Garfield on The Garfield Show. Many of his roles involve making animal and monster sounds.

In 2016, Frank Welker won a special Emmy Award for his lifetime of work.

Early Life and Start in Acting
Becoming a Voice Acting Legend
Frank Welker in Transformers
Personal Life
Filmography
Images for kids
See also

Early Life and Start in Acting

Franklin Wendell Welker was born on March 12, 1946. He grew up in Denver, Colorado. His dad was an engineer and his mom was Lillian.

Welker started his career in 1967. He was a stand-up comedian and did many different impressions. Soon, he moved into acting on screen and then into voice acting.

Becoming a Voice Acting Legend

Welker in 2016

Frank Welker's first big voice role was in 1969. He became the voice of Fred Jones in the Scooby-Doo cartoons. He has voiced Fred in almost every Scooby-Doo show and movie. Since 2002, he has also voiced Scooby-Doo himself. He is the only original voice actor still working on the Scooby-Doo franchise today.

He voiced many characters for Hanna-Barbera cartoons. These include Jabberjaw, Dynomutt, Dog Wonder, and the Shmoo. He also voiced Wonder Dog in Super Friends.

During the 1980s and 1990s, Welker became very busy. He voiced characters like Uni on Dungeons & Dragons. He was Brain, Doctor Claw, and M.A.D. Cat on Inspector Gadget. He also voiced Ray Stantz and Slimer in The Real Ghostbusters.

He voiced many characters on The Simpsons, like Santa's Little Helper and Snowball II. He also voiced Nibbler on Futurama. In Animaniacs, he voiced Mr. Plotz, Runt, and Ralph the Guard.

Welker also made animal and creature sounds for many movies. He voiced Abu the monkey and Rajah the tiger in Aladdin. He also voiced the penguins in Mr. Popper's Penguins. He even did Spock's screams in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock.

In 2006, he started voicing George in the popular Curious George TV show and movie. In 2007, he became the new voice of Garfield the cat. He voiced Garfield in several movies and on The Garfield Show.

He also voiced Batman in a Scooby-Doo crossover episode of Batman: The Brave and the Bold. He even did the meowing for Puss in Boots in Shrek 2.

Welker has also voiced characters in many video games. He voiced Oswald the Lucky Rabbit in Epic Mickey and its sequel.

Frank Welker in Transformers

In the 1980s, Welker voiced many characters in the original Transformers cartoon series. He voiced several Decepticons, including their leader Megatron. He also voiced Soundwave and Ravage. For the Autobots, he voiced Mirage and Sludge.

In The Transformers: The Movie (1986), he voiced Wheelie. Later, he took over the role of Galvatron.

Welker returned to voice Megatron and Soundwave in the series Transformers: Prime. He changed Megatron's voice to sound even more evil. He also voiced Soundwave again in Transformers: Robots in Disguise.

He also voiced Soundwave and Ravage in the live-action Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen movie (2009). In Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011), he voiced Soundwave and Shockwave. In Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014), he voiced Galvatron.

Finally, in the fifth movie, Transformers: The Last Knight (2017), he voiced Megatron himself. He used the same voice he used for Megatron in Transformers: Prime.

Frank Welker still voices Megatron for different Transformers projects today.

Personal Life

Welker at GalaxyCon 2020

Frank Welker is good friends with Peter Cullen. Peter Cullen is another famous voice actor who voices Optimus Prime in Transformers. This is interesting because their characters, Megatron and Optimus Prime, are rivals!

Welker is also a licensed pilot. He has been flying planes since 2010. He flies a Beechcraft Bonanza plane from an airport in Los Angeles County, California.