John Kassir is an American actor and voice artist who is best known as the voice of the Crypt Keeper in HBO's Tales from the Crypt franchise. Kassir is also best known for his role as Ralph in the Off-Broadway show Reefer Madness, as well as its film adaptation, as well as his voice work as Buster Bunny (Taking over for Charlie Adler late in the final season of Tiny Toon Adventures), Jim Kim in Detention, Ray "Raymundo" Rocket on Rocket Power, the mischievous raccoon Meeko in Pocahontas and its direct-to-video sequel, Jibolba in the Tak and the Power of Juju video game series, and the current voices of Pete Puma in The Looney Tunes Show, and Deadpool in X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse and the Marvel: Ultimate Alliance series. He has also recently done the voice of Rizzo for the newest Spyro game, Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure, and voiced Ghost Roaster in Skylanders: Giants. He is also known for his various roles in season 1 of The Amanda Show.
Career
Kassir played the Bulgarian kicker, Zagreb Shkenusky, for 7 years in the HBO comedy series 1st & Ten, about a fictional football team. His other live action credits include sketch-acting on The Amanda Show and a portrayal of Shemp Howard in the 2000 TV biopic The Three Stooges, produced by Mel Gibson, and Ralph in Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical. He was also able to get his own Pee-wee Herman style show in 1997 called Johnnytime, which aired for two seasons on the USA network. He also appeared as The Atom in the Justice League of America pilot episode, which, despite not being picked up, was released as a film in some markets. John has appeared in over a dozen feature films, starred in eight TV pilots (six of which went to series and two of which lasted on air for over six years each) and guest starred in dozens of TV series in both comic and dramatic roles.
Kassir beat out both Michael Winslow and Charles Fleischer to become the voice of the Crypt Keeper.
As a standup comic, he has opened for the likes of Lou Rawls, Tom Jones, The Temptations and Four Tops on their TNT tour, Bobby Vinton, Richard Belzer, and Harry Blackstone, Jr. among others. John has also appeared on stage performing improvisation with Robin Williams, though Williams did not realize that was happening.
More recently, John has specialized in voice-over work for animation, video games, and other productions. Notable in this regard has been his acting the roles of Ray "Raymundo" Rocket on Rocket Power. He also provided the voice for the mercenary Deadpool in the video games X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, and Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2, as well as for Sauron and Pyro, two other well-known characters. He was also featured in the very first commercial for the Nintendo cornerstone video game series The Legend of Zelda in the United States in 1987.
A few of his many theater credits include: originating the role of Kenny in Three Guys Naked From The Waist Down (also starring Scott Bakula), for which he was nominated for both a Drama Desk and an Outer Critics Circle award. John also originated the role of Ralph in the musical Reefer Madness, on stage and in the film version.
He provided the voice of the mischievous raccoon Meeko in Disney's 1995 animated feature Pocahontas and Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World. Also, he provided the voice of Buster Bunny in four Tiny Toon Adventures cartoons (following Charlie Adler's departure from the role). He played the villainous Scuttlebutt in An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan Island. He also made one voice appearance in an episode of Ben 10 as Zombozo. He voiced the character Adam MacIntyre and others in the video game Dead Rising. Recently, his voice is featured in the games Shadows of the Damned and Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance as Hell demons and Desperado Enforcement captain Monsoon, respectively.
In 2011, he voiced Crazy Smurf in the live-action/animated film The Smurfs, and in 2012, he voiced Jealousy as well as Gumball, Penny, Leslie, Carrie & Darwin when he possesses them in The Amazing World of Gumball episode "The Flower". Kassir appeared in Bryan Singer's Jack the Giant Slayer (2013), along with Bill Nighy, as Fallon, the two-headed leader of the giants; Nighy played the big head while Kassir played the small head.
Filmography
Animation
Live-Action
- 1st & Ten - Zagreb Shkenusky
- CSI: Crime Scene Investigation - Hotel Guest (Episode: "Assume Nothing")
- Dream On - Chuck (Episode: "The Guilty Party")
- Lenny - Max
- Malcolm & Eddie - Rooster
- Moonlighting - Police Detective (Episode: "Yours, Very Deadly")
- NCIS - Perry Swan
- Philly - Arnie Kellogg
- Secrets of the Cryptkeeper's Haunted House - The Crypt Keeper
- Star Trek: Voyager - Gar (Episode: "Critical Care")
- Tales from the Crypt - The Crypt Keeper
- Team Knight Rider - Plato
- The Amanda Show - Various Characters
- The New Mike Hammer - Ventriloquist
- The Single Guy - Maitre 'D, Waiter
- Tour of Duty - Lenny Pilchowski
Movies
- An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan Island - Scuttlebutt
- Bayonetta: Bloody Fate - Enzo
- Beethoven's Christmas Adventure - Stray Dog
- Casper - The Crypt Keeper
- Casper's Scare School - P.A. Voice
- Curious George 2: Follow That Monkey! - Additional Voices
- George of the Jungle 2 - Rocky, Armando
- Jack the Giant Slayer - General Fallon's Small Head
- Justice League of America - Atom/Ray Palmer
- Monster Mash: The Movie - Igor
- Monsters University - Additional Voices
- Pocahontas - Meeko
- Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World - Meeko
- Tales from the Crypt Presents: Bordello of Blood - The Crypt Keeper
- Tales from the Crypt Presents: Demon Knight The Crypt Keeper
- Tales from the Crypt Presents: Ritual - The Crypt Keeper
- The Princess and the Frog - Additional Voices
- The Smurfs - Crazy Smurf
- The Smurfs 2 - Crazy Smurf
- The Tale of Tillie's Dragon - Herman
- The Three Stooges (2000 film) - Shemp Howard
- The Wild - Additional Voices
- The Wild Thornberrys Movie - Squirrel #1
Video Games
- Afro Samurai (video game) - Soshun, Burraku Narrator, Hanjiro
- Batman: Arkham Origins - Joker Thugs, Criminals, Mobsters
- Bayonetta 2 - Enzo
- Dead Rising - Adam MacIntyre, Additional Voices
- Diablo III - Additional Voices
- Diablo III: Reaper of Souls - Additional Voices
- Freelancer - Additional Voices
- Halo 2 - Marines
- Hot Shots Golf 3 - Additional Voices
- Hot Shots Golf Fore! - Additional Voices
- Icewind Dale - Belhifet, Poquelin, Additional Voices
- Madagascar - Lemur, Blonde Guy on Cell, Little Boy, Taxi Driver
- Marvel: Ultimate Alliance - Deadpool
- Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 - Deadpool
- Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance - Monsoon
- MySims Kingdom - Sim
- PlayStation Move Heroes - Toucan
- Sacrifice - Additional Voices
- Shadows of the Damned - Demons
- Shrek SuperSlam - Announcer, Humpty Dumpty
- Skylanders: Giants - Ghost Roaster
- Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure - Additional Voices
- Skylanders: Swap Force - Ghost Roaster
- Skylanders: Trap Team - Ghost Roaster, Short Cut
- Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions - Scorpion 2099
- Spider-Man 3 - Additional Voices
- Syphon Filter: The Omega Strain - Birchim, Co-Pilot, FBI Officer B, Officer A, Zohar
- T'ai Fu: Wrath of the Tiger - Monkey Master, Rat Pirate
- Tak: The Great Juju Challenge - Jibolba
- Tak 2: The Staff of Dreams - Jibolba
- Tak and the Power of Juju - Jibolba
- The Punisher - Additional Voices
- Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster and the Beanstalk - Buster Bunny
- Ultimate Spider-Man - Additional Voices
- X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse - Deadpool, Pyro, Sauron
References
External links
- John Kassir at the Internet Movie Database