Lex Lang (born November 12, 1965) is an American voice actor and voice director, who has provided voices and served as a director for a number of animations and video games. He is best known for voicing
Doctor Neo Cortex
Doctor Neo Cortex is a fictional character and the main antagonist of the '' Crash Bandicoot'' video game series. He has appeared in every mainline game in the series as Crash Bandicoot's archenemy, as well as a playable character in several sp ...
in the ''
Crash Bandicoot'' series and
Goemon Ishikawa
was a legendary Japanese outlaw hero who stole gold and other valuables to give to the poor. He and his son were boiled alive in public after their failed assassination attempt on the Sengoku period warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi. His legend li ...
in ''
Lupin the Third
, also written as ''Lupin the Third'', ''Lupin the 3rd'', or ''Lupin the IIIrd'', is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Monkey Punch. It follows the endeavors of master thief Arsène Lupin III, the grandson of Arsène ...
''.
Early life
Lang was born in
Hollywood, California
Hollywood is a neighborhood in the Central Los Angeles, central region of Los Angeles, California. Its name has come to be a metonymy, shorthand reference for the Cinema of the United States, U.S. film industry and the people associated with i ...
on November 12, 1965.
He began performing at 7 years old, he would host his own radio show and master of ceremonies for Seagram’s National Comedy Competition.
Throughout high school, Lang has acted in various theatre productions at the Community Theatre in
Scottsdale, Arizona
, settlement_type = City
, named_for = Winfield Scott
, image_skyline =
, image_seal = Seal of Scottsdale (Arizona).svg
, image_blank_emblem = City of Scottsdale Script Logo.svg
, nick ...
.
His stage credits include, ''
The Fantastiks'', ''
Bus Stop'', ''
The Apple Tree'', ''
Of Mice and Men
''Of Mice and Men'' is a novella written by John Steinbeck. Published in 1937, it narrates the experiences of George Milton and Lennie Small, two displaced migrant ranch workers, who move from place to place in California in search of new job ...
'' and Rogers and Hammerstein’s, ''
Cinderella
"Cinderella",; french: link=no, Cendrillon; german: link=no, Aschenputtel) or "The Little Glass Slipper", is a folk tale with thousands of variants throughout the world.Dundes, Alan. Cinderella, a Casebook. Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsi ...
''.
While attending college, he performed
stand-up comedy
Stand-up comedy is a comedic performance to a live audience in which the performer addresses the audience directly from the stage. The performer is known as a comedian, a comic or a stand-up.
Stand-up comedy consists of one-liners, stories, ...
and did impressions for various clubs including The Comedy Store, Dr. Giggles, The NFL Cub, Anderson’s Fifth Estate and
The Improv
The Improv is a comedy club franchise. It was founded as a single venue in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of New York City in 1963, and expanded into a chain of venues in the late 1970s.
History
Originally, it was a single venue founded in ...
.
He would perform along with
Jim Carrey
James Eugene Carrey (; born January 17, 1962) is a Canadian-American actor, comedian and artist. Known for his energetic slapstick performances, Carrey first gained recognition in 1990, after landing a role in the American sketch comedy t ...
,
Richard Belzer
Richard Jay Belzer (born August 4, 1944) is a retired American actor, stand-up comedian, and author. He is best known for his role as BPD Detective, NYPD Detective/Sergeant, and DA Investigator John Munch, whom he has portrayed as a regular cast ...
, and
David Spade
David Wayne Spade (born July 22, 1964) is an American actor, stand-up comedian, television host, and writer. He was a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' in the 1990s, and he later began an acting career in both film and television. He also s ...
.
He would later move back to Hollywood, California to study music at the
Musician's Institute before pursuing voice acting in 1996.
Career
A two-time Daytime Entertainment Emmy® Awards-honored voice actor, (first for his portrayal of Professor Behdety in the 2003/2004 season of ''
Tutenstein
''Tutenstein'' is an American animated television series, produced by Porchlight Entertainment for Discovery Kids based on the comics by Jay Stephens. The series premiered on November 1, 2003 and ended on October 11, 2008. It features young mummy ...
'', then again as
The Doorman and his dog
Hundley on the 2009/2010 season of ''
Curious George''), he has been in hundreds of productions ranging from original animation, anime, video games, celebrity voice matching, and movie trailers.
He is known for playing the voice of
Doctor Neo Cortex
Doctor Neo Cortex is a fictional character and the main antagonist of the '' Crash Bandicoot'' video game series. He has appeared in every mainline game in the series as Crash Bandicoot's archenemy, as well as a playable character in several sp ...
in the ''
Crash Bandicoot'' series, replacing
Clancy Brown
Clarence John "Clancy" Brown III (born January 5, 1959) is an American actor. Prolific in film and television since the 1980s, Brown is often cast in villainous and authoritative roles.
Brown's film roles include Viking Lofgren in ''Bad Boys'' ...
.
He is also known for his anime voice work playing roles such as
Sagara Sanosuke from ''
Rurouni Kenshin
is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Nobuhiro Watsuki. The story begins during the 11th year of the Meiji period in Japan (1878) and follows a former assassin from the Bakumatsu, known as Hitokiri Battosai. After his work ...
'' and
Goemon Ishikawa XIII in the ''
Lupin III
, also written as ''Lupin the Third'', ''Lupin the 3rd'', or ''Lupin the IIIrd'', is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Monkey Punch. It follows the endeavors of master thief Arsène Lupin III, the grandson of Arsè ...
'' franchise.
Lang has worked as voice director for clients including
Cartoon Network, EWAM,
Sony
, commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...
,
Bang Zoom! Entertainment,
Technicolor
Technicolor is a series of color motion picture processes, the first version dating back to 1916, and followed by improved versions over several decades.
Definitive Technicolor movies using three black and white films running through a special ...
, PCB Productions,
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation, multinational technology company, technology corporation producing Software, computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at th ...
,
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generati ...
,
Code Masters
The Codemasters Software Company Limited (trade name: Codemasters) is a British video game developer based in Southam, England, which is a subsidiary of American corporation Electronic Arts. Founded by brothers Richard and David Darling in Oct ...
,
HBO and
Warner Brothers
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American Film studio, film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank, Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, Califo ...
.
Personal life
Lang is married to fellow voice actress
Sandy Fox
Sandra Marie Fox (née Kessler; born July 13, 1963) is an American voice actress who has had numerous roles in various animated cartoon, anime and video games. She portrayed the live-action Betty Boop and has provided her voice for Universal S ...
.
They live in
Studio City, California
Studio City is a neighborhood in the city of Los Angeles, California, in the southeast San Fernando Valley, just west of the Cahuenga Pass. It is named after the studio lot that was established in the area by film producer Mack Sennett in 1927 ...
.
Lang is also a musician, he has played
guitar
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...
,
bass
Bass or Basses may refer to:
Fish
* Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species
Music
* Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range:
** Bass (instrument), including:
** Acoustic bass gui ...
and the
piano
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a musica ...
.
He has also written 200 different songs for various genres.
Other ventures
In 1998 Lang and his wife co-founded the Love Planet Foundation, a non-profit organization which creates educational materials for children on the importance of recycling, world water awareness, and the preservation of the planet. They also created Love Planet Productions, which includes several multimedia projects such as anime presentation shows, toddler shows and products, and Zen programming. In 2006 they launched a
bottled spring water business called H2Om Water with Intention, which has received recognition as a sponsor at several events including
Sting's Rainforest Foundation Carnegie Hall Concert and the Elevate Film Festival.
Lang was also a
Deepak Chopra meditation instructor.
Filmography
Anime
Animation
Film
Video games
Live-action
Other appearances
References
; Book references
*
External links
*
Love Planet Records*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lang, Lex
Living people
20th-century American male actors
21st-century American male actors
American male screenwriters
American male television writers
American male video game actors
American male voice actors
American television writers
American voice directors
Businesspeople from Los Angeles
Male actors from Hollywood, Los Angeles
People from Studio City, Los Angeles
Screenwriters from California
1965 births