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Michael B. Pollock (born March 9, 1965) is an American voice actor and former radio personality, best known as the voice of
Doctor Eggman Doctor Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik is the main antagonist of Sega's '' Sonic the Hedgehog'' franchise. Eggman was created and designed by Naoto Ohshima as part of many design choices for Sega's new mascot. After the creation of Sonic the Hedgehog, ...
in the ''
Sonic the Hedgehog is a Japanese video game series and media franchise created by Sega. The franchise follows Sonic, an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog who battles the evil Doctor Eggman, a mad scientist. The main ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' games are platformers mo ...
'' franchise since 2003. He voiced many characters in various
anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...
English dubs and video games. He voiced the narrator, Raoul Contesta, and Drayden in the ''Pokémon series'', Adon Coborlwitz from ''Berserk'', Meat from ''
Ultimate Muscle is a Japanese manga series created by the duo Yoshinori Nakai and Takashi Shimada, known as Yudetamago. It follows Suguru Kinniku, a superhero who must win a wrestling tournament to retain the title of prince of Planet Kinniku. N ...
'', Langston Lickatoad from ''Viva Piñata'', Suikyou from the ''
Ikki Tousen , also known as ''Battle Vixens'' in North America, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yūji Shiozaki. Loosely based on the classic 14th century Chinese novel ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'', the series revo ...
'' series, and Beast in the motion comic adaptation of ''
Astonishing X-Men ''Astonishing X-Men'' is the name of four X-Men comic book series from Marvel Comics, the first two of which were limited series. The third volume, an ongoing series, began in 2004, with its first run written by Joss Whedon and art by John Cassada ...
''.


Early life

Michael B. Pollock was born on March 9, 1965, the son of Herb Lawrence Pollock. He is sometimes credited with his father's name in tribute. He worked in radio in
Upstate New York Upstate New York is a geographic region consisting of the area of New York State that lies north and northwest of the New York City metropolitan area. Although the precise boundary is debated, Upstate New York excludes New York City and Long Is ...
in the 1980s. He graduated from
Roslyn High School Roslyn High School is a public high school in Roslyn Heights, New York, United States, and is the only high school in the Roslyn Union Free School District, serving all of the district's students in grades 912. History The property that Roslyn ...
in 1983, where he was involved with their theater program, called the Royal Crown Players.


Career

When he returned to
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
in the 1990s, he was booked into some children's videos, anime and an episode of ''
Pokémon (an abbreviation for in Japan) is a Japanese media franchise managed by The Pokémon Company, founded by Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures (company), Creatures, the owners of the trademark and copyright of the franchise. In terms of ...
''. Pollock recalls it was director
Eric Stuart Eric Stuart is an American voice actor and musician who worked for 4Kids Entertainment, NYAV Post, and Central Park Media. Early life Stuart was born in Brooklyn, New York to a modern dancer mother and a criminal attorney father. Voice act ...
who brought him in as a guest spot for ''Pokémon'' and he then got recommended for roles in '' Kirby: Right Back at Ya!'', ''
Ultimate Muscle is a Japanese manga series created by the duo Yoshinori Nakai and Takashi Shimada, known as Yudetamago. It follows Suguru Kinniku, a superhero who must win a wrestling tournament to retain the title of prince of Planet Kinniku. N ...
'', and the FoxBox promotion announcer. His first major anime role was Meat in ''Ultimate Muscle''. Pollock first took the role of
Doctor Eggman Doctor Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik is the main antagonist of Sega's '' Sonic the Hedgehog'' franchise. Eggman was created and designed by Naoto Ohshima as part of many design choices for Sega's new mascot. After the creation of Sonic the Hedgehog, ...
in the English dub of ''
Sonic X is a Japanese anime television series based on Sega's ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' video game series. Produced by TMS Entertainment under partnership with Sega and Sonic Team, and directed by Hajime Kamegaki, ''Sonic X'' initially ran for 52 epis ...
'', in which he also portrayed
Professor Gerald Robotnik The '' Sonic the Hedgehog'' video game franchise began in 1991 with the game '' Sonic the Hedgehog'' for the Sega Genesis, which pitted a blue anthropomorphic hedgehog named Sonic against a rotund male human villain named Doctor Eggman (or ...
. Pollock assumed the role of Eggman in the video game series beginning with the 2005 games ''
Shadow the Hedgehog is a fictional character appearing in Sega's ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' franchise. Shadow was created by Takashi Iizuka and Shiro Maekawa, and first made his debut in ''Sonic Adventure 2'' (2001). Although this was intended to be his only appearan ...
'' and ''
Sonic Rush is a 2005 platform video game developed by Sonic Team and Dimps for the Nintendo DS as part of Sega's ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' series. It was released on November 15, 2005, in North America, November 18 in the PAL region, and November 23 in Japan ...
'', as part of an initiative by
SEGA is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, r ...
to maintain vocal consistency between the concurrent video game/TV portrayals of the ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' franchise. Several anime websites,
anime convention An anime convention is an event or gathering with a primary focus on anime, manga and Japanese culture. Commonly, anime conventions are multi-day events hosted at convention centers, hotels or college campuses. They feature a wide variety of activ ...
s,
podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...
ers, and
interview An interview is a structured conversation where one participant asks questions, and the other provides answers.Merriam Webster DictionaryInterview Dictionary definition, Retrieved February 16, 2016 In common parlance, the word "interview" ...
ers have commented on Pollock's performance as Dr. Eggman in numerous video games and animated series within the Sonic franchise. His performance as Dr. Eggman has become identified with the character. On July 15, 2010, Sega announced that the ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' franchise would undergo a re-casting, with a new set of voice actors based in
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
,
California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
assuming the roles of each character; however, it was also announced that Pollock would continue to voice Dr. Eggman as according to Pollock none of the actors who auditioned fit Eggman well. Pollock is the only voice actor out of the entire ''Sonic'' cast to still reside in New York instead of California. Pollock has reprised his role of Dr. Eggman on the TV series ''
Sonic Boom A sonic boom is a sound associated with shock waves created when an object travels through the air faster than the speed of sound. Sonic booms generate enormous amounts of sound energy, sounding similar to an explosion or a thunderclap to t ...
'', which premiered on November 8, 2014. Pollock has currently held the role for longer than any other English-speaking actor. For
Teleflora Teleflora is a floral wire service company which brokers orders to local florists for delivery.Teleflora Web ...
's Mother's Day campaign in 2016, Pollock narrated
Vince Lombardi Vincent Thomas Lombardi (June 11, 1913 – September 3, 1970) was an American football coach and executive in the National Football League (NFL). Lombardi is considered by many to be the greatest coach in football history, and he is recognized a ...
's "What It Takes to Be Number One" speech in a commercial video called "One Tough Mother".


Personal life

His brother, Bill Pollock, is the director of a publishing house No Starch Press.


Filmography


Anime


Animation


Film


Video games


Radio


Web


Other roles


Awards and nominations


References


Bibliography

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External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pollock, Mike 1965 births Living people American male voice actors American male video game actors Pokémon Sega people People from Roslyn Heights, New York Smite (video game) Roslyn High School alumni