Rosearik Rikki Allen Simons (born September 8, 1970) is an American
voice actor
Voice acting is the art of performing voice-overs to present a character or provide information to an audience. Performers are called voice actors/actresses, voice artists, dubbing artists, voice talent, voice-over artists, or voice-over talent ...
, writer,
cartoonist
A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and ...
, and animator. He is best known as the voice of
GIR in the
Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...
animated series
An animated series is a set of animated works with a common series title, usually related to one another. These episodes should typically share the same main characters, some different secondary characters and a basic theme. Series can have either ...
, ''
Invader Zim
''Invader Zim'' is an American animated science fiction dark comedy television series created by comic book writer and cartoonist Jhonen Vasquez for Nickelodeon. The series centers on an extraterrestrial named Zim (voiced by Richard Steven Ho ...
''. Simons has also written a number of novels and comic series, often working with his wife, Tavisha Wolfgarth-Simons.
Biography
''Invader Zim'' and other voice work
Simons was the color designer for the animated TV show ''
Invader Zim
''Invader Zim'' is an American animated science fiction dark comedy television series created by comic book writer and cartoonist Jhonen Vasquez for Nickelodeon. The series centers on an extraterrestrial named Zim (voiced by Richard Steven Ho ...
'', and also voiced the robot character of
GIR on the show.
Show creator
Jhonen Vasquez
Jhonen C. Vasquez (; born September 1, 1974) is an American cartoonist, animator, screenwriter, music video director, and voice actor. He is best known for creating the comic book '' Johnny the Homicidal Maniac''—along with its spin-off comics ...
wanted someone with no experience in voice acting to play the part of GIR, as a reflection of how broken and messed up GIR really is.
Vasquez was disappointed with actors who auditioned for GIR saying they were "good actors" who just did a "stock crazy robot voice". Simons was Vasquez's friend and was working on ''
I Feel Sick
''I Feel Sick'' is a comic book created by artist Jhonen Vasquez, with colors by Rosearik Rikki Simons. Published in August 1999 through May 2000, it is a spin-off of Vasquez's comic book series ''Johnny the Homicidal Maniac''. ''I Feel Sick' ...
'' with him, and he asked Simons to try to audition for GIR, saying he "couldn't screw it up anymore than anyone else".
Simons did a few different voices for his audition for GIR, including one where he was trying to imitate his mother-in-law, but decided it was too "shrieky". He then remembered when he used to play with hand puppets with his father as a kid and tried to do one of those voices. Vasquez said he gave Simons the part of GIR because he was "bad at it", and that fit the character.
When voicing GIR, Simons' voice was edited to make it sound higher-pitched and metallic. While Simons eventually learned to perform the voice without the high-pitch editing, the metallic quality still had to be added. Unedited versions of Simons' voice-overs can be heard in voice recordings for the unfinished episodes.
Simons said in a 2004 interview that he approached the role of GIR "by pretending (which didn't take much effort) that it wasn't a job... A lot of people comment that I sound like I was just making things up on the spot. That's partly true, but I'm not a voice actor... while I did the voice-actor thing of taking his direction on inflection and I read the lines provided, I was really having the best time ever just yelling and screaming and being stupid."
Simons reprised his role of GIR in a number of video games and in a 2019 movie, ''
Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus''.
In 2011, Nickelodeon approached Rikki Simons, the voice of GIR, about doing some animated shorts revolving around GIR. While Simons was open to reprising his role, nothing ever came of these shorts for unknown reasons.
During an ''Invader Zim'' panel at Long Beach Comic Con 2019, Simons said the reason why these GIR shorts never went anywhere might have been because "It's kinda weird to do GIR by himself. I don't know what that would be."
Simons was also involved in the
Invader Zim comic series; he was credited as a writer in issue #0 of the Invader Zim comic series as well as a colorist for two issues.
Simons has gone on to other voice acting roles, including on the cartoon ''
Mighty Magiswords
Mighty may refer to:
* ''Mighty'' (The Planet Smashers album)
* ''Mighty'' (Kristene DiMarco album)
* ''The Mighty'' (1929 film), a 1929 American action film
*'' The Mighty'', a 1998 comedy-drama film
* ''The Mighty'' (comics), a DC Comics title
* ...
and the 2021 video game ''
Psychonauts 2
''Psychonauts 2'' is a platform game developed by Double Fine and published by Xbox Game Studios. The game was announced at The Game Awards 2015 ceremony, and released on August 25, 2021 for PlayStation 4, Windows, Xbox One and Xbox Series X and ...
''.
Comics and writing
Simons has written multiple novels and comics. Many of these are illustrated or co-illustrated by Simon's wife, illustrator Tavisha Wolfgarth-Simons.
Works
Acting
Unless otherwise noted, all roles below are voice acting.
Colorist
* ''
I Feel Sick
''I Feel Sick'' is a comic book created by artist Jhonen Vasquez, with colors by Rosearik Rikki Simons. Published in August 1999 through May 2000, it is a spin-off of Vasquez's comic book series ''Johnny the Homicidal Maniac''. ''I Feel Sick' ...
'' (comic book series,1999–2000)
* ''
Invader Zim
''Invader Zim'' is an American animated science fiction dark comedy television series created by comic book writer and cartoonist Jhonen Vasquez for Nickelodeon. The series centers on an extraterrestrial named Zim (voiced by Richard Steven Ho ...
'' (TV show, color designer, 2001–2006)
*
''Invader Zim'', comic book series, colorist for issues #0 and #3
*''
Jackie Chan Adventures
''Jackie Chan Adventures'' is an American animated television series, created by John Rogers, Duane Capizzi and Jeff Kline, and produced by Sony Pictures Television (originally as Columbia TriStar Television for the first three seasons). The car ...
'' (2002–2003) – color stylist for 15 episodes of the TV series
Writer
* ''
ShutterBox
''ShutterBox'' is an original English-language manga written by Rikki Simons and Tavisha Wolfgarth-Simons. The first volume was published by Tokyopop in 2003. The second volume was published in July 2004. The third volume was released in August ...
'' (writer, co-artist) (2003–2005)
* ''
Super Information Hijinks: Reality Check!'' (1995–2002) - comic book series, illustrated by Tavisha Wolfgarth-Simons
* ''Ranklechick and His Three-Legged Cat'' (2006) - novel, with illustrations by Tavisha Wolfgarth-Simons
*''Trinkkits'' - webcomic
* ''Hitherto a Lion'' (2011) - novel, with illustrations by Tavisha Wolfgarth-Simons.
References
External links
*
*
Rikki Simons's Newsarama Interview* Rikki Simons's character design from ''Invader ZIM'': by Aaron Alexovich.
by Aaron A. and John Fountain
{{DEFAULTSORT:Simons, Rosearik Rikki
1970 births
American male voice actors
People from San Bernardino County, California
Living people
American comics artists
American comics writers
21st-century American novelists
American male novelists
American graphic novelists
American webcomic creators
21st-century American male writers
Novelists from California
Nickelodeon people