Brendan James O'Brien (May 9, 1962 – March 23, 2023) was an American actor. He served as the original voice of

Crash Bandicoot ''Crash Bandicoot'' is a video game franchise originally developed by Naughty Dog as an exclusive for Sony's PlayStation console. It has seen numerous installments created by various developers and published on multiple platforms. The series c ...

and various other character voices for the ''

'' video games during the

Naughty Dog Naughty Dog, LLC (formerly JAM Software, Inc.) is an American first-party video game developer based in Santa Monica, California. Founded by Andy Gavin and Jason Rubin in 1984, the studio was acquired by Sony Computer Entertainment in 2001. G ...

years.

Early life

Brendan James O'Brien was born in

Hollywood, California Hollywood, sometimes informally called Tinseltown, is a List of districts and neighborhoods in Los Angeles, neighborhood and district in the Central Los Angeles, central region of Los Angeles County, California, within the city of Los Angeles. ...

, on May 9, 1962. He was the son of actor

Edmond O'Brien Eamon Joseph O'Brien (; September 10, 1915 – May 9, 1985) was an American actor of stage, screen, and television, and film director. His career spanned almost 40 years, and he won one Academy Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and two stars on th ...

(1915–1985) and actress

Olga San Juan Olga San Juan (March 16, 1927January 3, 2009) was an American actress and comedian. Born in Brooklyn, she began her brief film career with Paramount Pictures after being scouted at Copacabana. She performed in several Hollywood musicals in the ...

(1927–2009). His two sisters are television producer Bridget O'Brien Adelman and actress Maria O'Brien. He attended Loyola High School in East

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

where he played

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

in various high school bands throughout his early years. He was also a graduate of the

Loyola Marymount University Loyola Marymount University (LMU) is a private Jesuit and Marymount research university in Los Angeles, California. LMU enrolls over 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students, making it the largest Catholic university on the west coast of the ...

Career

O'Brien began his acting career in 1972 at ten years old, he was discovered by director

Bernard L. Kowalski Bernard Louis Kowalski (August 2, 1929 – October 26, 2007) was an American film and television director of Polish descent, nominated for two Primetime Emmys. Selected filmography * ''Frontier'' (1956) Season 1, Episode 19 ''The Assassin' ...

who cast him in his first acting role in the first episode of the television series ''

The Streets of San Francisco ''The Streets of San Francisco'' is an American television crime drama filmed on location in San Francisco and produced by Quinn Martin, with the first season produced in association with Warner Bros. Television (QM produced the show on its ow ...

'', along with his father. His other live action credits was in the television film ''Honor Thy Father''. He also acted in '' 3 Ninjas: High Noon at Mega Mountain'', ''

P.U.N.K.S. ''P.U.N.K.S.'' is a 1999 film about a group of bullied teens who find a suit created by a scientist. The suit provides whoever wears it superhuman strength, as well as leaving the wearer open to having their body controlled by someone else via wi ...

'', ''

Race to Space ''Race to Space'' is a 2001 fictional American family drama film. The film was shot on location at Cape Canaveral and Cocoa Beach and Edwards AFB in cooperation with NASA and the U.S. Air Force. Plot During the 1960s space race between the U ...

'', and ''

Grindhouse A grindhouse or action house is an American term for a theatre that mainly shows low-budget horror, splatter, and exploitation films for adults. According to historian David Church, this theater type was named after the "grind policy", a f ...

''. He got the role of

after Joe Pearson suggested that he call

Jason Rubin Jason Rubin (born 1970) is an American video game director, writer, and comic book creator. He is best known for the '' Crash Bandicoot'' and '' Jak and Daxter'' series of games which were produced by Naughty Dog, the game development studio he ...

(who was looking for a voice artist). After going to the studio for the call (where his parents used to work), he got the role. The recordings that O'Brien did for Crash Bandicoot were done in an intimate setting at the Alfred Hitchcock Theater. O'Brien also performed additional voices for the animated series adaptation of ''

Spawn Spawn or spawning may refer to: * Spawning, the eggs and sperm of aquatic animals Arts, entertainment and media * Spawn (character), a fictional character in the comic series of the same name and in the associated franchise ** ''Spawn: Armageddon' ...

'' and

Ralph Bakshi Ralph Bakshi (; born October 29, 1938) is a Mandatory Palestine-born American retired animator and filmmaker, known for his fantastical animated films. In the 1970s, he established an alternative to mainstream animation through independent anim ...

's '' Spicy City''. He has also acted in several live action television shows such as ''

Candid Camera ''Candid Camera'' is an American hidden camera and practical joke reality television series. The show was created, developed, and presented by Allen Funt. Various versions of the show have appeared on television from 1948 to 2014. The program ...

'' and ''The Amazing Live Sea-Monkeys''. He went on a hiatus from acting in 2003; he returned to acting sixteen years later and appear in an episode of '' Riverdale'' as a math teacher and also had a small part in the TV mini-series ''The Slowest Show'' as a Male Millionaire. He was also in talks to have a role in ''

Antonblast ''Antonblast'', (stylized in all caps as ''ANTONBLAST''), is a 2024 platform game developed and published by Indie game, indie video game studio Summitsphere. After a successful Kickstarter campaign, the full game was released on December 3, 2024 ...

'', a video game partly inspired by ''Crash Bandicoot''; however, O'Brien died before this could occur.

Personal life

Brendan O'Brien met his wife Ingrid K. Behrens in 1995; they married five years later in 2000 and remained married until his death.

Death

He died on March 23, 2023, at his home in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

at the age of 60.

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

Crew work

References

External links

Official site
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Obrien, Brendan 1962 births 2023 deaths American male film actors American male television actors American male video game actors American male voice actors Male actors from Hollywood, Los Angeles 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American male actors Loyola High School (Los Angeles) alumni