How Futurama Became A Career-Defining First For John DiMaggio

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DiMaggio said Bender was the role that made him realize he could make his voice acting into a career:

“‘Futurama’ was a big deal. People had already started to hear about me a little bit here and there, but that was the first series I booked to be a regular on. I did a bunch of other things, and I was definitely getting into the loop. You have to get your foot in that door. There’s a certain community of actors that usually do a lot of the stuff. And I got my foot in that door, but I’d say ‘Futurama’ definitely broke that door down.”

Case in point, all of DiMaggio’s roles that I previously mentioned came after he started playing Bender in 1999. It wasn’t his first foray into performing though. As he told the AV Club, his first voiceover gig was making a PSA for New York Public Radio as part of a school trip fundraiser. He also dabbled in anime dubbing during the late 1990s to early 2000s, most notably on “Princess Mononoke.” If that sounds like just more voice acting to you, it’s actually trickier. As DiMaggio explained to the AV Club: “You had to work backward on that gig. You had to match the mouth flaps. It’s anime, and it’s originally animated with a Japanese voice.”

DiMaggio didn’t limit himself to voiceover, either. In the 1990s, he had a recurring part on “Chicago Hope” and he was also part of the MTV comedy duo “Red Johnny and the Round Guy” — his humor skills from stand-up have definitely carried over into his voice acting. He still occasionally appears on camera (“Perry Mason” cleverly cast him as a radio show host) but voice acting is where you’ll hear him the most, Bender included. I, for one, don’t mind.

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