Biography

Peter Cullen

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Born
July 28, 1941 · Montreal, Québec, Canada
Died
August 26, 2026 · Toluca Lake, Los Angeles, California, USA (cardiac arrest)
Birth name
Peter Claver Cullen
Height
5′ 8″ (1.73 m)

Peter Cullen was a Canadian-American voice actor who was widely known for voicing Optimus Prime in the Transformers franchise as well as the Michael Bay film series. He was also known for providing the vocal effects of the Predator from the 1987 film of the same name, Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh, Monterey Jack from Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers and KARR in Knight Rider.
- IMDb mini biography by: Christian Frates

The voice of Optimus Prime, the heroic leader of the Autobots on Transformers (1984)
Often provides a deep raspy voice for his characters, most notably Optimus Prime

Stated that of all the roles that he has done, his signature role, Optimus Prime, is his favorite. He described playing Prime in the 2007 film as "slipping into a very old, very comfortable pair of shoes". He explained his preference for the character by saying "making people happy makes me happy".
Was one of only three voice-over actors from Transformers (1984) animated series to voice a character in the live-action film versions Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009) and Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011). The others being Charlie Adler and Frank Welker. Cullen once again provided the voice of the heroic Autobot leader Optimus Prime for the films.
Has stated that the voice of legendary American film actor John Wayne had some influence on his choice for the voice of Optimus Prime. However, he clarified in an interview for the 2007 Transformers video game that the inspiration for Prime's voice was actually based on an impression of his older brother's voice -- the authoritative tone he used while serving as an officer with the Marine Corps during the Vietnam War.
Provided the roar of the title character in King Kong (1976), injuring his throat in the process. The experience turned him off of voicing inhuman sounds, though he later made an exception for Predator (1987).
His older brother, Larry Cullen, was a retired Captain in the United States Marine Corps, and helped inspire the voice of Optimus Prime.

Everybody's going to approach a character differently, depending upon what they bring to it on their own intellectual level or their feelings from their heart and soul.
I enjoy dramatic narration, of course, because I'm an actor and I started as an actor. But I love things that are a challenge, and I look forward to more work with that in the future. So there's always a sun coming up the following day for me.
My brother was a captain in the Marine Corps and a very big hero in my life.
I immerse myself right into my character whether or not I'm relating to people live as an actor on stage or whatever.
I'm always involved with the Aerospace Program and NASA and Goddard Space Flight Center. And if kids feel so inclined, they can log onto NASA and the Optimus Prime Spinoff Award, which we present every year to some of the brilliant young minds that are taking up into the academics of space, science, technology, math.

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