John Kassir

Infobox actor

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caption = Kassir holding a picture of the Crypt Keeper, November 11, 2006
birthdate = Birth date and age|1957|10|24|mf=y
birthplace = Baltimore, Maryland

Johnny Kassir (born October 24 1957) is an American actor, voice actor, and comedian who is perhaps best known for voicing the Crypt Keeper on the hit HBO show "Tales from the Crypt".

Biography

Career

Kassir played the Bulgarian kicker, Zagreb Shkenusky, for six years in the HBO comedy series "1st & Ten (TV Series)", about a fictional football team. His other live action credits include sketch-acting on "The Amanda Show" and a portrayal of Shemp Howard in a biopic about The Three Stooges, produced by Mel Gibson, and Ralph in "Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical". He was also able to get his own Pee Wee Herman style show in 1997 called "Johnnytime", which aired for two seasons on the USA network. He also appeared as The Atom in the "Justice League of America" pilot episode, which, despite not being picked up, was released as a film in some markets. John has appeared in over a dozen feature films, starred in eight TV pilots (six of which went to series and two of which lasted on air for over six years each) and guest starred in dozens of TV series in both comic and dramatic roles.

As a standup comic, he has opened for the likes of Lou Rawls, Tom Jones, The Temptations and Four Tops on their TNT tour, Bobby Vinton, Richard Belzer, and Harry Blackstone, Jr. among others. John has also appeared on stage performing improvisation with Robin Williams, though Williams did not realize this was happening.

More recently, John has specialized in voice-over work for animation, video games, and other productions. Notable in this regard has been his acting the roles of Ray "Raymundo" Rocket on "Rocket Power". He also provides the voice in the video games ' and ' for fan favorite superhero/villain Deadpool. Fans of his work as Crypt Keeper will recognize his voice as 'Scissorsmith' on Samurai Jack. He was also featured in the very first commercial for the Nintendo cornerstone video game series The Legend of Zelda in the United States in 1986.

A few of his many theater credits include: originating the role of Kenny in "Three Guys Naked From The Waist Down" (also starring Scott Bakula), for which he was nominated for both a Drama Desk and an Outer Critics Circle award. John also originated the role of Ralph in the musical "Reefer Madness", on stage and in the film version.

He provided the voice of the mischievous raccoon Meeko in Disney's 1995 animated feature "Pocahontas". Also, along with Charlie Adler, he provided the voice of Buster Bunny in Tiny Toon Adventures cartoons (following Charles Adler's departure from the role). He played the villainous Scuttlebutt in . He also made one voice appearance on "Ben 10" as Zombozo in the episode, "Last Laugh." Recently, he voiced the character Adam MacIntyre and others in the video game "Dead Rising".

Personal life

Kassir, who is of Syrian descent, was born in Baltimore, Maryland. He was previously married to actress Julie Benz from May 1998 to December 2007. They have both done voice overs in the Xbox game Halo 2.

During Ed McMahon's original "Star Search" Kassir had beaten Rosie O'Donnell and Sinbad in the talent competition, winning the $100,000.00 Grand Prize.

External links

* [http://vbfile1.voicebank.net/sandboxes/11/Animation/Actors/John%20Kassir.mp3 John Kassir: Demo reel at voicebank.net]
*imdb name|id=0440885|name=John Kassir
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoXb7PIJYmA John Kassir in the Legend of Zelda commercial]