American · b. 1956 · 1990s – 2010s
Rob Paulsen voices Raphael and later Donatello in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise and Yakko Warner in Animaniacs, bringing warm comedic range to game adaptations of animated properties throughout the 1990s.
Rob Paulsen's animation career is among the most celebrated in the industry — he voiced Raphael in the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987–1996), Yakko Warner in Animaniacs (1993–1998), Pinky in Pinky and the Brain, and Donatello in the 2012 TMNT reboot — and his game work reflects this: wherever a major animated franchise was adapted to games in the 1990s and 2000s, Paulsen was frequently present. His ability to shift between sardonic energy, physical comedy, and earnest sincerity within a single performance made him uniquely suitable for action-platformer games, where game characters needed to convey both personality and exertion simultaneously. Paulsen was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2012 and underwent chemotherapy while maintaining as much of his professional schedule as possible; his public documentation of his treatment and recovery, and his return to full voice work afterward, made him an influential advocate for cancer awareness in the entertainment community.