Phil LaMarr

Phil LaMarr’s Road from the Groundlings to Animation’s Biggest Voices

Long before Hermes Conrad or Samurai Jack became part of pop culture, LaMarr was a kid in Los Angeles who landed a voice job on the Mister T cartoon while still in high school. He went on to Harvard-Westlake School and then Yale, where he majored in English and helped start the improv troupe Purple Crayon. After graduating in 1989, he joined The Groundlings in Los Angeles and built the stage chops that carried him into television.

That foundation paid off in 1995, when LaMarr became one of the original cast members of Mad TV, staying for five seasons and turning out a steady run of celebrity impressions. The same year Pulp Fiction hit theaters, he had already appeared on screen as Marvin, Quentin Tarantino’s ill-fated passenger, a small role that still gets referenced decades later.

Justice League, Futurama, and a Run of Title Roles

Animation work soon became LaMarr’s main stage. He voiced John Stewart, the Green Lantern at the center of Justice League and Justice League Unlimited, giving DC’s animated universe one of its steadiest leading men. On Futurama he played Hermes Conrad, a role he carried through the original series, several follow-up movies, and the 2010 revival on Comedy Central.

He also landed two title roles back to back: the wandering samurai of Samurai Jack and the teenage hero Virgil Hawkins in Static Shock. Smaller but memorable parts followed, including Wilt on Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends and Hector Con Carne on Evil Con Carne.

Metal Gear, Jak and Daxter, and a Career Built on Games

Video games gave LaMarr a second career track that ran alongside his television work. He voiced Vamp, the unsettling antagonist of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty and Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, and took on Sig and Count Veger across the Jak and Daxter series. Square Enix fans know him as Reddas in Final Fantasy XII and as Ramza in the PSP version of Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions.

He also voiced Gadon Thek in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Kit Fisto in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. In 2014, his work on Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor earned him a NAVGTR Award for Best Supporting Actor, recognition for a body of game work that stretches back over a decade.