Fred Tatasciore

• 1. Introduction

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  Fred Tatasciore holds a Guinness World Record. As of the 2nd of March 2017, no one had voiced more characters in superhero video games than he had. He held 53 credits to his name. Tatasciore is an American voice actor who provides voices in animated and live-action films, television shows, and video games. Listeners have heard him without ever seeing his face. He speaks for the Hulk, Volstagg, and Beast in various Marvel projects, and for Solomon Grundy and Bane in DC media. From 2021 to 2024, he starred as the title character in the adult animated series Hit-Monkey. How does one performer end up cast as heroes, monsters, and villains across two rival comic universes, plus dozens of games and cartoons in between? And what did it take to become the record holder for playing so many of them?

• 2. A Voice From Childhood

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  Born on the 15th of June 1967, or possibly 1968, to Fred Sr and Marianne Ryan Tatasciore, he found his instrument early. As a child, he borrowed his father's tape recorder to capture voice impressions pulled from radio and television. That habit carried him into comedy stages, where he performed stand-up and improv with The Groundlings. It also carried him into lecture halls at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he studied theatre arts, including Shakespearean drama. He joined several comedy bands along the way. Before he became a full-time voice actor, Tatasciore worked as an animator, drawing the same kind of characters he would later be paid to voice.

• 3. The Sound Of The Hulk

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  Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 gave Tatasciore one of his most recognizable assignments: the voice of the Hulk. He reprised the role in The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, and again in Avengers Assemble, three different animated takes on the same green-skinned character. Those projects built the reputation he carries into casting rooms: an actor known for deep, powerful voices suited to monsters and giants. In recent years, though, he has pushed past that typecasting, taking on a wider range of characters than the growl he built his name on. That range would carry him from cartoon monsters into some of gaming's biggest villain roles.

• 4. Beyond The Cape

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  In the Gears of War series, Tatasciore voices Damon Baird, returning to the character across the franchise's sequels. He plays Saren Arterius in the Mass Effect series, and Zeratul in both StarCraft II and Heroes of the Storm. Blizzard cast him again as Soldier: 76 in the first-person shooter Overwatch, and Bungie brought him in as Xur in Destiny. In the Skylanders franchise, he voices Snap Shot, Slam Bam, Warnado, Strykore, Zook, and Cuckoo Clocker. Long before any of those console franchises, the 2004 MMORPG Lineage 2 had him voicing the game's male Orc race. He also voiced other orc non-player characters in that game. None of that work put his face on screen, a gap a Tim Burton production would soon close.

• 5. Screens Big And Small

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  The Tim Burton-produced film 9 cast Tatasciore as the character named simply "8." Around the same era, he took on Nikolai Belinski across the Call of Duty franchise, and Neftin Prog in Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus. He became the voice of Megatron across four Transformers titles. They include War for Cybertron, Fall of Cybertron, Dark of the Moon, and Rise of the Dark Spark. Television brought him Tookit in ThunderCats, and Business Cat in the Cartoon Hangover web series Our New Electrical Morals, produced by Frederator Studios. His biggest recurring television commitment became Lieutenant Shaxs, the Bajoran tactical officer he voices in a main role on Star Trek: Lower Decks. That casting kept him busy through the show's run, even as a different chapter of his life was unfolding off camera.

• 6. Off Camera

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  Mercedes Younger, a production designer, met Tatasciore while both were students at the University of California, Los Angeles. The two married and had two children together. StoryBots: Answer Time brought him recognition in the Outstanding Voice Performance in a Preschool Animated Program category at the 2023 Children's and Family Emmy Awards. In 2026, he is set to voice the Lead Scientist, Dr. Strauss, in the video game Marathon.