NEIL KAPLAN

2018 Inductee

Kaplan grew up in San Jose, California. He got his start as a comedian doing impressions of presidents such as Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon. He also impersonated a little-known journalist at the time, Dan Rather. He then started work on video games, including many Star Wars titles. From there he went on to do such shows as Power Rangers, Digimon: Digital Monsters, and most recently, Transformers: Robots in Disguise. One of his most famous voices is Hawkmon from Digimon.

His favorite role was the "utility guy" on a show called The Mouse and the Monster, which aired on UPN in 1996ñ1997. He played stomachs, ghosts and Sappy the Clown, among other characters on that show. He was also once a contestant on the popular comedy game show Street Smarts. On that appearance, he showed off some of his other impressions, including one of Gilbert Gottfried. He was invited as a guest to the Power Morphicon (in Los Angeles) in June 2007 as well as August 2010, and to Armageddon (in Australia and New Zealand) in October 2007. He created the television series The Way it WASN'T!, as well as the graphic novel I, of the Wolf. He also voices Captain Fort Worth in the adult video game BoneCraft.

​

• Bleach – Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto, Ruzaburō "Enryū" Enkōgawa, Gesell, Tenken, Zommari Rureaux (Ep. 195+)

• Blue Dragon – Saber Tiger

• Brigadoon: Marin & Melan – Shuta Alan, Poyon Silver, Detective Chunen

• Daphne in the Brilliant Blue – Lun Shibazaki, Additional Voices

• Digimon Adventure 02 – Halsemon, Hogan, Ilya, Hawkmon, Shurimon, Aquilamon, Silphymon (shared with Edie Mirman)

• Digimon Data Squad – Pumpkinmon #1 (Eps. 30–34), Ninjamon #3 (Ep. 31), Piximon (Ep. 32), Franz' Agent #1 (Ep. 33), Desk Man #1 (Ep. 33)

• Digimon Frontier – Eldest Mushroomon/Woodmon (Ep. 4), Kokuwamon/Kokuwamon Elder (Ep. 5), Baromon (Ep. 40)

• Digimon Fusion – Lord Bagra, NeoMyotismon, Anubismon

• Digimon Tamers – Indramon, Divermon, Babel

• FAKE – Drake

• Marvel Anime: Blade – High Council Chairman, Additional Voices

• Marvel Anime: Iron Man – Minister Defense Kuroda

• Mega Man Star Force – Taurus

• Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin – Dozle Zabi

• Naruto – Kiyoyasu

• Naruto Shippuden – Obito (acting as Madara) and Madara Uchiha (Ep. 125+)

• Rein: The Conqueror – Ibn

• Terraformars – Kaiki Kouno

• Tokyo Pig – Principal

• Transformers: Robots in Disguise – Optimus Prime, Ro-Tor

• Zatch Bell! – Belgim E.O.

• Higglytown Heroes – Mover Hero

• The Mouse and the Monster – Utility Guy

• Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero – Club Owner

• Robot Chicken – Albus Dumbledore

• Voltron: Legendary Defender – Emperor Zarkon

• Digimon: The Movie – Hawkmon, Halsemon

• The Happy Cricket – Toad #1

• The Little Polar Bear – Bert

• Muhammad: The Last Prophet – 'Amr ibn al-'As, The Spy

• Baten Kaitos Origins – Wiseman

• BioShock Infinite – Thursday Warren, John Hammond, Ezekiel Price

• BoneCraft – Captain Fort Worth

• Cartoon Network: Punch Time Explosion – Grim, Johnny Bravo

• Conan – Bone Cleaver

• Destiny 2 – Dominus Ghaul

• DreamWorks Voltron VR Chronicles – Zarkon

• Final Fantasy XIII – Additional Voices

• Final Fantasy XIII-2 – Additional Voices

• Final Fantasy XV - Dustin Ackers

• Guild Wars 2 – Various Charr and Norn NPCs, Edrick Thorn

• Heroes of the Storm – Tychus

• Infamous First Light – Additional Voices[8]

• Jaws Unleashed – Cruz Ruddock

• Justice League Heroes – Gorilla Grodd

• The Last of Us – Additional Voices

• League of Legends – Aurelion Sol, Rhaast

• Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII – Additional Voices[9]

• Marvel Heroes – Sabertooth, Venom

• Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor – Nemesis Orcs, Humans