Kenneth W. James

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Kenneth W. James
Kenneth W. James wearing a Bowser shirt
Full name Kenneth Wendell James
Born July 14, 1963[citation needed] (age 61)
Super Mario–related role(s) Current voice actor for Bowser and Dry Bowser

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Kenneth W. "Kenny" James is the current voice actor for Bowser, replacing Scott Burns. His debut was in Super Mario Strikers, where he voiced Bowser and the Super Team and has voiced Bowser regularly since Super Mario Galaxy. Despite this, Scott Burns' (James' predecessor) voice was still heard in subsequent series titles such as Mario Strikers Charged, Mario Party DS, Mario Super Sluggers and Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games.

In 2009, James returned to voice Bowser in Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story and New Super Mario Bros. Wii. In 2010, James continued to voice Bowser in Super Mario Galaxy 2 and Mario Sports Mix. As of now, he is the only voice actor of Bowser and continues to voice the character, as well as Dry Bowser (as of Mario Kart Wii), Paper Bowser, Mini Bowser, Dark Bowser, and Dreamy Bowser.

Though he does not voice Bowser in the The Super Mario Bros. Movie by Illumination and Universal Pictures, Bowser's grunts heard during his conversation with Kamek and when Bowser breaks free from the ice and one of his roars during the final battle in Brooklyn are reused voice clips of Kenny James' portrayal of Bowser.

History

Kenny James, voice of Bowser
Kenny James performing in studio.

Kenneth W. James was born in Nevada, but grew up in Texas. In 1988, James began singing and was later the lead singer in several bands before becoming active in community theater. In 2001, James started doing voiceover work, with Bowser being one of the first roles for which he auditioned and was chosen.

He has been a fan of video games since playing the arcade game Pong. His first Nintendo games were Super Mario Bros. and Duck Hunt on the NES, and he later played more games on that system. Outside of video games, James has voiced characters in two different online Doctor Who audio series and has done several other audio books. When portraying Bowser, James often makes claw hands to help him sound like a monster.

Portrayals

Gallery

Trivia

  • Kenny James' favorite game on the Wii is Mario Kart Wii.[2]
  • While recording for Meowser, Kenny James strained his voice so bad that he could taste blood as doing Bowser hurts his voice and he had been recording for 2 hours.[3]

External links

References

  1. ^ http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2146730/
  2. ^ As confirmed via email by Kenny James: "My first Nintendo games were Super Mario Bros and Duck Hunt. Then I really liked playing the games on the Super NES. My favorite on the Wii is Mario Kart Wii. I have to admit I haven't played 3D World. I'd love to see how the Cat Bowser turned out. During recording we called him Meowser". (March 20, 2016)
  3. ^ https://youtu.be/dn4tKNKWgFc