Steven Jay Blum is an American voice actor known for his distinctively deep voice. He is best known for his extensive voice work in anime, western animation, and video games, including Spike Spiegel in Cowboy Bebop, TOM from Adult Swim's Toonami block, Vilgax, Heatblast, and Ghostfreak in Ben 10, Starscream in Transformers: Prime, Techmo in Regular Show, Orochimaru in Naruto, Lord Darcia III in Wolf's Rain, Poromon, Flamedramon, Raidramon, Magnamon, BlackWarGreymon in Digimon Adventure 02, Guilmon, Mitsuo Yamaki, Kenta Kitagawa in Digimon Tamers, J.P. Shibayama in Digimon Frontier, Falcomon in Digimon Data Squad, Dark Scream, W.A.R.S. and Fortress Maximus in the 2001 version of Transformers: Robots in Disguise, Amon/Noatak in the Avatar: The Last Airbender television spin-off, The Legend of Korra, Green Lantern in Injustice 2, and Crash Bandicoot and Emperor Velo in the Crash Nitro Kart.
Early life[]
Steven Jay Blum was born on April 29, 1960 to a Jewish family in Santa Monica, California.
Career[]
Blum began his career in 1992. His credits include the voice of Spike Spiegel in Cowboy Bebop, Zeb Orrelios in Star Wars Rebels, Mugen in Samurai Champloo, Roger Smith from The Big O, Orochimaru and Zabuza Momochi in Naruto and Wolverine in multiple Marvel productions. In video games, he provided the voice of main protagonist Jack Cayman in MadWorld, Tank Dempsey in the Call of Duty series, Professor Galvez in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, Ares in God of War and God of War: Ascension, main protagonist Grayson Hunt in Bulletstorm, Brimstone in Valorant, Zoltun Kulle in Diablo III, Sub-Zero in Mortal Kombat X and 11, Hal Jordan/Green Lantern in Injustice 2, Rytlock Brimstone in Guild Wars 2, and main protagonist Capt. Devin Ross in Clive Barker's Jericho.
In September 2000, Blum voiced TOM, the robotic host of Cartoon Network's Toonami programming block. He replaced Sonny Strait in the character's subsequent appearances, until the cancellation of Toonami in 2008. When Toonami was revived on March 31, 2012, he returned as the voice of TOM. He is also the announcer for 7-Eleven's "Oh Thank Heaven" television and radio advertisements and partnered with Vic Mignogna in the series Real Fans of Genius (a parody of Anheuser-Busch's Real Men of Genius radio ad campaign).
In animation, he is the voice of Heatblast, Ghostfreak and Vilgax in the Ben 10 franchise, Starscream in Transformers: Prime, Count Vertigo in DC Showcase: Green Arrow and Young Justice, Red Skull, Beta Ray Bill and Wolverine in Wolverine and the X-Men and The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes and Amon in The Legend of Korra.
On June 5, 2012, he was awarded a Guinness World Record for being the most prolific video game voice actor, having 261 credited appearances as of May 10, 2012.
Personal life[]
Blum married voice actress Mary Elizabeth McGlynn in 2017. He has three sons from a prior relationship. One of them, Brandon, is also an actor, while another, Jeremy, is a teacher.
Filmography[]
Animation[]
- What a Cartoon! (2002) - Jamie, Glorft Robot, Kid
- What's New, Scooby-Doo? (2002-2005) - Melbourne O'Riley, Guide, J.T. Page, Rama Yam, Rufus Raucous, Spencer Johnson, Steve Powell
- The Powerpuff Girls (2003) - Man #2, Monster #7, Architect
- Edgar and the Voyagers (2004) - Cletus, Voyagers
- Boogies (2004) - Sandman, Tinkle Bug, Dog
- Superhero Intern (2004) - Cement Larry, the Grunt, Preston Change-O
- Kubo Punko! (2004) - Ralphie, Narrator
- Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law (2004-2005) - Yakky Doodle, Stavros, Clamhead
- The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy (2004-2007) - Announcer, Man, British Soldier, Captain, Captain Longwood, Caveman, Cereal, Commander, Crazy Papoo, Detector, Doctor, Explorer, Gutteral Alien, Hunky Guy, Japanese Overlord, Leperchun Lad, Mama Undertoad, Man at Bar, Monoclad, Monster, Narrator, Presenter, Radical Reaper, Rich Ded, Sea Critter, Undertoad, Ziggy the Crab
- Loonatics Unleashed (2005) - Fuz-Zs
- Ben 10 (2005-2008) - Vilgax, Heatblast, Ghostfreak, others
- Chowder (2010) - Limon, Ninja
- Regular Show (2010-2017) - Techmo, Muscle Bro, John Sorrenstein, Grand Master of Death Kwon Do, Carter, Barry, others
- Batman: The Brave and the Bold (2010) - Heat Wave, Captain Cold
- Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! (2017) - Aeslop, King Alexandros, Bob Cratchit, Ghost of Christmas Present, Gargoyle
- Uncle Grandpa (2010-2017) - Ham Sandwich Jones, Additional Voices
- Young Justice (2011–2012; 2019-present) - Count Vertigo, Rudy West, Rocket Red
- Generator Rex (2012) - Sebastian, Leon, Additional Voices
- Ben 10: Omniverse (2013-2014) - Vilgax, Vilgax Drones, Ghostfreak, Hobble, Zs'Skayr, Helena Xagliv, Adwaita, Bill Gacks, Ectonurite Twins, Mino-Toga, Pa Vreedle, Thaddeus J. Collins
- New Looney Tunes (2015-2018) - Additional Voices
- Mixels (2015-2016) - King Nixel, Kamzo
- We Bare Bears (2017-2018) - Additional Voices, Takeda, Pelican
- The Tom and Jerry Show (2019) - Dracula
- DC Super Hero Girls (2020) - Fuseli
- Looney Tunes Cartoons (2020) - Goon
- Robot Chicken (2020) - Zartan
- We Baby Bears (2022) - Giant Igloo, Snowman 2, Sun
Film[]
- Ben 10: Secret of the Omnitrix (2007) - Vilgax, Heatblast, Nightmarish Alien, Alien Fly Prisoner
- DC Showcase: Green Arrow (2010) - Count Vertigo
- All-Star Superman (2011) - Atlas
- Green Lantern: Emerald Knights (2011) - Kloba Vud
- Batman: Year One (2011) - Stan
- Ben 10: Destroy All Aliens (2012) - Heatblast, Mechamorph
- Lego Batman: The Movie – DC Super Heroes Unite (2013) - Bane, Penguin
- Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox (2013) - Lex Luthor
- Scooby-Doo! and the Spooky Scarecrow (2013) - Clem, Abner
- Justice League: War (2014) - Darkseid
- Justice League: Throne of Atlantis (2015) - Lex Luthor
- Regular Show: The Movie (2015) - Techmo, Commander, TV Game
- Justice League vs. Teen Titans (2016) - Lex Luthor, Toymaster
- Scooby-Doo! and WWE: Curse of the Speed Demon (2016) - Inferno
- Batman: Bad Blood (2016) - Black Mask, Firefly
- Shazam! (2019) - Envy, Gluttony
- Lego DC Batman: Family Matters (2019) - Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow
- DC Showcase: Kamandi: The Last Boy on Earth! (2021) - Golgan/Tuftan
- Catwoman: Hunted (2022) - Solomon Grundy, Abbadon, Pilot
- Taz: Quest for Burger (2023) - Tasmanian Devil
Video games[]
- Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster and the Beanstalk (1996)
- Justice League Heroes (2006) - White Martian Leader
- Ben 10: Protector of Earth (2007) - Heatblast, Ghostfreak, Vilgax
- Lego Batman: The Videogame (2008) - Batman, Joker, Killer Moth
- FusionFall (2009-2012) - Vilgax, TOM, Demongo
- Batman: Arkham Asylum (2009) - Killer Croc
- Scooby-Doo! and the Spooky Swamp (2010) - Barry Buckley, Esteban Gonzalez
- Batman: Arkham City (2011) - Killer Croc, Mr. Sickle
- Lego Batman 2: DC Superheroes (2012) - Penguin, Bane
- Batman: Arkham Origins (2013) - Lester Buchinsky/Electrocutioner
- Batman: Arkham Knight (2015) - Killer Croc, Thugs
- Lego Dimensions (2015) - Voiceover Talent
- Batman: The Telltale Series (2016) - Lady Arkham (Masked), Blockbuster
- Injustice 2 (2017) - Hal Jordan/Green Lantern, Sub-Zero, Victor Zsasz
- Lego DC Super-Villains (2018) - Captain Cold, Count Vertigo, Deadman, Psimon
