Townsend Coleman

Townsend Putnam Coleman III is an American voice actor who performed in many animated series and TV commercials beginning in the early 1980s. Among his most notable roles are Michaelangelo from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Wayne Gretzky on ProStars and the title characters in Where's Wally? and the eponymous The Tick.

Early work
Coleman was a disc jockey for WGCL in Cleveland, Ohio, in the late 1970s. This included the weekend of July 7–8, 1979, when that radio station presented his own take on American Top 40 after the station's refusal to air the "Top 40 Disco Songs" special for that weekend.

In the same period, Coleman appeared in several plays through Jerry Leonard's Heights Youth Theater ensemble. The plays were staged at Wiley Junior High School in University Heights, Ohio, &mdash; just down the road from John Carroll University. Other famous performers who appeared in Leonard's plays include the actress Carol Kane.

Voice acting
Coleman's career as a voice actor took off in the 1980s when, having recently moved to Los Angeles, he auditioned for the role of Corporal Capeman on Inspector Gadget. He also portrayed Riot on Jem, Gobo in the animated version of Jim Henson's Fraggle Rock, Scott Howard on the animated Teen Wolf and many others. In TV commercials, he was the 7-Up "Spot", Keebler Elves, and Raid Bugs. Coleman has also been the voice of NBC commercials for programs such as Must See TV and The Tonight Show since the early 1990s. Coleman has also provided the voice for Jason Whittaker on the Focus on the Family radio drama Adventures in Odyssey since 1994. He also voiced the Autobot Mini-Cassette Rewind on the Transformers cartoon series (1986) and provided the voice of Colt in Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs.

From 1987 to 1996, Coleman voiced his most popular character; Michelangelo in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Coleman performed a wide range of voices in King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow, including Vizier Abdul Alhazred, Shamir Shamazel, Lord Azure, Ferryman, Beast and the Minotaur.

More recently, Townsend is the voice of Sentinel Prime in the Transformers Animated series. The character was designed to look like The Tick, as confirmed by the writers of the show at Botcon 2008. Townsend provided the voice for the title character of The Tick in the 1994 cartoon series, for which he received an Annie Award nomination.

Townsend also currently provides the voice of Neddy the Mallet in the Cartoon Network series, Mighty Magiswords. Neddy's mannerisms on the show are based on The Tick which led to him being acquired the role. According to the creator Kyle Carrozza, Neddy was Townsend's first original cartoon role in years.

He also returned the Tick franchise in the 2017 series on Amazon Prime, providing the voice of ex-superhero dog Midnight.

Select filmography

 * Adventure Time with Finn and Jake - Additional voices
 * Animaniacs - Katzeneisnerman (episode: "Hooray For North Hollywood Part 1")
 * The Buzz on Maggie - Additional voices
 * Camp Lazlo - Additional voices
 * CatDog - Additional voices
 * Catscratch - Additional voices
 * Danny Phantom - Additional voices
 * Dave the Barbarian - Additional voices
 * Dexter's Laboratory - Additional voices
 * Dino-Riders - Additional Voices
 * Earthworm Jim - Additional voices
 * El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera - Additional voices
 * The Fairly OddParents - Additional voices
 * Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends - Additional voices
 * Gravity Falls - Additional voices
 * Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi - Additional voices
 * NBC advertising (1992–2009)
 * Poochini's Yard - Additional voices
 * ProStars - Wayne Gretzky
 * The Powerpuff Girls - Additional voices
 * Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs - Colt
 * Space Cats - Scratch
 * Turtles Take Time (and Space) - 80s Michelangelo
 * The Jungle King - Additional voices
 * Tiny Toon Adventures - Additional voices
 * Yogi and the Invasion of the Space Bears - Zor One