Alan Tudyk: The “Wash” Man
Sci-fi fans remember Alan Tudyk best as Hoban “Wash” Washburne on the short-lived television series Firefly (2002-2003) and it’s spin-off movie Serenity (2005). But he is actually an accomplished actor with many vary Hollywood credits.
Since the early 2010’s he has been a frequent Disney voice-over artist. He also auditioned for the role of Michael Scott in the American version of The Office (2005-2013) before Steve Carell was cast. Plus, he even portrayed Hollywood screenwriter Ian McClellan Hunter in the movie Trumbo (2015). (Hunter was the writer who received screen credit for writing the movies that Dalton Trumbo wrote, including Roman Holiday (2013), which received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay). In this blog, we will discuss his Disney voices, and some of his other work.
Alan Tudyk was born on March 16th, 1971 in El Paso, Texas. He decided to study drama at Lon Morris College in Jacksonville, Texas where he won the Academic Excellence Award for. It was there that he decided to pursue drama full-time. As a result, he headed for Hollywood, and at just 26 years of age, made his debut in the independent film 35 Miles from Normal (1997). A major role followed in the dramatic comedy 28 Days (2000) with Sandra Bullock and Viggo Mortensen. Following those two, he portrayed Wat in A Knight’s Tale (2001), opposite Heath Ledger, and Sonny the robot in I, Robot (2004) opposite Will Smith.
Alan Tudyk made his Disney debut voicing the evil King Candy in Wreck-It Ralph (2012). He modeled the character’s voice on Disney legend Ed Wynn’s. (Tudyk currently has an unknown role in the upcoming sequel to “Wreck-It Ralph,” Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2 (2018).) He also was the voice of the Duke of Weselton in Frozen (2013), Alistair Krei in Big Hero 6 (2014), Duke Weaselton in Zootopia (2016), Heihei the rooster/Villager #3 in Moana (2016), and K-2SO in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016). Besides Disney movies, he has also voiced various characters for Disney television shows as well, including Phineas and Ferb (2007-2015), and Star vs. the Forces of Evil (2015-present).
Beyond Disney, Alan Tudyk lent his voice to Ice Age (2002), and its first and third sequels, Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006) and Ice Age Continental Drift (2012). He also worked with “Firefly,” creator Joss Whedon on another short-lived series, Dollhouse (2009-2010) and played Ben Chapman in the Jackie Robinson biopic 42 (2013). Most recently, he created his own television series, Con Man (2015-present) which can be seen on Vimeo On Demand. The show earned him an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Actor in a Short Form Comedy or Drama series and reunited him with “Firefly,” co-star Nathan Fillion. (Fillion has also been credited as an executive producer on the show.) Like Fillion and his other co-stars, Tudyk was the voice of DC Comic character. He voiced Green Arrow in the Batman video game, Injustice 2 (2017). On Broadway, he served as a temporary replacement in each of the roles originated by Hank Azaria in 2005 in the Broadway Musical Spamalot. (The roles were Sir Lancelot, the French Taunter, and the Night who says Ni.)
Alan Tudyk is a true Hollywood talent, having covered every medium of entertainment in the business. What he will do next has yet to be seen, though it is possible that he will voice Tigger in Disney’s upcoming film Christopher Robin (2018), a live-action film where Christopher Robin will be reunited as an adult with all of his imaginary friends from the Hundred Acre Wood. Whether he’s voicing a cartoon or playing a real person, he never ceases to entertain.
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