Peter Cullen
Hasbro Pulse official archive: the 1984 series premiere, "More Than Meets the Eye" - Optimus Prime's first appearance.
Optimus Prime
★ The Actors Behind the War
The Voice Cast of The Transformers
One actor voiced Megatron, Soundwave and fifteen more Decepticons and Autobots at once. Starscream's actor was also G.I. Joe's Cobra Commander, the same season, the same studio. The real story of the 1984 Sunbow cast, verified against tfwiki.net, IMDb and behindthevoiceactors.com.
98G1 episodes, 1984-87
10Actors Profiled
17Roles, One Man
Also Voiced G.I. Joe
★ The Multi-Character Legends
Three actors, twenty-five characters between them.
Sunbow, Marvel Productions and Toei Animation ran a small repertory company. These three actors alone account for a quarter of every named voice on the original series.
17 characters, one actor
Frank Welker
Megatron, Soundwave, Skywarp, Rumble, Frenzy, Ravage, Laserbeak, Buzzsaw, Mixmaster, Ratbat, Mirage, Trailbreaker, Sludge, Wheelie, Galvatron, Chromedome and Pinpointer - the biggest voice-count in the franchise, full breakdown below.
6 characters, one actor
Michael Bell
Prowl, Sideswipe, Swoop, Bombshell, Scrapper and First Aid - hero and villain roles from three different Transformer factions, one voice.
2 shows, one villain actor
Chris Latta
Starscream on Transformers and Cobra Commander on G.I. Joe, the same season, the same Sunbow/Marvel Productions stable - the definitive proof these two shows shared a company of actors.
★ Interactive Cast Explorer
Ten actors, every character they voiced.
Tap any actor for the full character list, a bio, their other famous roles, and, where a real clip exists, the character in their own words.
Other notable roles
★ Two Shows, One Stable
Transformers and G.I. Joe shared a voice cast.
The Transformers and G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero were both produced the same season by the Sunbow/Marvel Productions/Toei Animation NYC pipeline, recording in the same studios with largely the same company of actors. Nobody proves that closer than Chris Latta, who voiced scheming Decepticon Starscream on one show and the villain of the entire other franchise, Cobra Commander, on the other - two of the most iconic 1980s cartoon villains, one actor, the same year.
He was far from alone. Frank Welker voiced more than a dozen Decepticons and Autobots on Transformers and also lent his range to Copperhead, Junkyard, Timber, Wild Bill and Rock 'n Roll on G.I. Joe. Michael Bell (Prowl, Duke) and Corey Burton (Shockwave, Tomax) even played opposite each other as G.I. Joe's villainous Crimson Twins, Xamot and Tomax - two Transformers actors, one set of twins, on the other show. Gregg Berger, Dan Gilvezan and Neil Ross round out the list: in all, seven of the ten actors on this page also have a G.I. Joe credit.
gijoe.army, transformers.tv's sibling site in the Hero80 network, runs the same story from the other side - see the Sunbow G.I. Joe cast for the full G.I. Joe-side dossier.
of 10 profiled actors also voiced G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero
★ One Man, Dozens of Voices
Frank Welker: one man, dozens of voices.
17 named G1 characters, one actor
No actor on the original Transformers touched more of the cast than Frank Welker. He voiced Decepticon leader Megatron and communications officer Soundwave at once - the faction's top two commanders, the same voice - plus Soundwave's own cassette minions Rumble, Frenzy, Ravage, Laserbeak and Buzzsaw, fellow Decepticons Skywarp, Mixmaster and Ratbat, and, on the Autobot side of the war he was simultaneously voicing against, Mirage, Trailbreaker and Dinobot Sludge. When the 1986 movie shook up the cast, Welker added Wheelie, then took over the resurrected Megatron's new form, Galvatron, for the post-movie run, plus Chromedome and Pinpointer.
That is a career-defining feat even inside a single cartoon - and Transformers is a footnote in Welker's wider career. With around 850 screen credits since the 1960s, he is the original and still-current Fred Jones in Scooby-Doo (since 1969), has voiced Scooby-Doo himself since 2002, is Curious George and Garfield (succeeding Bill Murray in 2007), and voices Nibbler on Futurama. Few actors, on any show, have ever carried this much of a cast alone.
MegatronSoundwaveRumbleFrenzyRavageLaserbeakBuzzsawSkywarpMixmasterRatbatMirageTrailbreakerSludgeWheelieGalvatronChromedomePinpointer
★ Hear Them In Character
Five actors, five real clips.
Sourced from the official Hasbro Pulse YouTube archive. Press a clip to play.
Frank Welker
Hasbro Pulse official archive: "War of the Dinobots" - Megatron and the Decepticons at their most ruthless.
Megatron
Chris Latta
Hasbro Pulse official archive: "Fire in the Sky" - Starscream's scheming reaches new heights.
Starscream
Dan Gilvezan
Hasbro Pulse official archive: "S.O.S. Dinobots" - Bumblebee in the thick of the fight.
Bumblebee
Gregg Berger
Hasbro Pulse official archive: "Best of Grimlock" character compilation - the Dinobot leader at his hammiest.
Grimlock
★ More Voices of Cybertron
The cast didn't stop in 1987.
Even the live-action and CG eras still needed voice actors for the robot characters. Full human casts live at the movie hub, not here.
Beast Wars: Transformers (1996-99)
Who Still Voiced Someone, the Live-Action Era (2007-2017)
Peter Cullen
Optimus Prime (voice)
Returned to the role for every live-action film since 2007.
View film →Hugo Weaving
Megatron (voice)
The live-action Decepticon leader, 2007-2011.
View film →The New Wave (2018-Today)
Ron Perlman
Optimus Primal (voice)
Brought the Maximal leader into the live-action continuity, Rise of the Beasts (2023).
View film →Chris Hemsworth
Orion Pax / Optimus Prime (voice)
Transformers One (2024), his first animated feature role.
View film →Brian Tyree Henry
D-16 / Megatron (voice)
Transformers One (2024).
View film →★ Frequently Asked
Everything people ask about the voice cast.
Who voiced Optimus Prime in the original 1984 cartoon?
Peter Cullen, who has returned to the role in every Transformers production since, including the live-action films that started in 2007. He also voiced Ironhide on the same original series.
Is it true one actor voiced both Megatron and Soundwave?
Yes. Frank Welker voiced Megatron, Soundwave and around fifteen more characters on the original series, including Soundwave's own cassette minions Rumble, Frenzy, Ravage, Laserbeak and Buzzsaw. See the full breakdown below.
Which Transformers voice actors also worked on G.I. Joe?
Seven of the ten actors profiled on this page also voiced characters on G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, made by the same Sunbow/Marvel Productions/Toei Animation stable the same season: Frank Welker, Chris Latta, Michael Bell, Corey Burton, Dan Gilvezan, Gregg Berger and Neil Ross.
Who voiced Starscream, and is he related to Cobra Commander?
Both were voiced by the same actor, Chris Latta (credited as Christopher Collins). He played Starscream on Transformers and Cobra Commander on G.I. Joe in the same 1984-85 season.
Who has voiced Optimus Prime across the decades?
Peter Cullen originated the role in 1984 and still voices him in the live-action films. Garry Chalk voiced the related character Optimus Primal in Beast Wars, and Chris Hemsworth voiced a young Optimus (Orion Pax) in the 2024 animated film Transformers One.
Where can I actually hear these actors in character?
See "Hear Them In Character" below - five actors, five real clips from the official Hasbro Pulse YouTube archive, playable right on this page.