Brian George
| Brian George 'בריאן ג'ורג | |
|---|---|
.jpg) George in 2011 | |
| Born |
1 July 1952 Jerusalem, Israel |
| Occupation | Actor, voice actor |
| Years active | 1975–present |
Brian George (Hebrew: בריאן ג'ורג'; born 1 July 1952) is an English actor and voice actor for Indian accents, who typically plays guest roles for characters of South Asian descent. Perhaps his most famous roles are Pakistani restaurateur Babu Bhatt on Seinfeld and the New Delhi gynecologist father of Raj Koothrappali on The Big Bang Theory.
Early life
George was born in Jerusalem, Israel, to Jewish parents of Iraqi descent who had emigrated to Israel. His mother was born in India and his father was born in Lebanon but was brought up in Mumbai. A year after his birth, the family moved from Israel to London, and then to Toronto, Ontario, Canada, in 1966. George is the youngest of four siblings.
He attended an all-boys school in London, but made the switch to a public co-ed high school when the family moved to Toronto. He attended the University of Toronto, where he was active in the university's theatre productions. George left before graduation and formed a theatre group; unsuccessful, he moved on to join the Second City, where he trained with John Candy, among others.
Television, voiceover and film work
George appeared as a United Nations secretary on Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, as Julian Bashir's father in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Doctor Bashir, I Presume?", and on a recurring basis as Raj's father in The Big Bang Theory. In 2006 he landed a recurring role as Sasan's father Omid on the VH1 sitcom So NoTORIous. He also did the voiceover of Bob Fish, in the last two series of the U.K. / Canadian animated series Bob and Margaret
He had appeared on numerous other sitcoms including Seinfeld, where he appeared in three episodes as Babu Bhatt, an immigrant who is deported to Pakistan because of Elaine Benes' failure to give Jerry Seinfeld his mail in time, which contained Babu's visa application. He returned in the series finale to testify against Jerry. He also appeared in two episodes of Ellen as Ranjit, a member of the book club that gathered in Ellen's book shop.
He had a recurring role as newsman "Hugh Persons" on Doctor, Doctor during the series' second season.
He made a one-time guest appearance in Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda in the first season as Wayist religious leader Vikram Singh Khalsa. This was developed by Robert Hewitt Wolfe who worked on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. He also appeared in One Tree Hill as Brooke's taxi driver when she went to launch her clothes in New York.
He has also done voiceover work in animated shows such as Batman: The Animated Series (as musician turned gangster Jimmy "The Jazzman" Peake); Handy Manny; Kim Possible playing antagonist Duff Killigan, a Scotsman who uses exploding golf balls when attacking Kim and Ron Stoppable, Kim's sidekick; Avatar: The Last Airbender as Guru Pathik; Batman Beyond; Justice League (voicing Parasite in style similar to the late Brion James, the first voice actor of Parasite; and portraying Morgan Edge and President George W. Bush), M.A.S.K., Invader Zim, and Jedi Master Ki-Adi Mundi in Season 2 of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. He has also appeared in video games like Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Baldur's Gate, Ultimate Spider-Man, Mass Effect 3, Everquest II and Final Fantasy XIV. Early in his acting career, he was among the cast of 1985's The Care Bears Movie and made guest appearances in the Canadian television series The Edison Twins, The Littlest Hobo, Comedy Factory and King of Kensington.
He also took over the voice of Bob Fish in the Anglo-Canadian animated comedy series Bob and Margaret and The Inspector in the 1993 revival series of The Pink Panther. He played a guru in the film Inspector Gadget where he is training with Inspector Gadget in order to control his gadgets and tells him to grab two balls with his expanding arm and Gadget does so, but instead, he accidentally crushes the guru's crotch, causing him to get a high-pitched voice. He is then hospitalized.
He also made a small guest appearance in the second season of The Mentalist, in episode 16, entitled 'Code Red', he played a professor working at the Northern California Technology Institute. His most recent appearances include the role of Mr. Pashmutt on Desperate Housewives (in the 2005 episode "You Could Drive a Person Crazy"), Ali on American Dad! (in the 2005 episode "Stan of Arabia") and Captain Barbossa in Kingdom Hearts II and Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. He also appeared on The 4400 in the third season episode "The Starzl Mutation". Also appeared in the St. Valentine's Day episode of Grey's Anatomy as a carrier waiter in love with another patient, but ends up dying of complications towards the end of the episode.
He also voiced Sahin the Falcon and Stuart Black in Age of Empires III and is also the voice of Fareed "Freddie" Abdul Salaam (a taxi driver and informant) in the game True Crime: New York City. He plays a short tempered convenience store owner in the 2001 film Ghost World. He also plays the role of "Iqbal" in the 2006 film Employee Of The Month.
He played "Pushpop", an Indian ice cream vendor, in the 2001 film Bubble Boy. He also played the culturally diverse (Sikh-Catholic-Muslim mix with Jewish in-laws) bartender who counselled the priest played by Edward Norton through a crisis of faith in the 2000 film Keeping the Faith. In the 2008 indie romantic comedy Shades of Ray, he played the overbearing Pakistani father to a half-Pakistani, half-Caucasian (Zachary Levi) in the midst of questioning his prior policy of only dating white women.
He also was the foster father of Ricky in the television series The Secret Life of the American Teenager.
In The Penguins of Madagascar, Brian guest stars as the zoo doctor in "Needle Point", "I Was a Penguin Zombie", "Operation: Cooties" and "Love Hurts".
He also appeared on Disney Channel show That's So Raven as Dr. Sleevemore, a "psychic doctor" who treats Raven's vision-related problems. He appeared in 2 episodes. In the season 1 episode "Saving Psychic Raven", Raven starts attending his "Institute for Psychic Research", where she meets other teenage psychics. Raven decides not to go back to there at the end of the episode after an ongoing feud between the psychics and Raven's friends. Dr. Sleevemore is neither seen nor mentioned again until the season 3 episode "Vision Impossible".
He also appeared on the Disney Channel show Phineas and Ferb on the hour long special "Summer Belongs To You" as Uncle Sabu, voiced Mr. Kumar on the Disney Junior show Handy Manny, and voiced a character on the Disney Channel show Mickey Mouse.
He regularly voiced several characters on DC Nation's Green Lantern: The Animated Series, including Appa Ali Apsa, LANOS, and Brother Warth.
He also appeared in the first episode of Beware the Batman, "Hunted", as the villain Professor Pyg, and in Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time as Sly's ancestor, Salim Al-Kupar.
Starting up in 2013, George took up a recurring role in Once Upon a Time in Wonderland as an unnamed prisoner who is later revealed to be the father of the show's principal antagonist: Jafar.
Filmography
Film
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | Roxanne | Doctor | |
| 1989 | Speed Zone | Valentino Rosatti | |
| 1993 | Robin Hood: Men in Tights | Dungeon Maitre'D | |
| 1999 | Inspector Gadget | Sore Guru | |
| 2000 | The Prime Gig | Nasser | |
| 2000 | Keeping the Faith | Paulie Chopra | |
| 2001 | Ghost World | Convenience Store Owner | |
| 2001 | Bubble Boy | Push Pop | |
| 2006 | Crumbs | Dry Cleaner | |
| 2006 | Employee of the Month | Iqbal Raji | |
| 2012 | Hotel Transylvania | Suit of Armor | Voice |
| 2014 | The Boxtrolls | Boulanger | Voice |
| 2014 | Beethoven's Treasure Tail | Trentino | Video |
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | Married... with Children | Chef | Episode: "Look Who's Barking" |
| 1991–98 | Seinfeld | Babu Bhatt | 3 episodes |
| 1992 | Quantum Leap | Ben | Episode: "Moments to Live - May 4, 1985" |
| 1992–1993 | Coach | Rami | 3 episodes |
| 1993–1995 | The Pink Panther | Inspector | 6 episodes |
| 1994 | Melrose Place | Client | Episode: "Love, Mancini Style" |
| 1994–1996 | Weird Science | Mr. Palate | 6 episodes |
| 1995 | Ellen | Ranjit | 2 episodes |
| 1996 | Superman: The Animated Series | Kryptonian Councilman, Eugene | Voice 2 episodes |
| 1997 | Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman | Misha | Episode: "The Family Hour" |
| 1997 | Caroline in the City | Mr. Tedescu | |
| 1997 | Star Trek: Deep Space Nine | Richard Bashir | Episode: "Dr. Bashir, I Presume?" |
| 1999-2001 | Batman Beyond | Samir, Police Leuitanant, Jace, Dr. Pandu Banjahri | Voice 4 Episodes |
| 2000 | The X-Files | Project Doctor | episode: "The Sixth Extinction II: Amor Fati |
| Star Trek: Voyager | Ambassador O'Zaal | 1 episode | |
| 2000–2001 | Bob and Margaret | Bob Fish | Voice Season 3 and Season 4 only |
| 2001 | The Chris Isaak Show | Dr. Ramu Banerjee | |
| 2001–04 | Lloyd in Space | Station | Voice |
| 2001–04 | Justice League | Forian, Parasite, Morgan Edge, Justice Lord President | Voice 3 Episodes |
| 2002–07 | Kim Possible | Duff Killigan | Voice |
| 2003–07 | That's So Raven | Dr. Sleevemore | |
| 2006 | Avatar: The Last Airbender | Guru Pathik | Voice |
| NCIS | Dr. Ameen Temani | Season 4 ep 23 (Trojan Horse) | |
| 2007–present | The Big Bang Theory | Dr. V.M. Koothrappali | Season 1-present (recurring; 10 episodes) |
| 2007 | The 4400 | Claudio Borghi | Episode: "The Starzi Mutation" |
| 2008–2009 | The Spectacular Spider-Man | Aaron Miles Warren |
Voice |
| 2008–2013 | The Secret Life of the American Teenager | Shakur / Dr. Shakur | 14 episodes |
| 2008–2014 | Star Wars: The Clone Wars | King Katuunko Chi Cho Ki-Adi-Mundi |
Voice |
| 2010 | Phineas and Ferb | Uncle Sabu | Voice |
| 2010 | The Mentalist | Professor | Episode: "Code Red" |
| 2011–2013 | Green Lantern: The Animated Series | Appa Ali Apsa Brother Warth LANOS |
Voice |
| 2013 | Once Upon a Time in Wonderland | Old Prisoner | |
| 2013 | Dog with a Blog | Monty Cathcart | Episode: "A New Baby?" |
| 2013–2014 | Beware the Batman | Professor Pyg Liam Taylor |
Voice |
| 2015 | Elementary | Santhosh | 2 episodes |
Video games
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel | Chief vault scientist, Tesla robot, Dubois, Service robot, Hieronymous, Salieri | Voice |
| 2005 | Age of Empires III | Sahin Stuart Black |
Voice |
| 2005 | Kingdom Hearts II | Hector Barbossa | Voice |
| 2007 | Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties | Colonel George Edwardson | Voice |
| 2012 | Diablo III | Abd al-Hazir | Voice |
| 2012 | Dragon Age II: Legacy | Larius | Voice |
| 2012 | Mass Effect 3 | Oleg Petrovsky | Voice |
| 2013 | Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time | Salim Al-Kupar | Voice |
| 2013 | Disney Infinity | Hector Barbossa | Voice |
| 2013 | DuckTales Remastered | Flintheart Glomgold | Voice |
| 2014 | Diablo III: Reaper of Souls | Abd al-Hazir | Voice |
| 2014 | Game of Thrones | Royland Degore Tazal |
Voice |
| 2015 | Disney Infinity 3.0 | Hector Barbossa | Voice[1] |
References
- ↑ Avalanche Software. Disney Infinity 3.0. Scene: Closing credits, 5:39 in, Featuring the Voice Talents of.
External links
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