John DiMaggio

John DiMaggio was born in North Plainfield in 1968. Before becoming one of California's most in-demand voices, he performed with the comedy duo Red Johnny and the Round Guy. That stint in New York clubs sharpened the improv skills he would later bring to recording studios around the world.

In 1999, his audition for Futurama changed the course of his career. He wasn't looking to play a robot. But the casting directors heard his lovable drunk voice and decided that Bender Bending Rodríguez couldn't sound any other way.

It was a purely instinctive casting decision.

The Business of Vocal Cords

In 2006, he took on the role of Marcus Fenix in the video game Gears of War. Filming the combat scenes was a physical challenge because of the amount of yelling and guttural noises the script demanded. That first installment sold more than five million copies worldwide.

DiMaggio has always preferred studio work over being in front of the camera. The recording booth lets him play creatures, villains and square-jawed antiheroes that his nearly six-foot-three frame would never get him on live-action screen. So he specialized in monsters, bad guys and antiheroes.

The industry considers him a master of noise.

Taking on the major studios

In 2010, he began voicing Jake the Dog in Adventure Time. The project ran for nearly a decade and required him to shift his range toward higher, more melodic tones. The series ended in 2018 with two hundred and eighty-three episodes recorded.

In 2022, he made headlines with a labor dispute when he negotiated his return for the revival of Futurama on Hulu. The actor demanded a pay raise that reflected the real value of his contribution to the show. After weeks of uncertainty, he reached a financial agreement that let him reprise his role in 2023.

His work in big-budget studio films grew over the decades. In 2023, he voiced Stratosphere in Transformers: Rise of the Beasts. That same year, he also appeared in the animated film The Super Mario Bros. Movie, voicing Uncle Arthur.

In 2024, his schedule stayed packed with new episodes of Futurama and his recurring role on Disenchantment. The average gross pay for a four-hour recording session for an actor at his level is around five thousand dollars.