(previous interviews in this series can be found here.)

Welcome to another installment of Questions From a Kid. Today, Zoey chats with legendary voice actor Jim Cummings. Jim has given life to hundreds of characters, but he’s best known as the voice of Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Darkwing Duck, and Pete.

He’s also the voice behind Hondo Ohnaka on Star Wars: The Clone Wars, the Tasmanian Devil, Tantor the Elephant on the Tarzan TV series, various characters on Sofia the First, Curious George, and on and on and on. The list is seemingly endless.

It’s no understatement to say that Jim Cummings is the voice of many childhoods. Scroll through his filmography on IMDb and you’ll undoubtedly find a show or movie you know and love. Many of the roles for which he is most well known are not original to him. He took over Winnie the Pooh in 1988, Tigger in 1990, and the Tasmanian Devil in 1991 (after Sterling Holloway, Paul WInchell, and Mel Blanc created those distinctive voices).

Cummings

Many kids today know those characters only in their Jim Cummings incarnations, but — to his credit — there’s very little difference between Cummings’s take and the originals. That’s testament to his uncanny talent with voices.

However, for yours truly — who was obsessed with the Disney Afternoon in the 90s — he’ll always be Darkwing Duck…and Don Karnage (Talespin)…..and Monterey Jack (Rescue Rangers)….and Zummi Gummi (Gummi Bears).

Zoey had a chance to chat with Jim at this year’s Awesome-Con DC (where she also chatted with Jess Harnell, who is mentioned in this video). Yeah, we both geeked out a little bit.

As always, all questions are Zoey’s. I simply prompt her with “clue words” so she can remember. (Make sure you turn on subtitles if you can’t make out Zoey’s questions.)

Thanks so much to Jim Cummings for taking the time to chat with Zoey and to Zach McGinnis and Ben Penrod for helping to arrange the interview!

 

Jamie Greene
Jamie is a publishing/book nerd who makes a living by wrangling words together into some sense of coherence. Away from The Roarbots, Jamie is a road trip aficionado and an obsessed traveler who has made his way through 33 countries (and counting). Elsewhere on the interwebs, he's a contributor to SYFY Wire and StarWars.com and hosted The Great Big Beautiful Podcast for more than five years. Watch The Roarbots on Youtube

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