Redd Pepper

Redd Pepper
Born
Richardson Green

(1961-06-23) 23 June 1961 (age 63)
OccupationVoice actor
Years active1996–present

Richardson Green (born 23 June 1961), known professionally as Redd Pepper, is a Barbadian-British voice actor. With his unusually deep voice and vocal style similar to that of Don LaFontaine, he is known for his work on movie trailers.

Early life

Pepper was born Richardson Green in Barbados on 23 June 1961,[1] and moved to London as a child. He has six sisters and three brothers.[1] He attended Sedgehill School in the Lewisham area of London. His first job was at a McDonald's, after which he spent six months as a firefighter. He then became a train driver on the London Underground.[1] He later claimed to have become bored very easily during this job, and would prank passengers by stopping the train between stations, turning off the lights, and talking over the loudspeakers: "I used to say stuff like: 'This is your driver speaking... or is it?' in a really spooky voice."[1]

Career

In 1996, a television executive was a passenger on a London Underground train being driven by Pepper; upon hearing his voice over the loudspeakers, the man gave Pepper his business card and asked Pepper to call him.[1] This led to numerous jobs providing voiceovers for TV channels and adverts, and he began voicing film trailers soon after, with his first being Space Jam.[2] He also voiced Mike LeRoi/Shadow Man in the video game Shadow Man.

Pepper came to prominence when he was mistaken for Hollywood voice artist Don LaFontaine following his voice work on the trailers for Armageddon and Independence Day.[3] He has also appeared onstage as an actor, having acted in an Edinburgh Festival production of Jeffrey Archer's Prison Diaries. On 24 December 2010, he appeared on a celebrity edition of the BBC quiz show Eggheads. When asked if he missed being a train driver, he responded, "I make £3,000 to £4,000 per movie trailer. What do you think?"[1]

In October 2015, Pepper briefly replaced Peter Dickson as the voiceover of British reality show The X Factor. However, he was only present as a voiceover at Judges' Houses, as Dickson returned at the end of the month. In April 2017, he served as announcer during Bradley Walsh's week of hosting The Nightly Show.

Personal life

Redd is a supporter of football club Aston Villa F.C.[4]

Filmography

Film trailers

Year Title Notes
1996 Independence Day UK dub
Space Jam
1997 The Lost World: Jurassic Park
Men in Black
Boogie Nights
1998 Armageddon
1999 The Blair Witch Project
2005 Are We There Yet?
2007 Are We Done Yet?
Mr. Bean's Holiday

Film

Year Title Role Notes
2004 Boo, Zino & the Snurks Bramph (voice) English dub
2019 Serenity Plymouth DJ (voice)

Television

Year Title Role Notes
2007 Deadline Himself 1 episode
2008 The Culture Show Himself 1 episode
2010 Celebrity Eggheads Himself
2011 The One Show 1 episode
2013 Never Mind the Buzzcocks 1 episode
Golden Joystick Awards: The Briefing Narrator
2014 How to be epic at everything Himself 1 episode
2014–2015 Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway Himself 2 episodes
2015 The X Factor Announcer
2017 The Nightly Show Himself 5 episodes
2017–2019 Pointless Celebrities 2 episodes
2021 Big Fat Quiz of Everything Himself 1 episode
2021 Life of a Teddy Bear Harriet Bear 1 episode
2021 Flamingo Fantasies Hamilton 28 episodes
2022 Virgin Atlantic TV advert "I Am What I Am" Passenger reading newspaper[5] 1 advert

Video games

Year Title Role Ref
1999 Shadow Man Mike/Shadow Man
2000 Imperium Galactica II: Alliances Additional voices
Blade Blade [6]
Gothic Drax
2001 Shadow Man: 2econd Coming Mike/Shadow Man
2002 Vietcong Additional voices
2004 Vietcong: Fist Alpha Additional voices
Vietcong: Purple Haze Additional voices
2017 Mass Effect: Andromeda Additional voices
2023 Baldur's Gate 3 Sarevok Anchev [7]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Dom Joly (2007). "Sound of the Underground" (PDF). Deadline. pp. 8 & 9. Retrieved 4 August 2007.
  2. ^ "Meet Redd Pepper, the voice over artist behind some of the biggest movie trailers". CBC Radio. 21 August 2018. Retrieved 30 November 2021.
  3. ^ Jones, Monique (6 August 2018). "Meet Redd Pepper, The Iconic Voiceover Artist Behind Hollywood's Biggest Trailers". Shadow & Act. Retrieved 30 November 2021.
  4. ^ "Movie trailer man Redd Pepper's booming brilliance on AVTV". acfc.co.uk. 22 March 2011. Retrieved 14 August 2023.
  5. ^ "Virgin Atlantic Advert, Music & Singer – I Am What I Am – TV Advert Songs".
  6. ^ "Redd Pepper - 2 Character Images". Behind The Voice Actors.
  7. ^ Larian Studios (3 August 2023). Baldur's Gate 3. Scene: Credits.