Kevin Conroy
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Kevin Conroy (born November 30, 1955) is an American actor of stage, screen and voice, best known for his portrayal of DC Comics superhero Batman in numerous animated series and features that comprised the DC animated universe.
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Early life
Born in Westbury, New York, Conroy moved to Westport, Connecticut when he was about 11 years old. He moved to New York in 1973 when he earned a full scholarship to attend Juilliard's famous drama division, where he studied under actor John Houseman (and shared a room with Robin Williams and future Superman actor Christopher Reeve). In 1978, after graduating from Juilliard, he toured with The Acting Company, Houseman's acting group, and, in 1979, he went on the national tour of Ira Levin's Deathtrap.
Career
In 1980, he decided to try his hand in television, and moved out to California. He landed a role in the daytime soap opera Another World. He became associated with the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, California, where he performed in productions of Hamlet and A Midsummer Night's Dream. From 1980 to 1985, he acted in a variety of contemporary and classic theatre pieces, including the Broadway production of Eastern Standard and Lolita. In 1984, he played the title role in Hamlet in the New York Shakespeare Festival. He returned to television in the 1985 TV movie Covenant, and had a role on another daytime soap drama, Search For Tomorrow. He was a series regular on Ohara in 1987, and on Tour of Duty from 1987 to 1988, before starring in a series of television movies. He has also guest starred on shows such as Cheers, Dynasty, Search For Tomorrow, and Matlock.
He almost landed the part of Joe Hackett on the NBC sitcom Wings, but lost out to Tim Daly (who coincidentally later voiced Superman for The WB's animated series Superman: The Animated Series). Kevin was confirmed to be performing on the fourth season of The Venture Brothers.
The Voice of Batman
Conroy is best known to audiences for his role as the voice of Batman in the DC animated universe, a role he held for over 15 years. First playing the part in Batman: The Animated Series (1992-1995), Conroy reprised his role as Batman in later series; The New Batman Adventures (1997-1999), Batman Beyond (1999-2001), Justice League (2001-2004) and Justice League Unlimited (2004-2006). His tenure in the role also included the feature-length animated movies Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993), Batman and Mr Freeze: SubZero (1998), Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker (2000), Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman (2003) and Batman: Gotham Knight (2008). Lastly, he appeared in the role as a guest star in Superman: The Animated Series, Static Shock and The Zeta Project.
In a tally of performances that include every episode, movie, and guest appearance made as the voice of Batman, Conroy has played the character longer than Adam West, Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, George Clooney, and Christian Bale combined.
Additionally, he also voiced Batman in the 2001 revamp of Batman Adventure - The Ride, located at the Warner Bros. Movie World theme park in Queensland, Australia. Conroy also voiced Batman alongside Mark Hamill as The Joker and Jason Hillhouse as Dick Grayson in a feature of a storyboard scene included in the 2005 DVD Special Edition of Tim Burton's Batman film. This scene depicted the origin of Robin, which didn't appear because the producers felt it was out of place with the rest of the film. In the season four premiere of The Batman, Conroy voiced Dick Grayson's father, John.
Like the rest of the main cast from Justice League /Justice League Unlimited, Conroy was not involved with Bruce Timm's 2008 release of Justice League: The New Frontier, although Timm has said it's likely Conroy will return as Batman in future DCAU productions.[2] Later that year, Conroy did return as the voice of Batman for the animated feature Batman: Gotham Knight[3], which takes place between two live-action movies; Batman Begins and its sequel, The Dark Knight.[1]
Personal life
Conroy's hobbies include traveling, running, cycling, and painting. In his spare time, he also does work with foster kids. He has two brothers and one sister, as well as a chocolate Labrador named Bear.
In recent years, he has pursued a writing career.
He took part in the California AIDSRide from San Francisco to Los Angeles.[citation needed]
After the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York, Kevin helped out in the relief efforts by volunteering to do cooking duties for officers and firefighters.[4] On the Batman: Gotham Knight DVD's commentary, he told the story about it, and how another cook found out he was Batman. He asked if he could tell everyone, and Conroy agreed, though he thought no one would even know who he was. When the officers and firefighters heard he was the voice of Batman, he said everyone was very excited to find out. They began telling him what their favorite episodes were, and how they had watched the show with their kids, and he said it was the first time he had seen any of them smile or laugh since September 11th a week earlier.