Don LaFontaine [voice actor]
Don LaFontaine
Born: August 26, 1940 (1940-08-26) (age 67)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...States.svg.png Duluth, Minnesota
Occupation: Voice actor
Spouse: Nita Whitaker
Children: Skye Donielle LaFontaine, Elyse Kathlyn LaFontaine
Donald LaFontaine (born August,1940 in Duluth, Minnesota) is an American voice actor famous for recording over 5,000 movie trailers, television commercials, network promotions, and video game trailers. His signature voice is both ominous and sonorous. Due to the sheer volume of trailer voiceovers LaFontaine has recorded, he has become identified with the phrase "In a world...", which has been used in movie trailers so frequently that it has become a cliché. He has also parodied this clichè several times, more recently in a commercial for GEICO insurance.
LaFontaine has stated that his favorite work in a movie trailer was for the hit biopic film The Elephant men
Life and career
His career began as a recording engineer at the National Recording Studios, where he had the opportunity to work with Floyd Peterson producing promo spots for Dr. Strangelove. Peterson incorporated many of LaFontaine’s ideas for the spots, and not long after, they went into business together. While working on the 1964 western Gunfighters of Casa Grande, LaFontaine had to fill in for an unavailable voice actor to finish a client’s presentation. Not long after, the client bought the spots, and LaFontaine’s career as a voice actor had been sealed. Prior and into the 1970s, LaFontaine developed his signature style of a strong narrative approach, and heavy melodramatic coloration of his voice work.
LaFontaine’s signature voice has commanded a busy schedule. He is said to voice about 60 promotions a week, and sometimes as many as 35 in a single day. It has been said that his voice-over can add prestige and excitement to what may otherwise be a "snoozer" movie. Most studios are willing to pay a high fee for his service, thanks in no small part to his rigorous efforts and golden voice. His income is reportedly in the millions.
Famous for being driven to voice-over jobs in a personalized limo with a full time driver, so as not to waste time parking and going from job to job, more recently he has begun recording many promotions from his own palatial estate in the Hollywood Hills, saving the time from traveling to many high-profile recording studios. This is due to the advent of ISDN codec technology that allows talent to communicate with high clarity in real time to studios around the world, and to the Internet where a file can be recorded and e-mailed to a studio within seconds.
Similar voice actors Ashton Smith, Hal Douglas and Peter Cullen have all been categorized as being a close copy to the style of LaFontaine, and are sometimes confused with LaFontaine.
Links:
Official:http://www.donlafontaine.com
Imdb: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0480963/
Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_LaFontaine
Leuk filmpje:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQRtuxdfQHw
http://swindlemagazine.com/images/don-lafontaine.jpg
