Biography

As an Emmy-winning voice director, casting director, and award-winning actor, Charlie Adler is one of the industry’s most formidable and sought-after talents. 

After decades of dedication and passion for his craft, he’s become known for his versatility and his ability to work in a wide variety of genres.

Named “Top 13 All-Time Voice-Over Artists” by Animation Magazine, “Voice of the Decade” by Animation World News, and honored by the Society of Voice Arts & Sciences with the “Voice Arts Lifetime Achievement Award” in 2022, Charlie is undisputedly at the top of the animation world and continues to love every minute!

Voice Directing

Currently, is voice-directing the 8th season of Blaze and the Monster Machines (Nick Jr.; directed Sherri Shepherd’s 2022 Emmy-nominated performance), Superkitties (Silvergate Media/Disney Junior), as well as Kaley Cuoco’s performance in DC’s animated series Harley Quinn. 

He’s also thrilled to be voice-directing the forthcoming series the forthcoming series Unicorn Academy (Spin Master/Netflix); the Bedrock pilot (Warner Bros. Animation/Fox Entertainment) starring Elizabeth Banks, Stephen Root, Amy Sedaris, Nicole Byer, Joe Lo Truglio, and Manny Jacinto; James Gunn’s animated series Creature Commandos (DC Studios); while continuing to direct Nickelodeon’s Rugrats reboot — the franchise that earned him his first Emmy for Best Direction. 

Previously, Charlie voice-directed Kung Fu Panda: The Paws of Destiny (DreamWorks Animation Television) for which he earned another Emmy nomination for Best Direction. 

He also voice-directed Madagascar: A Little Wild (DreamWorks Animation Television; directed Tucker Chandler & Amir O’Neil’s 2022 Emmy-nominated performances) and Noah Jupe & Natasha Demetriou’s performances in The Magician’s Elephant (Netflix).

Historically, Charlie has worked extensively with Klasky Csupo, voice-directing all their franchise series and feature films, including the Emmy-Award winning Rugrats series, The Wild Thornberrys starring Lacey Chabert & Tim Curry, Rugrats Pre School Daze, Rocket Power, All Grown Up!, as well as numerous pilots. 

For Disney, Charlie voice-directed The Replacements, The Buzz on Maggie, and Eartha Kitt’s Emmy Award-winning performance in The Emperor’s New School.

Charlie also lent his voice-direction talents to the Emmy-nominated prime-time series The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack (Cartoon Network), the remake of The Nutty Professor starring the legendary Jerry Lewis, and the family film The Blue Elephant starring Carl Reiner and Martin Short. 

Charlie voice-directed four seasons of Bubble Guppies (Nick Jr.), as well as their live stage show, Top Cat: The Movie (Warner Bros), Norm of the North (Lionsgate), the long-form action-adventure Fire Breather (Cartoon Network), and Monster Beach (Cartoon Network), based on the feature film which he also directed.

He also directed Ashley Tisdale in her 2014 Emmy-nominated performance in Sabrina the Teenage Witch (HUB), Tyler Perry’s first animated Madea feature Madea’s Tough Love, Spike TV’s Stripperella starring Pamela Anderson, and Spawn (Film Roman/HBO).

Often, Charlie has served as both casting director and voice director on projects, like  Harriet the Spy (The Jim Henson Company/Apple) starring Beanie Feldstein, Jane Lynch, and Lacey Chabert; Kulapari: An Army of Frogs (Splash / Amazon) featuring Mark Hamill; Wabbit (Warner Bros); Exchange Student Zero (Cartoon Network); Van Partible’s comedy feature Johnny Bravo Goes to Bollywood (Film Roman) starring Jeff Bennett and Brenda Vacarro; the long-form drama Dante’s Inferno; the horror success Dead Space: Downfall; Eloise at the Plaza (Starz) starring Lynn Redgrave; and Holly Hobbie and Friends: Christmas Wishes with Jane Lynch.

In the adult comedy genre, Charlie produced Hot in Cleveland’s first animated episode, and voice directed and cast numerous prime-time pilots for Fox, MTV, and Adult Swim. 

In the world of publishing, Charlie directed Della Reese in an Alicia Keyes production of the audiobook for Lee Lee and Mama Mae’s Blue Moon, and also directed and voiced 14 characters in the children’s audiobook classic Sweet Pickles.

He’s even voice-directed video games, including two Marvel Super Hero Squad games for THQ.  

Acting

As a voice actor, Charlie has appeared as series regular in over 125 animated series, often playing opposite himself. 

Most recently, he voiced three roles in Berkeley Breathed’s forthcoming animated feature Hitpig, alongside Rainn Wilson, RuPaul, Lilly Sigh, and Hannah Gadsby, directed by David Feiss.

Previously, he was nominated for an Annie Award for his multiple roles as Cow, Chicken, and The Red Guy in the Emmy-nominated series Cow and Chicken, was Baboon in I.M. Weasel (opposite Michael Dorn), played five roles in the G.I. Joe: Resolute series, and reprised the role of Cobra Commander in G.I. Joe Renegades (Hasbro / The Hub).

He also has a long history with the Transformers franchise, from voicing several characters in the animated series in the 80s to voicing Starscream in Michael Bay’s live-action blockbusters and in Universal Studios’ “Transformers: The Ride 3D”.

Other iconic characters that Charlie is known for are: Buster Bunny in Steven Spielberg's Tiny Toon Adventures, Ickis in Aaahh!!! Real Monsters, and Ed and Bev Bighead in Rocko’s Modern Life. 

He also played Mr. Whiskers in Disney’s Brandy & Mr. Whiskers, two roles in Jakers! The Adventures of Piggley Winks for PBS, Modok on Disney’s Avengers Assemble,

and Dr. Doom and his mother Coco Von Doom in Marvel’s The Super Hero Squad Show.

Charlie has also been an original Smurf, a Glow Friend, played several roles in the original My Little Pony series and three different villains (Eric Raymond, Zipper, Techrat) in Jem and the Holograms, and was thrilled to be in Ralph Bakshi’s cult classic feature Cool World, playing Brad Pitt’s neurotic sidekick “Nails.” 

Other Work

Apart from his extensive work in animation, Charlie recently appeared on stage in a series of live performances in Palm Beach Symphony’s  production of The Shoe Bird, a musical fable based on the only children's book ever written by Pulitzer Prize winning author Eudora Welty. Charlie played the role of narrator as well as 14 other characters, and was joined by a 30-voice chorus from Young Singers of the Palm Beaches. The ensemble was led by the Symphony's Music Director and acclaimed American conductor Gerard Schwarz and aired on PBS stations nationwide.

Charlie also directed, co-wrote, and starred in the independent live-action short No Prom for Cindy, which screened in over 45 prestigious film festivals worldwide and won numerous awards in Acting and Directing categories. The movie was even incorporated into San Francisco State University’s Film Department curriculum. 

Charlie began his acting career in New York in his teens.  At age 19, Charlie was a member of Allan Albert’s groundbreaking improv company The Proposition, then was fortunate to co-star with comedy legend Imogene Coca and Rita Rudner in Once Upon a Mattress.  Off-Broadway, he starred in the hit Family Business at the Astor Place Theatre for a year.

His breakthrough role was starring on Broadway in Torch Song Trilogy as successor to Harvey Fierstein and toured in the First National Company which earned him a Helen Hayes Award nomination for Best Actor. 

He also toured as Edward Albee’s complex anti-hero psychopath in Zoo Story, and co-starred with Professor Irwin Corey in Neil Simon’s God’s Favorite.

Additionally, he has played Israel Horovitz’s Hero in Dr. Hero (yet another disturbed soul), the Emcee in Cabaret, and in the very distant past, the Artful Dodger in Oliver!

On television, Charlie was a regular on the short-lived The Redd Foxx Show, assumed the roles of three generations of sons in Then and Now (PBS), and played an obsessive photographer in 1st & Ten. He also guest-starred on Hot in Cleveland in the two-part “I Love Lucci” opposite fellow guest star Susan Lucci.

In his youth (when he had brown hair and eyelids), Charlie was a familiar face in dozens television commercials for Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, IBM, GE, Big Red gum, and Safeguard soap.

As a writer, Charlie has co-written episodes of Tiny Toon Adventures, as well as his critically acclaimed one-man show There Used to Be Fireflies, in which he played eleven characters and won two Dramalogue Awards for Best Actor and Best Set Design.

In the early 70s in NYC, Charlie worked as a nude model at The Art Students League to pay for his drawing classes, served drinks at Studio 54, and baked bread and quiche for (ahem) a “house of ill repute”, and was the worst waiter on record… ANYWHERE! 

In his twenties, Charlie also proudly worked as a janitor at a huge church complex in Nyack, New York, while living on a houseboat docked on the mighty Hudson River.

Currently, in addition to his ongoing directing and acting work, Charlie is thrilled to continue teaching his sold-out “Acting for Animation” classes, while also making appearances and hosting acting seminars at conventions worldwide.

When he’s not doing any of these things, Charlie paints and obsesses on his dogs in an attempt to calm down and remember just who in the hell he is.