George Young Newbern (born December 30, 1964 in Little Rock, Arkansas) is an American actor who has worked both on-screen and as a voice actor. As an on-screen actor, he's best known as Bryan MacKenzie in the Father of the Bride movies, Danny the Yeti on Friends, and Charlie in Scandal. As a voice actor he started his career as Ren on The Pirates of Dark Water. However, as a voice actor, he's best known as the voice of Superman and Sephiroth.
His tenure as Superman started on Justice League, when he replaced Tim Daly, who'd voiced the character on Superman: The Animated Series, but was busy with other obligations. After a rough start during the first season of Justice League and a lot of complaining from fans, Newbern found his footing during the show's second season and was then embraced by fans as being a perfectly good Superman in his own right. Much like Daly did in Superman: Brainiac Attacks, the Superman/Batman movies and Justice League: Doom, Newbern has also reprised the role of Superman in The Batman, Superman/Shazam!: The Return of Black Adam, Superman vs. the Elite, the Injustice series, and later DLC for DC Universe Online.
As Sephiroth, he first got the role for Kingdom Hearts II after he impressed the producers as Mevyn Nooj in Final Fantasy X-2, replacing Lance Bass, who voiced him in Kingdom Hearts. Newbern also voiced Sephiroth in Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, Crisis Core, Dissidia Final Fantasy, Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy, and Dissidia Final Fantasy NT.
Other credits include Apollo 14 astronaut Stu Roosa in From the Earth to the Moon and the voice of the title character of the infamous Theodore Rex.
Notable Roles from George Newbern:
- Switching Channels: Siegenthaler
- The DC Animated Universe, The Batman, Superman/Shazam!: The Return of Black Adam, Superman vs. the Elite, the Injustice series, MultiVersus, and (later on) DC Universe Online: Superman
- Kingdom Hearts II, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, Crisis Core, Dissidia Final Fantasy, Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy, and Dissidia Final Fantasy NT: Sephiroth
- Father of the Bride (1991): Bryan MacKenzie
- Scandal: Charlie
- The Pirates of Dark Water: Ren
- Friends: Danny the Yeti
- Cold Case: Bill Huxley 1979
- NUMB3RS: Brendan McCrary
- Medium: Dr. Thomas O'Bannon
- CSI: Miami: Kevin Weaver
- Grey's Anatomy: Stan Mercer
- Record of Ragnarok: Hercules
- Final Fantasy X-2: Mevyn Nooj
- Saw VI: Harold Abbott
- From the Earth to the Moon: Stu Roosa
- Theodore Rex: Theodore Rex
- The DC Animated Movie Universe: Steve Trevor (replaced by Jeffrey Donovan)
Tropes associated with George Newbern's roles:
- The Other Darrin: How Newbern first got the roles of Superman and Sephiroth. Tim Daly, who first voiced the DC Animated Universe version of Superman in Superman: The Animated Series, was busy with a short-lived revival of The Fugitive when Justice League first began, so Newbern was cast instead. He replaced Lance Bass of *NSYNC fame as Sephiroth for Kingdom Hearts II. His return as Superman in DC Universe Online was also this, replacing Adam Baldwin (who himself first voiced the character in Superman: Doomsday).
- Playing Against Type: His two best known roles are that of the Hope Bringer Superman and the Breakout Villain Sephiroth.
- What Could Have Been:
- He read for the part of Marty McFly in Back to the Future before Michael J. Fox was cast.
- He was considered to reprise the role of Superman for Justice League: Doom, but according to
Andrea Romano, he was unavailable, so ironically, Tim Daly voiced Superman.
