René Alberto Pinochet Mendoza (born March 8th, 1977) is a Chilean voice actor and probably the most famous Latin American voice actors from this country, being mostly known for being the voice of Avatar Aang in Avatar: The Last Airbender.
Pinochet was born prematurely, and as such, his voice did not change until well into his adult life. As a result, many of his roles are child characters. He started in 1998 in Chile usually voicing children for commercials, but later he started to work on films and series (most of them dubbed in Chile) as well local productions, also working on Mexico between 2011 and 2012. In 2015 he sufered a late grownth and he changed his distintive childish voice, but he still keeps some of it and is active until today.
Some of Pinochet's roles include:
Anime
- Kinnikuman as Mito
- Midnight Horror School as Piranin
- Pokémon the Series: Black & White as Luke
- Sonic X as Christopher Thorndyke
- Sorcerer Stabber Orphen as Maris (also made additional voices)
- Tenchi Muyo! as Young Tenchi and Tenchi's cousin Tayro (ep. 1), as well additional voices
- You're Under Arrest! as Yutaka and Kasuhiro Shito (ep. 18), as well additional voices
- Zoids: Chaotic Century as Prince Rudolph
- Zoids: New Century as Jamie Hemeros
- Additional voices in Beyblade: Metal Masters and Gakkyu-oh Yamazakinote
Films - Live-Action
- Annie (1999) as Molly
- Halloween (2007) as Young Michael Myers
- Machuca as Gastón (for international distribution)
- Additional voices in John Carter, Margaret, The Three Stooges: The Movie
Live-Action TV
- 40 y tantosnote as Mario Becker (his only entry as a proper actor and not a voice actor)
- LazyTown as Stephanie (first five episodes; later Darrined by Jessica Toledo)
- Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide as Coconut Head
- This Is Daniel Cook as Daniel Cook
- Additional voices in iCarly, Supernanny, Victorious
Western Animation
- American Dragon: Jake Long as Puka Puka
- Avatar: The Last Airbender as Avatar Aang
- ChalkZone as Rudy Tabootie
- Chilean Media:
- Diego y Glot as Ismael Droguett
- Glu Glú as Cangrejorge
- Los Pulentos as Benzo (in the series and in The Movie)
- Ogú and Mampato in Rapa Nui as Mampato
- Muelín y Perlita as Muelín
- Papelucho y el Marcianonote as Papelucho
- Higglytown Heroes as Eubie
- Little Bill as Andrés
- PAW Patrol as Ryder
- Poko as the title role
- The Replacements as Todd Daring
- Ricky Sprocket: Showbiz Boy as Ricky Sprocket
- Sea Princesses as Maurico
- Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go! as Chiro
- ToddWorld as Todd
- Will and Dewitt as Will
- Yin Yang Yo! as Yang
- Additional voices in Transformers: Animated
Tropes related to his roles:
- Actor Allusion: No matter how many roles he did and will do, for many people he always will be Avatar Aang only.
-
Can't Un-Hear It: At least in Chile, you can't hear a children voice without thinking on René. - Child-Like Voice: He still sounded like a child until his 40's.
- Cross-Dressing Voice: Sometimes he had to make girl voices for some series, usually for one episode.
- Distaff Counterpart: Of Laura Torres, the voice of Kid Son Goku and sons.
- Kid Hero: Several of his roles are these, notably Ryder, Aang, and Yang.
- The Leader: He's played a few leader characters, such as Aang and Ryder.
- Product Placement: Being so famous in his native Chile for his childish voice, it's not uncommon hearing him voicing children in hundreds of commercials there. Indeed, his first role was voicing Pierre, the boy from Nestle's Chocapic cereals
◊. - Star-Making Role: Aang, of course.
- Those Two Actors:
- With Vanesa Silva, who shared roles as Yang and Yin, Daring brothers and Ethel and Ricky.
- Also with Jessica Toledo, who sharing roles in a lot of series, starting with Katara and Aang.
- Time-Shifted Actor: In some series, René had to make the young/kid versions of an grownup character.
- Vocal Dissonance: When you meet him in person, you clearly will see he's not a kid anymore.
- Vocal Evolution: Most notably during The New '10s, when he suffered a late grownup and he got an Inopportune Voice Cracking, but the kid voice is still there.
