"Ray Porter is found, Troper, and we will stop at nothing to describe him. Ready the tropes. We will use the old ways."
Ray Porter (born July 9, 1965) is an American actor, voice actor, and audiobook narrator.
A classically trained Thespian, his career went completely under the fame radar for three decades since The '90s, with numerous voice roles in animated series and films created by Richard Rich (religion-related series, Animated Hero Classics and then some), bit roles on film and television and the narration of hundreds of audiobooks.
Then, in 2019 and early 2020 amidst the fan campaigns to release Zack Snyder's version of Justice League, he gained wide attention as it was revealed that Snyder had chosen him to voice Darkseid, of all people.
Works he has appeared in include:
- Murphy Brown (1998) as a young man
- ER (1999-2001) as Sam Broder
- Almost Famous (2000) as Roadie Mick
- The Scarecrow (2000) as Count Grisham (voice)
- Frasier (2001) as Dwayne
- Will & Grace (2002) as Dad
- L.A. Dragnet (2003)
- Monk (2007-2008) as Dale J. Biederbeck III aka "The Whale"
- CSI (2009) as Carl Van Goe
- The Runaways (2010) as a band member
- Sons of Anarchy (2010) as Head Red
- BioShock 2 (2010) as Mark Meltzer
- Medal of Honor (2010) as Gunfighter 06
- Lost: Epilogue - The New Man in Charge (2010) as Glenn
- Justified (2010) as Hestler Jones
- The Little Engine That Could (2011) as the Nightmare Train
- Argo (2012) as First A.D.
- The Mentalist (2014) as Wick Ammon
- Shameless (2014) as Lip's Boss
- Modern Family (2018) as Lazlo
- The Kids Are Alright (2019) as Ernie
- The Sandman (2020) in various roles, including the original Wesley Dodds Sandman, Fiddler’s Green, Hector Hall, and Wildcat.
- Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021) as Darkseid (voice) / ancient human blacksmith
- Naomi (2022) as Brutus
- 9-1-1 (2022) as Eugene
- Rebel Moon (2023)
- Army of the Dead: Lost Vegas (TBA)
Tropes & Trivia about his works:
- Basso Profundo: His voice as Darkseid is very deep.
- Deleted Role:
- He voiced Darkseid for the Justice League film way back in 2016, but the role was axed from the theatrical version. The role was later restored in the HBO Max-released Director's Cut.
- The cameo he did as one of the ancient blacksmiths who built the encasing of the Men's Mother Box in the same movie was also deleted from the theatrical cut, and was also restored in the HBO Max version.
- Typecasting: He has said to often being cast as, in his words, "that '70s guy with a guitar in the background" for his live action roles.
