Early life

Cullen was born on July 28, 1941 in Montreal, Quebec to Henry L. and Muriel (née McCann) Cullen. He has three siblings: Michaela (Mrs. Tomlinson), Sonny, and Larry. Cullen attended Regiopolis-Notre Dame Catholic Secondary School. He is a member of the first graduating class of the National Theatre School of Canada, which graduated in 1963. His brother, Larry Cullen, was a retired Captain in the United States Marine Corps, and helped inspire the voice of Optimus Prime.

Career

1960s-1970s

In 1968, he and Joan Stuart appeared as "Giles" and "Penelope" in Les Anglaises, a recurring segment about a French-Canadian man with an English-Canadian wife, on the CBC Radio comedy series, Funny You Should Say That.

Cullen played a French-Canadian astronaut character named Commander Bi Bi Latuque alongside Ted Zeigler for the 1969 children's show, The Buddies on CFCF-TV in Montreal. He honed his voice skills by working as a radio announcer, notably in his home town of Montreal on (then) MOR station CKGM doing the overnight and weekend swing shifts. From 1967-69, he was the announcer for Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.

From 1971-74, he, Zeigler and Billy Van were series regulars on The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour. In 1974, Cullen was the announcer and a series regular (with Ted Zeigler and Billy Van) on The Hudson Brothers Razzle Dazzle Show. He lent his voice to a character in the album "The Story of Halloween Horror" in 1977.

As Optimus Prime

Cullen recalls auditioning for the role of the robot Optimus Prime at a casting house in Burbank, California, explaining that as he read Prime's character breakdown, he saw that it was "the opportunity of the year", and heeded his brother Larry's advice: "Peter, don't be a Hollywood hero, be a real hero. Real heroes don't yell and act tough; they are tough enough to be gentle, so control yourself." Cullen later learned from his agent, Steve Tisherman, that he not only won the part of Prime, but also, to his surprise, the role of Ironhide as well, which he saw as a "home run".

He has stated that Optimus is his favorite voice role, and that he based the voice of the Autobot leader on his older brother Larry, who served in Vietnam. "When he came home, I could see a change. He was quieter and he was a man and a hero to me," says the actor. "I watched him and listened to him. I'd never had an opportunity to do a superhero, and when that came, just came right out of me and I sounded like Optimus."

He has also stated that he had no idea of Prime's popularity until the character's controversial death in the 1986 animated film, as the studio had never given him fan letters from children addressed to Optimus. The public backlash over Optimus' death surprised producers greatly. Children were leaving the theaters because of the character's death. The writers temporarily revived the character for a single episode in Season 3 called "Dark Awakening". Initially, this was intended to be his final appearance, but after fan requests continued, "The Return of Optimus Prime", a two-part episode was produced. The original ending of "Dark Awakening" was altered in reruns to include a teaser about the return of the character.

Cullen reprised the role of Optimus Prime in the 2007 Transformers live-action film, and its sequels Revenge of the Fallen, Dark of the Moon, and Age of Extinction, as well as the video games based on them. He is contractually obligated to voice Optimus in at least two more sequels.

Cullen again reprised his role as Optimus Prime in the video games Transformers: War for Cybertron, Transformers: Fall of Cybertron and Transformers: Devastation, and in the recent television series Transformers: Prime, Transformers: Rescue Bots and Transformers: Robots in Disguise. His performance in the premiere season of Transformers: Prime earned him a nomination for a 2011 Daytime Emmy Award in the Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program category.

Other work

In the 1980s and the 1990s, Cullen appeared on a number of television shows. He has played Coran, Stride the Tiger Fighter, and King Alfor in the Lion Voltron series, the transforming spaceship/robot Ramrod in the 1980s anime series Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs, Commander James Hawkins in the Vehicle Voltron series, Eeyore in the Winnie-the-Pooh series, KARR in Knight Rider, Antor and Bomba, and Gunner, in Dino-Riders, Airbourne, Nemesis Enforcer and Zandar in G.I. Joe, He played "Mantor/Mantys" in Coleco's 5 episode mini-series Sectaurs in 1986; Red Skull in the 1981 cartoon series of Spider-Man, Klaar and Zanzoar in Megas XLR and Mantus in The Pirates of Dark Water. He also had a voice part in the 1984 motion picture Gremlins, as a gremlin, and the first season of the 2008 Knight Rider series as KARR. He also did voicework in The Greatest Adventure: Stories from the Bible series, notably as Japheth, one of Noah's sons in the "Noah's Ark" episode, and the King of Nineveh in the "Jonah" episode. He was well known by some as the main villain Venger in the animated series of Dungeons and Dragons. He played the evil sorcerer Renwick in the lesser known series Little Wizards and played Cindarr in the short-lived series Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light.

Among many other television series and films, he has also lent his basso voice to many film trailers and television commercials, including announcing for the Toonami and You Are Here blocks on the Cartoon Network. Cullen spent some of his early professional years in Montreal as a radio announcer/DJ on CKGM; and as a character in a then-popular local television kids show. He acted the role of a French-Canadian astronaut, along with writer and his partner on the show, Ted Ziegler. Both Ziegler and Cullen were in the supporting cast of The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour, as well as other network comedies of the era.

He voiced Nintendo's mascot Mario in the Donkey Kong segments on Saturday Supercade, making him the first person to ever provide a voice for the character.

Cullen has done voicework on drum and bass DJ Dieselboy's 2004 album, The Dungeonmaster's Guide, and narration on the 2013 album Tetragrammaton by the Dutch extreme metal band The Monolith Deathcult. He also did voicework for the unreleased Blizzard Entertainment game Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans, and provided narration for the Star Wars fan film series I.M.P.S.: The Relentless.

Cullen is a voice announcer on Police Story 4: First Strike in advertisements for New Line Cinema.

Honors

At BotCon 2010, Hasbro named Cullen as one of the first four human inductees in the Transformers Hall of Fame for his role as the voice of Optimus Prime.

Personal life

Cullen has four children: Clay, Angus, Claire, Pilar and three grandchildren.

Filmography

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1962-63	The Jetsons	Additional voices
1967	The Buddies	Commander Bi Bi Latuque
1967-68	The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour	Announcer
1969	Comedy Cafe
1970-71	Zut!
1971-74	The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour	Himself, various characters
1974	The Bobbie Gentry Show	Announcer
1974	The Hudson Brothers Razzle Dazzle Show	Himself
1974	The Sonny Comedy Revue	Himself, various characters
1975	Down Home Country	Luke Warm
1976	The Wolfman Jack Show
1979	The Plastic Man Comedy/Adventure Show	Mighty Man
1979	Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo	Additional voices
1981	The Kwicky Koala Show
1981	The Smurfs	Additional voices
1981	Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends	Hulk, Mysterio, Red Skull	2 episodes
1982	The Scooby & Scrappy-Doo/Puppy Hour	Lucky
1982	Spider-Man	Red Skull
1982	Meatballs & Spaghetti	Additional voices
1982	Pac-Man	Sour Puss
1982	The Little Rascals	Officer Ed, Pete the Pup
1982	Knight Rider	K.A.R.R.
1983	Monchhichis	Shreeker, Snitchitt, Gonker
1983	The Puppy's Further Adventures	Lucky
1983	The Biskitts	Dog Foot, Fang, Scratch
1983	Saturday Supercade	Donkey Kong
1983	The Dukes	Additional voices
1983-85	Dungeons & Dragons	Venger
1984	Dragon's Lair	Bertram
1984	Heathcliff and the Catillac Cats	Additional voices
1984	Snorks	Additional voices
1984-86	Rainbow Brite	Murky Dismal
1984-85	Alvin and the Chipmunks	Additional voices
1984-87	The Transformers	Optimus Prime, Ironhide, Streetwise, Blowpipe, Slugslinger
1984	Voltron: Defender of the Universe	Coran, King Alfor, Narrator
1984	Three's a Crowd	Sports Announcer, Airline Captain	2 episodes
1985	The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo	Maldor the Malevolent
1985	Challenge of the GoBots	Spoiler, Tank, Pincher
1985	The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians	Felix Faust	Episode: "Brainchild/The Case of the Stolen Super Powers"
1985-86	G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero	Airborne, Ramar, Zandar
1986	MoonDreamers	Igon, various characters	Episode: "Zodies on the Loose"
1986	Rambo: The Force of Freedom	Sergeant Havoc
1986	Muppet Babies	Additional voices	Episode: "Fozzie's Family Tree"
1986	Ghostbusters	Eddie Spenser, Jr.
1986	Pound Puppies	Captain Slaughter	4 episodes
1986	The New Adventures of Jonny Quest	Patch	Episode: "Peril of the Reptilian"
1986	Foofur	Baby the Rat, Vinnie the Cat
1986	My Little Pony	Captain Crabnasty	Episode: "Fugitive Flowers"
1987-88	BraveStarr	Dr. Whiston, Dr. Watson, Hack
1987-88	DuckTales	Admiral Grimitz, Bankjob Beagle, Mad Dog McGirk, Lessdred
1987	The Little Wizards	Renwick, various characters
1987	The Real Ghostbusters	Doctor Destructo, Police Officer	Episode: "Captain Steel Saves the Day"
1987	Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light	Cindarr
1987-89	Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs	Commander Eagle, Narrator, Nemesis
1988	Dino-Riders	Gunner, Antor, Bomba	Episode: "Toro Toro Torosaurus"
1988-89	The New Yogi Bear Show	Ranger Roubideux
1988	Mickey's 60th Birthday	Sorcerer	TV special
1988-91	The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh	Eeyore
1988-90	Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears	Kerwin the Conqueror, Gritty
1988-89	Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles	Smash, Mugger, Napoleon
1989	Rude Dog and the Dweebs	Herman, Winston
1989-90	Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers	Monterey Jack, additional voices
1990	TaleSpin	Additional voices	Episode: "It Came from Beneath the Sea Duck"
1990-93	Tom & Jerry Kids	Additional voices
1990-91	Widget the World Watcher	Bob the Poacher, Rooney Kangaroo, Gdunu
1991-93	The Pirates of Dark Water	Mantus
1991	In Living Color		Episode: "Dickie Peterson: Cherub of Justice"
1993	Bonkers	Abominable Snowman, Mackey McSlime
1994	Hardball	Fox Announcer	Episode: "Lee's Bad, Bad Day"
1996	Boo to You Too! Winnie the Pooh	Eeyore
2001-02	House of Mouse	Eeyore
2004-05	Megas XLR	Zanzoar, Klaar
2005-06	IGPX: Immortal Grand Prix	Narrator	Episode: "Time to Shine"
2007-10	My Friends Tigger & Pooh	Eeyore
2009	Knight Rider	K.A.R.R.
2009	Bizarre Dinosaurs	Narrator
2010-13	Transformers: Prime	Optimus Prime, Vehicon
2012-present	Transformers: Rescue Bots	Optimus Prime
2014	2014 Kids' Choice Awards	Optimus Prime
2015-16	Transformers: Robots in Disguise	Optimus Prime

Film

Year	Title	Role
1970	Prologue	Allen
1976	The Twelve Tasks of Asterix	Various (voice only)
	King Kong	King Kong (voice only)
1982	Heidi's Song	Gruffle
1983	Deck the Halls with Wacky Walls	Big Blue
1984	Voyage of the Rock Aliens	1359
	Gallavants	Antonim
	Warriors of the Wind	General (1985 dub)
1985	Robotix
	Bigfoot and the Muscle Machines	Arthur Ravenscroft
	Rainbow Brite and the Star Stealer	Various voices
1986	Voltron: Fleet of Doom	Various voices
	Heathcliff: The Movie	Various voices
	GoBots: Battle of the Rock Lords	Pincher, Tombstone, Stones
	My Little Pony: The Movie	Grundle, Ahgg
	The Transformers: The Movie	Optimus Prime, Ironhide (voice)
1987	G.I. Joe: The Movie	Zandar, Nemesis Enforcer, Scientist (voice)
	Predator	The Predator (voice)
1988	Yogi and the Invasion of the Space Bears	Ranger Roubideux (voice)
	Rockin' with Judy Jetson	Gruff, Commander Comsat, Bouncer
1989	Vytor: The Starfire Champion	Myzor, Chief Eldor
1991	The Little Engine That Could	Pete, The Cave, The Big Wolf (voice)
1994	The Story of Christmas	Ox (voice)
1997	Pooh's Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin	Eeyore (voice)
1999	Seasons of Giving	Eeyore (voice; archive footage)
2000	The Tigger Movie	Eeyore (voice)
2001	Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse	Eeyore (voice)
2002	A Very Merry Pooh Year	Eeyore (voice)
2003	Piglet's Big Movie	Eeyore (voice)
2004	Springtime with Roo	Eeyore (voice)
2005	Pooh's Heffalump Movie	Eeyore (voice)
	Pooh's Heffalump Halloween Movie	Eeyore (voice)
2007	Transformers	Optimus Prime (voice)
	Super Sleuth Christmas Movie	Eeyore (voice)
2009	Tigger and Pooh and a Musical Too	Eeyore (voice)
	Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen	Optimus Prime (voice)
2011	Transformers: Dark of the Moon	Optimus Prime (voice)
2014	Transformers: Age of Extinction	Optimus Prime (voice)
2017	Transformers: The Last Knight	Optimus Prime (voice)

Video games

Year	Title	Voice
2003	Piglets Big Game	Eeyore
2007	Transformers: The Game	Optimus Prime
	Transformers Autobots	Optimus Prime
2009	Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen	Optimus Prime
	Transformers Revenge of the Fallen: Autobots	Optimus Prime
2010	Transformers: War for Cybertron	Optimus Prime
2011	Transformers: Dark of the Moon	Optimus Prime
2012	Transformers: Fall of Cybertron	Optimus Prime
	Transformers: Prime - The Game	Optimus Prime
2014	Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark	Optimus Prime
2015	Transformers: Devastation	Optimus Prime

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Film/TV Show	Result
2010	Golden Raspberry Awards	Worst Screen Combo	Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen	Nominated
2011	Daytime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program	Transformers Prime	Nominated
2012	Golden Raspberry Awards	Worst Screen Ensemble	Transformers: Dark of the Moon	Nominated

[ Source: Wikipedia ]