George Newbern

George Newbern (born December 30, 1964) is an American actor, best known for his roles as Charlie in the ABC show Scandal (2012–2018) and Bryan MacKenzie in Father of the Bride and its sequels Father of the Bride Part II (1995) and Father of the Bride Part 3(ish) (2020). He guest starred as Danny (The Yeti) in Friends and had a recurring role as Julia's son Payne in Designing Women.

Newbern is also known for his long-running role as the voice of Superman in various DC media starting with the animated series Justice League, as well as the voice of Sephiroth in the Final Fantasy series and the Kingdom Hearts series.

Early life Having grown up in North Little Rock, Arkansas, George Newbern is the son of Betty, a Spanish teacher, and David Newbern, a radiologist. Newbern has two brothers (Gordon and John) and one sister (Murry). This first acting role spurred him on to other acting roles and eventually on to film roles. Newbern's first lead role was in 1987's Double Switch, a retelling of The Prince and the Pauper that aired as a part of the Wonderful World of Disney television series.

From 1986 to 1992, Newbern had a recurring role as Payne McIlroy, the son of designer Julia Sugarbaker (played by Dixie Carter), on the series Designing Women. He has since guest-starred on television in such series as Providence, Chicago Hope, Friends, Bull, CSI, Medium, Ghost Whisperer, Touched by an Angel, Criminal Minds, and Private Practice. He had a recurring role for several seasons as a former CIA operative in Scandal.

He starred as Neal Morris, father of Melissa Morris (Emily Osment), in the 2009 Disney Channel film Dadnapped, and portrayed Apollo 14 astronaut Stu Roosa in the HBO mini-series From The Earth To The Moon. Film credits include Adventures in Babysitting (1987) with Elisabeth Shue; Double Switch (1987); Switching Channels (1988) with Kathleen Turner, Burt Reynolds and Christopher Reeve; and Father of the Bride (1991) and its sequel Father of the Bride Part II. In 2009 he appeared in Locker 13.

Voice acting As a voice actor, Newbern is notable for his role as Clark Kent/Superman on the Cartoon Network series Justice League, Static Shock and Justice League Unlimited (replacing Tim Daly due to his obligations elsewhere). Newbern reprised his role as Superman in The Batman, the DC Showcase short Superman/Shazam!: The Return of Black Adam, Superman vs. The Elite, and Justice League vs. the Fatal Five. On February 26, 2016, the DC Universe Online Facebook page reported that Newbern would be taking over the role of Superman from Adam Baldwin. He also provides the voice of Superman in the game Injustice: Gods Among Us and its sequel. Newbern has portrayed the character longer than any other actor in live-action and animation.

Newbern voices a role in the cartoon series The Pirates of Dark Water, and he has done voiceovers in a number of video games and game-related productions. He has also voiced in the infamous Theodore Rex as the character of the same name. In 2003, Newbern provided the voice of Mevyn Nooj in Final Fantasy X-2. He also voiced Sephiroth in the Final Fantasy series and the Kingdom Hearts series.

Newbern's performance as Nooj reportedly impressed the developers at Square Enix enough for them to cast him as Sephiroth in the English version of Kingdom Hearts II, replacing Lance Bass. Newbern later reprised the role of Sephiroth in the English-language releases of Final Fantasy VII Advent Children, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, Dissidia: Final Fantasy, Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy, and Dissidia Final Fantasy NT. He later appeared in the second season of Jericho as the president of the Allied States of America. Newbern also narrated Toyota's commercials for the 2010 model year of the Toyota Prius car, and portrayed Harold in Saw VI. He is also a prolific narrator of audiobooks, with narration credits on nearly 500 titles.

Personal life Newbern and actress Marietta DePrima met in the mid-1980s. They graduated together at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, where DePrima was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta. The couple married in 1990 and have three children.

Filmography

Film Year Title Role Notes 1986 My Little Girl Woody 1987 Adventures in Babysitting Dan Lynch Double Switch Bart / Matt Television film 1988 Paramedics Uptown Switching Channels Siegenthaler It Takes Two Travis Rogers 1991 Father of the Bride Bryan MacKenzie 1992 Little Sister Mike 1993 Doorways Dr. Thomas Mason Television film Doppelganger Patrick Highsmith Television film Torch Song Wedge Television film 1994 Power Play Justin Avery I Spy Returns Bennett Robinson Television film Witness to the Execution Phillip Tyler Television film 1995 Father of the Bride Part II Bryan MacKenzie Theodore Rex Theodore RexVoice 1996 Far Harbor Jordan The Evening Star Tommy Horton 1998 Twice Upon a Time Joe Television film The Simple Life of Noah Dearborn Christian Nelson Television film 1999 Friends and Lovers Ian Wickam 2000 If These Walls Could Talk 2 Tom Television film 2001 The Sons of Mistletoe Jimmy Adams Television film 2003 Kids' Ten Commandments: Stolen Gearts Matthew Voice, direct-to-video 2020 Father of the Bride, Part 3(ish) Bryan MacKenzie Short film

Television Year Title Role Notes 1982 The Blue and the Gray Pvt Lawrence Jones (Union deserter at Bull Run) Miniseries 1986 Family Ties Eric Episode: "My Brother's Keeper" 1986–1992 Designing Women Payne McIlroy 4 episodes 1990 Poochinski Det. Robert McKay TV pilot Working Girl Everett Rutledge 12 episodes 1991–1993 The Pirates of Dark Water RenVoice 1994-1995 The Boys Are Back Mike Hanson18 episodes 1995 Courthouse Sean 5 episodes 1997 Gold Fever Will Patterson Documentary Touched by an Angel Michael Burns Episode: "Amazing Grace: Part 1" Promised Land Michael Burns Episode: "Amazing Grace: Part 2" The Outer Limits Ryan Unger Episode: "Stream of Consciousness" Adventures from the Book of Virtues Damon Voice, episode: "Friendship" Perversions of Science Walter Episode: "Planely Possible" 1997–1998 Chicago Hope Dr. Scott Frank 6 episodes 1998 From the Earth to the Moon Stuart Roosa Miniseries Friends Danny 3 episodes 2000 Bull Robert "Ditto" Roberts III 20 episodes 2001–2004 Justice League Clark Kent / SupermanVoice, main role 2002 Providence Owen Frank 21 episodes 2003 Static Shock Clark Kent / Superman Voice, episode: "Toys in the Hood"