Tom Kane

Thomas Kane Roberts (April 15, 1962 – May 18, 2026) was an American voice actor. He was known for his work in animation and video games, most notably the Star Wars franchise, voicing established characters Yoda, Admiral Ackbar, Boba Fett, Qui-Gon Jinn, and C-3PO. Other notable roles include Professor Utonium in The Powerpuff Girls, Darwin Thornberry in The Wild Thornberrys, Mr. Herriman in Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, and Woodhouse in Archer, taking the role over from George Coe following his death in 2015.

Kane provided his voice as an announcer for theme park attractions at Disneyland and Walt Disney World, and served as an announcer for several Academy Awards ceremonies, as well as for the Adult Swim series The Eric Andre Show in its second season.

Early life Thomas Kane Roberts was born in Overland Park, Kansas on April 15, 1962.

He attended Shawnee Mission South High School and graduated from the University of Kansas in 1984, where he began at Lucasfilm handling miscellaneous for small voice parts in video games. Some of his best-known roles include Jedi Master Yoda and Admiral Yularen in Star Wars: The Clone Wars feature film and television series, The Chancellor in 9, Magneto in Wolverine and the X-Men and Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds, Ultron in Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow and The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, Mr. Herriman in Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, Lord Monkey Fist in Kim Possible, Professor Utonium and HIM in The Powerpuff Girls, Oxnard Montalvo in The Angry Beavers, and Darwin Thornberry in The Wild Thornberrys.

He was also a prominent video game voice actor, appearing in numerous titles, from bit parts, to major roles such as Gandalf, Professor X and lead characters in many Star Wars games like Star Wars: The Force Unleashed as Imperial Captain Ozzik Sturn, Lobot and Kento Marek (the father of Sam Witwer's Galen Marek) thanks to Industrial Light & Magic's motion capture technology. In Call of Duty: World at War, Black Ops, Black Ops II, Black Ops III and Black Ops IV, he provided the voice of Takeo Masaki, a Japanese WWII soldier and WWI warrior in the Zombies game mode. In Fortnite: Save the World, Kane voiced the robot Lok.

In the arena of non-animation voiceover work, Kane recorded commercials, film trailers and television promos. In addition, he had been the announcer for the AFI Life Achievement Award show twice, as well as the 78th, 80th, 83rd, 84th, and 90th Academy Awards, and also did the voiceover for the Disney's FastPlay bumper in 2004. He also played Odin (the father of Thor and Loki) in the video game adaptation of Thor as well as the Disneyland attraction: Thor: Treasures of Asgard, replacing Anthony Hopkins, who played the character in the film.

On April 13, 2012, Kane replaced Joe Hursh as the voice of the Walt Disney World Monorail System. In 2013, he became the announcer of The Eric Andre Show, replacing Gary Anthony Williams.

Kane made his debut in the Star Wars film saga as the voice of Admiral Ackbar in 2017's Star Wars: The Last Jedi, succeeding Erik Bauersfeld. He had experience in voicing the character on several occasions for video games in the franchise prior to the film's release. He also voiced Plague Champion in Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II – Chaos Rising and Retribution.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Kane was one of several voices for health and safety announcements at Walt Disney World. He also narrated the series premiere of Star Wars: The Bad Batch in May 2021.

Personal life Kane married his wife Cindy Roberts in 1982; they remained married until his death.

Illness and death In November 2020, Kane suffered a stroke which left him with significant weakness on the right side of his body and damage to his speaking, writing, and reading abilities. In September 2021, his daughter Sam confirmed that he had to retire from voice acting. She gave regular updates on Facebook about his condition.

Kane later died from complications of the stroke at a hospital in Kansas City, Missouri, on May 18, 2026, at the age of 64. His talent agency, Galactic Productions, announced the news on Facebook. Others such as The Powerpuff Girls and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends creator Craig McCracken, and the titular cast members of the The Powerpuff Girls of Cathy Cavadini, Tara Strong, and E. G. Daily paid their respects to him on their social medias, with the latter three reuniting with him at the Lexington Comic and Toy Convention in March 2026, his final public appearance prior to his death.

Filmography

Voice acting Film

Live-action Film

Television

Awards and nominations