Roger Craig Smith



Roger Craig Smith (born 11 August 1975) is the current voice actor of Sonic the Hedgehog in the video games, having succeeded Jason Griffith in the role as of 2010.

Voice Acting
Smith first started off as a stand-up comedian before getting into voice-acting. Smith's first appearance as Sonic was in Sonic Free Riders and also portrayed him in the Disney film Wreck-It Ralph. Previous non Sonic-related roles included Chris Redfield in Resident Evil series, starting with Resident Evil 5; Ezio Auditore in the Assassin's Creed series, starting with Assassin's Creed II and ending with Assassin's Creed: Revelations; Siegfried Schtauffen in Soul Calibur series, starting with Soul Calibur Legends; Deidara in Naruto Shippuden; and Shinji Hirako, Ryusei Kenzaki and Noba in Bleach. He is also known for voicing Zhang Liao in Dynasty Warriors. He also voices various characters on Cartoon Network's Regular Show. He voices a minor character, the Pulverizer, in the 2012 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series. He also has a main role as Ripslinger in the Disney movie Planes. He will also voice Batman in the upcoming prequel game Batman: Arkham Origins.

Sonic the Hedgehog series Voice Credits

 * Sonic Free Riders - Sonic
 * Sonic Colors - Sonic
 * Sonic Generations - Sonic
 * Mario and Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games - Sonic
 * Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed - Sonic
 * Sonic Lost World - Sonic
 * Mario and Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Games - Sonic

Alton Towers Controversy
Sonic Stadium member T-Bird visited the Alton Towers resort in the UK which featured the "Sonic Room," a Sonic-themed room, which opened in 2010 with Sonic Spinball. When the entry door to the room opens, patrons are greeted by audio recording of Sonic. People heavily criticized the Sonic voice saying it sounded too "surfer, cheesy, and very weak." People wondered who the person behind the Sonic voice was until the Sonic Stadium contacted Smith and asked him if he was the voice. He simply responded "yes." A commercial he did for Alton Towers sounded better than the room's actual voice.

As of 16 August 2010, however, it was revealed that the audio clips of Roger Craig Smith performing Sonic at Alton Towers were edited and slowed down, and some of the original unedited voice clips were released on the internet for download.

As a cutscene of Sonic Colors was revealed on the internet, the final voice for Sonic varied a lot from the Alton Towers announcements. The voice got into a big change, sounding a lot deeper than the original voice that was done by Jason Griffith. The reason why the voice varied a lot from the one in Alton Towers was earlier explained by Roger. He said that SEGA had asked him to make Sonic sound "older" before the announcements that were given at Alton Towers.

Reception
Smith has been met with mostly positive reviews. In the Sonic Colors Nintendo Power review, it was written that the good thing about the story was Sonic because he was voiced by Roger. They had praised Roger by saying that he gives Sonic a very "cool" personality, that Sonic looks cool "for the first time in a long while" and that he has a "less cringeworthy persona". IGN and ScrewAttack.com also praised Smith's voice work, saying that this is the first Sonic game in years where they can listen to the voice acting and not cringe. However, Gametrailers.com criticized Smith saying that he and the other voices in the Free Riders review were "laughable" and in the Colors review said, "We would not object to Sonic being a mute hero". Destructoid.com reviewer Jim Sterling criticized Smith as well, saying “Sonic seems to have had a personality makeover, now becoming an affable idiot with a terrible sense of humor."

His performance received mixed reviews from fans. Some fans praised his voice for having a good portrayal of Sonic's personality and attitude, but others have criticized it for being "too deep" and too anime-generic. Another addition to the disappointment was that he was offered the role by SEGA and did not audition, which many fans felt was unfair to other voice actors, especially Ryan Drummond and Jason Griffith (who, unlike Roger, earned their role as Sonic in an audition).

However, the popularity of Smith's voice for Sonic skyrocketed after Project 24 SegaSonic:Radio, a 24-hour chatroom held by fans. Roger was a special Guest on the Talk It Up! part of the 24 hour radio block. During the aforementioned show, Roger was involved in the Sonic Stadium IRC chat room while being interviewed by Talk It Up! host, cdrom1019. In the interview, Roger Craig Smith revealed that he had to audition just like everyone else.

Trivia

 * During a 2012 panel, Roger was asked to recite a certain famous speech from Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie in his Sonic voice. He was also requested to say a parody of Vic Mignogna's "Colonel Mustang looks dead sexy... in a miniskirt!" line as "Baldy McNosehair looks dead sexy in a miniskirt!"
 * He has also provided additional voices for the game Epic Mickey.