Michael-Leon Wooley is an American actor. He was the voice of Louis the Alligator in Disney's Oscar-nominated animated feature film, The Princess and the Frog and played Judge Grady on the radio station WKTT in Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto IV.
Early life Wooley was born in Fairfax, Virginia, to George and Winnie Wooley. He has a twin brother, Marcus-Leon, and a younger brother, George Jr. He grew up in Bowie, Maryland. Wooley began playing the piano at age 5 and initially wanted to be a classical concert pianist. However, after participating in a high-school production of Oklahoma! he became interested in theatre.
At 16, he was given the opportunity to study piano at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, D.C., but turned it down to instead focus on acting and singing. At age 18, Wooley was awarded a full scholarship to the American Musical and Dramatic Academy (AMDA) in New York City, one of 21 scholarships granted in a nationwide competition. He studied at AMDA for a year before embarking on his own to pursue an acting career.
Wooley performed in the national tour of Purlie,Internet Broadway Database after which, worked as a singing waiter on the Spirit of New York,Spirit of New York Homepage a dinner cruise ship that circles Manhattan.
Career
Theatre In 1992, Wooley made his Broadway debut as an understudy (Big Moe and Eat Moe) in the Clarke Peters' musical, Five Guys Named Moe. After Five Guys Named Moe he embarked on national tours with The Pointer Sisters in Ain't Misbehavin'Ain't Misbehavin' (The New Cast Recording) and The Wiz with Stephanie Mills. He returned to Broadway in 2000 as Olin BrittMusicals101 in the Broadway revival of The Music Man, directed and choreographed by Susan Stroman.Review: Music Man, The New York Times
He was also the voice of the man-eating plant, Audrey II, in the 2003 Broadway revival of the musical Little Shop of HorrorsNew York Magazine accessed June 5, 2008, at the Virginia Theatre (renamed the August Wilson Theatre in 2005). Ben Brantley of the New York Times wrote Wooley had a "soulful bass voice"New York Times Theater Review accessed June 6, 2008, and Clive Barnes of the New York Post said Wooley as the "doom-struck voice of Audrey II" rounded out "one of the best casts on Broadway."Clive Barnes, New York Post via Peter Fox Shoes accessed June 6, 2008
With conductor, Skitch Henderson, Wooley made his Carnegie Hall debut with the New York Pops as one of the "New Faces of 2004," along with other Broadway notables such as John Tartaglia and Stephanie D'Abruzzo, the stars of the Broadway's Avenue Q. The event was hosted by New York Post gossip columnist Liz Smith.The New York Pops: Spring 2004 Newsletter
+Partial list Show Role Notes American Buffalo (Broadway) Donnie Dubrow Understudy for Cedric the Entertainer A Soldier's Play (National tour) C.J. Memphis Ain't Misbehavin' (National tour) Ken Featuring The Pointer Sisters At Least It's Pink (Off-Broadway) Simon Michael Patrick King, director Five Guys Named Moe (Broadway) Big Moe Understudy Floyd Collins (Regional) Ed Bishop Little Shop of Horrors (Broadway) Voice of Audrey II, the plant New Faces of 2004 Featured Artist Carnegie Hall debut Purlie (National tour) Chorus The Music Man (Broadway) Olin Britt Susan Stroman, director and choreographer The Wiz (National tour) Uncle Henry Starring Stephanie Mills Up in the Air (The Kennedy Center) Bull Frog
Film Wooley was the voice of Louis the jazz trumpet-playing alligator, in Disney's The Princess and the Frog; and Tiny Joe Dixon in the 2006 motion picture, Dreamgirls, singing "Takin' The Long Way Home" on the film's soundtrack. He also played Cocoa Butter in the Netflix Original series AJ and the Queen.
Voice work Wooley's voice has been heard in many television ad campaigns for Reebok, General Motors, McDonald's, Dairy Queen, K-Mart, Oxygen Network and others. He was the voice of the demon boss, Twayne Boneraper, on Comedy Central's Ugly Americans.Comedy Central: Ugly American's He made numerous guest appearances on Cosby,TV Guide Com: Cosby-Raising ParanoiaTV Guide Com: Cosby-The Wedding Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,Hollywood.com Law & Order: SVU cast listing The Knights of Prosperity,IMDB: Knights of Prosperity-Operation Montecristo Now & Again, Rescue MeYahoo TV Rescue Me Cast and Crew and The Rosie O'Donnell Show. He was a guest singer on The Penguins of Madagascar in "The Falcon and the Snow Job" and voiced the DC Comics villains Darkseid and Kalibak on the animated series, Batman: The Brave and the Bold.
From 2013 to 2014, Wooley voiced Tobias Whale in Beware the Batman. In 2014, he voiced Chill Bill from Sanjay and Craig as well as Master Lun in Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness and Pumpers in Breadwinners. In 2015 and 2017, he was a guest voice on Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero and Acorn and Achaka in the 2015–16 video game series King's Quest. He voices Judge Grady on radio station WKTT, in the video game Grand Theft Auto IV and Dexter DeShawn in the video game Cyberpunk 2077.
Web series In 2012, he voiced Impossibear in Pendleton Ward's Bravest Warriors which airs on Frederator's YouTube funded channel Cartoon Hangover.
Personal life Jon-Marc McDonald, a close friend and sometimes-publicist for Wooley, confirmed on his website that Wooley performed We Have To Change at a fundraiser for Barack Obama in New York City on August 11, 2008. The song was specifically written for the fundraiser by Bill Russell and Henry Krieger.Bake It Til You Make ItYouTube video of We Have To Change
Filmography Film Year Title Role Notes 2006 Dreamgirls Tiny Joe Dixon Singing "Takin' the Long Way Home" 2008 Ghost Town Medical Attorney 2009 A Secret Promise Booth Attendant The Princess and the Frog Louis the Alligator (voice) A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information. 2012 Premium Rush NYPD Tow Truck Driver 2013 Superman Unbound Ron Troupe (voice) Direct-to-video 2015 Hotel Transylvania 2 Additional Voices2016Savva: Heart of the WarriorMorton 2018 Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer VacationAdditional Voices 2022 Hotel Transylvania: Transformania 2023 Urkel Saves Santa: The Movie Dream Santa, Plastic Reindeer (voice) Direct-to-videoOnce Upon a StudioLouis (voice)Archival Recordings
Television Year Title Role Notes 1999–2000 Cosby George 2 episodes 2010 The Penguins of Madagascar Singer (voice) Episode: "The Falcon and the Snow Job" Batman: The Brave and the Bold Kalibak, Darkseid (voice) 2 episodes 2010–2012 Ugly Americans Twayne Boneraper (voice) Main role 2013–2014 Beware the Batman Tobias Whale, Matatoa (voice) 5 episodes 2014 Sanjay and Craig Chill Bill (voice) Episode: "Chill Bill" Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness Master Lun (voice) Episode: "Eternal Chord" 2014–2015Breadwinners Mr. Pumpers (voice) Main role 2014–2017 Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero General, Additional Voices (voice) Recurring role 2015 Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! Chazz (voice) Episode: "Kitchen Frightmare" 2015–2016 Sofia the First King Oberlyn (voice) 2 episodes The Adventures of Puss in Boots Taranis (voice) 2 episodes 2015–2017 Harvey Beaks Officer Fredd, Lobster Guy, Skeleton Statue (voice) Recurring role 2016 Avengers Assemble Galen-Kor (voice) Episode: "Captain Marvel" The Mr. Peabody & Sherman Show Ziryab, George Crum (voice) 2 episodes 2017–2019 OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes Cool Sun, Bell Beefer, Galgarion, Big Bull Demon, RPG Narrator Recurring role 2019 Young Justice Darkseid (voice) Episode: "Evolution" Grace and Frankie Will 2 episodes Where's Waldo? Tinsel (voice) Episode: "A Wanderer Christmas" 2020 Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts Tad Mulholland (voice) 3 episodesAJ and the Queen Louis Bell, Cocoa Butter 10 episodes 2020–2022Trolls: TrollsTopia Lownote Jones (voice) Main role 2021–2022 Madagascar: A Little Wild Oggie (voice) 2 episodes 2022–2023 Hamster & Gretel Roman Carter, The Nightmarionette (voice) 7 episodes 2023 Record of Ragnarok Papiyas (voice) 2 episodes The Tiny Chef Show Spoon (voice) 3 episodes Akuma-kun Satan (voice) City Island Carry (voice)2026 Regular Show: The Lost Tapes Thomas (voice) Episode: Spice it Up
Video games Year Title Role 2008 Grand Theft Auto IV Judge Grady from Just or Unjust 2009 The Princess and the Frog Louis the Alligator 2011 Ugly Americans: Apocalypsegeddon Twayne Boneraper 2012 Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom Louis 2013 Grand Theft Auto V The Local Population 2015 King's Quest Acorn, Achaka, Goblin Man, Mordon 2017 Injustice 2 Darkseid 2020 Cyberpunk 2077 Dexter "Dex" Deshawn 2022 World of Warcraft: Dragonflight Echo of Neltharion
References
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