Tom Kane

Thomas Kane Roberts was born on April 15, 1962, in Overland Park, Kansas — a suburb of Kansas City where a teenage boy with a remarkably deep, resonant voice would discover, almost by accident, the career of a lifetime. At age fifteen, thinking no one actually got paid for voice work, he simply began calling local advertisers and offering his services. That serendipitous leap of faith launched one of the most prolific voice acting careers in the history of American entertainment. By the time Tom graduated from the University of Kansas in 1984, he had recorded several hundred commercials. He moved to Hollywood and steadily built an extraordinary body of work spanning animation, video games, film trailers, and live broadcasts. His exceptional vocal range and gift for mimicry — six feet five inches tall with a voice that filled any room — made him one of the industry's most in-demand performers and a renowned voice double for legends including Morgan Freeman, Anthony Hopkins, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, and Liam Neeson. In 1996, he began working with Lucasfilm on Star Wars projects. Three years later, he first voiced Yoda in a Star Wars video game — a role that would define much of his legacy. He would go on to voice Yoda across the full run of Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated series, deepening the beloved character for an entirely new generation of fans. His other iconic roles included Professor Utonium in The Powerpuff Girls, Darwin in The Wild Thornberrys, Mr. Herriman in Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, Woodhouse in Archer, and the voice of the Walt Disney World Monorail. He also served as announcer for the Academy Awards on multiple occasions. Across nearly five decades, he appeared in close to 300 projects. His secret, as he once explained, was never approaching a role predictably — always finding something deeper, more creative, more thoughtful, and more human. Beyond his professional life, Tom was a devoted husband to Cindy Roberts, whom he married in 1982, and a father of nine children — three biological, and six welcomed through adoption and fostering. That warmth and generosity defined him just as surely as any role he ever played. In November 2020, Tom suffered a stroke that left him unable to speak or write, and he formally retired from voice acting in 2021. In March 2026, in what would be one of his final public appearances, he reunited with his Powerpuff Girls colleagues at the Lexington Comic and Toy Convention. He passed away on May 18, 2026, at a hospital in Kansas City, Missouri, surrounded by his family. He was sixty-four years old. His voice lives on in every story it helped tell.