People may not easily recognize Wayne Allwine when they see a picture of it. But when you hear one of the voices that he does, you probably would recognize him. Voice actors are great at what they do. If you are somebody who keeps track of the person who voiced a certain character you liked on show that you watched, you probably would have already met them at a convention. The internet has made it easy for voice actors to connect with the people who are fans of the characters that they voiced. People sometimes have attachments to characters.
NEXT: Be Rich Like Wayne Allwine
There isn’t really much that is known about Wayne Allwine’s upbringing. A lot of older personalities don’t often have their life story available out there on the internet. Even personalities that became a known quantity online don’t have all of their information available readily. Some do, but often people will just give random tidbits if they get asked in interviews. But a lot of people are a bit guarded when it comes to their lives.
Seeing as Wayne was born in Glendale, California, it sort of made sense that he would have participated in a few television productions when he was young. He appeared in Art Linkletter’s talk show House Party when he was seven years old. During his high school years, he was part of a group that plays acoustic music called The International Singers. There group was seemingly popular in the state. He was also part of the group The Arrows.
Eventually, Wayne wanted to have a more low-key life so he decided to take a job working at the mailroom of Walt Disney Studios. He worked a lot around the studios going from the mailroom to the wardrobe department then to audio post production. He spent about seven years working under sound effects head Jimmy MacDonald. Jimmy, at the time, was also the voice of Mickey Mouse. Wayne did a lot of work a lot as a sound effects and foley artist for Disney. He earned an Emmy award for his work on Steven Spielberg’s anthology series “Amazing Stories.”
Jimmy MacDonald retired in 1976 and that opened up a spot for the person who would serve as the voice of Mickey Mouse. Wayne auditioned for the role and got the part. Since 1977, Wayne has provided the voice for all of the properties and productions that had Mickey in it. He still did sound effects work on top of voicing the iconic Disney character for a few years. But he eventually just continued voice work. His voice was the voice that people grew up with when they think of Mickey Mouse. It was through his voice acting work that he met Russi Taylor, who was voicing Mickey’s love interest Minnie. He would eventually marry Russi in 1991.
There isn’t really much else to his career after that. Once you become the voice for such an iconic character, it’s very hard to do much else. It’s sort of insane to hear his Mickey read off the lines in the Kingdom Hearts series that Square Enix did with Disney. You wouldn’t normally see Mickey talk about light and darkness unless it was through that series of video games. Although Mickey plays a big role in the series, he isn’t a lot of scenes in the series. There only few instances where you can play as him. Considering that he’s a very well-trained keyblade wielder and a monarch in one of the worlds, it makes sense that they’d have the most famous Disney character be successful and great at what he does.
Everybody has fond memories of his work as Mickey Mouse. Among all of the voice actors who has been given the opportunity to voice the iconic character, Wayne has voiced Mickey the longest. He has 32 years of experience in his belt. It’s no wonder he had a net worth of about $15,000,000. In 2008, he was recognized as one of the Disney Legend, a prestigious title that goes to a select group of people who have contributed to the company in one way or another. In 2009, Wayne passed away due to complications related to diabetes. It’s very to lose somebody who has been a part of people’s childhoods in some form.
