Born May 9, 1962 in Hollywood, Brendan James O’Brien’s parents are actors Edmond O’Brien (Oscar for Supporting Role for The Barefoot Countess) and Olga San Juan (Donaldson Prize for the musical Paint Your Wagons). The young Brendan quickly seeks to walk in the footsteps of his parents, and begins his small career in the cinema at the age of 10, with his father, for a simple plan in the series The Streets of San Francisco. If his audiovisual career has not marked the American industry, his vocal work is engraved in our memories thanks to his performances on the first Crash Bandicoot.
Yes, how can we forget the iconic “WOAH” which punctuates the adventures of Crash ? As recognizable as a Mario scream, this vocal trait has remained particularly famous, until it transcended the original game to become an international meme. But that’s not O’Brien’s only success on the show. In the first episode, he embodies Neo Cortex before being succeeded by the immense Clancy Brown from Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back. It doesn’t matter, because he then plays doctors N. Brio and N. Gin, but also Komodo Moe and Tiny Tiger. O’Brien will remain on the show until The Wrath of Cortex. And it is of course his voice that we hear in Uncharted 4 when Nathan Drake plays Crash Bandicoot… The multiple diversions of his performance have given his portfolio a second life, to our delight (and our bursts of laughter).
Apart from the Naughty Dog franchise, Brendan James O’Brien also delivered a few additional voices for the series. spawn in the late 1990s. He (fleetingly) returned to the world of comic book adaptations with a small role as a math teacher in the series Riverdale in 2020.
Aside from his acting career, O’Brien enjoyed music immensely, and his guitar rarely left him, according to those close to him. He also enjoyed reading and hiking America’s hiking trails with his dogs. Died on March 23, 2023, he leaves behind his wife Ingrid.