What is Peter Cullen’s net worth and salary?
Peter Cullen is a Canadian broadcaster who has a net worth of $6 million. Peter Cullen began his professional career in the 1960s on the Canadian radio show “Funny You Should Say That.” From there, he went on to work as host of “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour” and “The Hudson Brothers Razzle Dazzle Show.” Peter is best known for his work as Optimus Prime in “The Transformers” series. He was cast as the voice of Optimus Prime and Ironhide in the popular animated series. Optimus Prime’s death in 1986’s “The Transformers: The Movie” was so unpopular that producers finally decided to bring him back from the dead. Cullen has continued to voice the role in the live-action film versions of “The Transformers,” as well as the “Transformers” television shows and video games. In 2011, he earned a Daytime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program for the Hub Network series “Transformers Prime.” Peter also voiced Eeyore in several Winnie the Pooh projects and voiced the title character in the 1987 film “Predator.”
Early life
Peter Cullen was born Peter Claver Cullen on July 28, 1941 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He is the son of American parents, Muriel and Henry Cullen, and has three siblings, Sonny, Michaela and Larry. Peter has Irish heritage. He graduated from the National Theater School of Canada in 1963 and was part of the school’s first class. His brother Larry, a retired US Marine Corps captain, helped inspire Peter’s Optimus Prime voice.
Career
In 1968, Cullen and Joan Stuart played Giles and Penelope in the recurring segment “L’Anglaise” of the CBC Radio show “Funny You Should Say That.” In 1969, Peter played astronaut Commander Bi Bi Latuque on the CFCF-TV children’s show “The Buddies.” He worked as a radio host in Montreal and, from 1967 to 1969, served as host of the CBS variety show “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.” Cullen was a regular on another CBS reality show, “The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour,” from 1971 to 1974, and in 1974, he was the host of the CBS series “The Hudson Brothers Razzle Dazzle Show.” In 1979, he voiced Brandon Brewster/Mighty Man in “Mighty Man and Yukk” and several characters in “Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo.” In the ’80s, Peter did voice work in the films “Heidi’s Song” (1982), “Gremlins” (1984), “Rainbow Brite and the Star Stealer” (1985), “Voltron: Fleet of Doom” (1986), “My Little Pony: The Movie” (1986), “King Kong Lives” (1986), “GI Joe: The Movie” (1987), “Predator” (1987), “Rockin’ with Judy Jetson” (1988) and “Yogi and the Invasion of the Space Bears” (1988).
Cullen also voiced characters in television series such as “The Smurfs” (1981), “Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends” (1981), “Pac-Man” (1982), “The Little Rascals” (1982), “Knight Rider” (1982), “Mister T” (1983-1985), “Dungeons & Dragons” (1983-1985). “Snorks” (1984), “Voltron: Defender of the Universe” (1984), “Rainbow Brite” (1984-1986), “Alvin and the Chipmunks” (1984-1985), “GI Joe: A Real American Hero” (1985-1986), “The Jetsons” (1985-1987), “Muppet Babies” (1986), “Pound Puppies” (1986), “My Little Pony” (1986), “DuckTales” (1987-1988), “The Real Ghostbusters” (1987), “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” (1988-1989), “The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh” (1988-1991) and “Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers” (1989-1990). From 1984 to 1987, he voiced Optimus Prime in “The Transformers.” He reprized the role in the films “The Transformers: The Movie” (1986), “Transformers” (2007), “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” (2011), “Transformers Prime Beast Hunters: Predacons Rising” (2013), “Transformers: Age of Extinction” (2014), “Transformers: The Last Knight” (2017), “Bumblebee” (2018) and “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” (2023) and the television shows “Transformers: Prime” (2010-2013), “Transformers: Rescue Bots” (2011-2016), “Transformers: Robots in Disguise” (2015-2017), “Transformers: Titans Return” (2017-2018) and “Transformers: Power of the Primes” (2018).
In the ’90s, Peter lent his voice to the films “The Little Engine That Could” (1991), “The Christmas Story” (1994) and “Pooh’s Big Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin” (1997) and the television shows “TaleSpin” (1990), “Tom & Jerry Kids” (1990-1993), “Tiny Toon Adventures” (1990-1992), “Widget the World Watcher” (1990-1991), “The Pirates of Dark Water” (1991-1993) and “Boo to You Too! Winnie the Pooh” (1996). He went on to voice characters in the films “The Tigger Movie” (2000), “The Book of Pooh: Stories from the Heart” (2001), “Mickey’s Magical Christmas: Snowed in the House of Mouse” (2001), “A Very Merry Pooh Year” (2002), “Piglet’s Big Movie” (2003), “Winnie the Pooh: Springtime with Roo” (2004), “Pooh’s Heffalump Movie” (2005) and “Tigger and Pooh and a Musical Too” (2009) and the television series “House of Mouse” (2001), “The Book of Pooh” (2001-2002), “My Friends Tigger & Pooh” (2007-2010), “Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” (2019) and “Invincible” (2023-present). Cullen has also voiced Optimus Prime in more than a dozen video games and Eeyore in the video games “Piglet’s Big Game” (2003) and “Disney Magical World 2” (2016).
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personal life
Peter has welcomed four children: Angus, Pilar, Clay and Claire. He is good friends with Frank Welker, who has voiced Optimus Prime’s rival Megatron in “Transformers” projects. Cullen supports NASA and has been interested in the organization since the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969.
Awards and nominations
In 2011, Cullen earned a Daytime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program for “Transformers Prime.” He has won four Behind the Voice Actors Awards from 12 nominations: Best Male Lead Vocal Performance in a Television Series for “Transformers Prime” (2012), Best Vocal Ensemble in a Television Special/Direct-to-DVD Title or Short for “Transformers Prime Beast Hunters: Predacons Rising” (2014), and the BTVA Television Voice Acting Award and the BTVA People’s Choice Voice Acting Award for Best Vocal Ensemble in a New Television Series for “Transformers: Robots in Disguise” (2016). Peter is a recipient of Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Voice Arts Awards (2019) and the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (2023). In 2010, he was inducted into the Transformers Hall of Fame.
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