Every Actor Who Has Played Jon
Summary
- Voice casting for Jon in Garfield adaptations sparks debates, but Jon’s character adds flavor to the projects.
- Various actors, such as Huge, Kenyon, Meyer, and Wingert, have portrayed Jon Arbuckle in distinctive Garfield adaptations.
- Nicholas Hoult requires on the function of Jon in The Garfield Movie, following a extended line of actors who have brought the character to life.
Over the years of Garfield’s existence, the character of Jon has gone by way of several iterations. First appearing in the Garfield comic strip, Jon Arbuckle is the bumbling owner of the titular cat. Throughout the series, Jon moans and groans as his lasagna-loving, lazy feline gets into many antics, all the even though adoring the cat in spite of himself. In adaptations, Jon has gotten screen time by way of several projects. His appearances started in a 1980 episode of The Fantastic Funnies, which marked the initially tv look of Garfield. As in the case of the cat protagonist, Jon continued to seem in Garfield specials all through the 1980s and in tv series such as Garfield and Friends and The Garfield Show.
In these many Garfield interpretations, the generally most-discussed element of the project is who voices Garfield. The current casting of Chris Pratt in The Garfield Movie sparked certain debate, with several criticizing his voice and its likeness to the voice that the actor previously applied to play Mario in The Super Mario Bros. Movie. Though the Garfield voice in this and any Garfield voice is definitely vital, Jon’s actor also delivers a beneficial flavor to any Garfield project, and several actors have contributed their talents to this function each in animation and reside-action.
Related
Every Actor Who Has Voiced Garfield
Since Garfield was made by cartoonist Jim Davis, the grumpy orange cat has starred in a wide variety of films & Television specials voiced by various actors.
5 Thom Huge
1980–1994
A 1980 episode of The Fantastic Funnies saw the on-screen animated debut of Garfield and Jon, with Huge in the Jon function. This episode arrived two years immediately after the July 1978 comic debut of Garfield, therefore the Fantastic Funnies episode helped introduce Garfield and Jon to a wider audience.
Voicing Jon Arbuckle has been the defining aspect of Huge’s profession. Following his Fantastic Funnies debut, Huge went on to star in several Garfield specials all through the 1980s and early 1990s. This started with the second Garfield specific, Garfield on the Town in 1983, and concluded with the 1991 specific Garfield Gets a Life. He later portrayed the function in all 122 episodes of Garfield and Friends, for which he also served as an executive producer. Overall, Huge played Jon for longer than any other actor.
4 Sandy Kenyon
1982
Though Huge has the honor of debuting Jon Arbuckle, it was Kenyon who basically became the initially actor to voice the character in an official Garfield specific. This specific was 1982’s Here Comes Garfield, which was a 24-minute-extended specific that sees Jon navigating the connection amongst Garfield and Odie as his pets bicker like siblings.
Born in 1922, Kenyon had been a Television actor for more than 3 decades currently. His credits started in 1950 when he produced appearances in two episodes of the Television series Cameo Theatre. His most prominent roles incorporate components in the film Down on Us and in the 1960s Television shows The Fugitive and That Girl. Here Comes Garfield was his only look in the franchise, and he went on to act in series such as Knots Landing and War and Remembrance prior to passing away in 2010.
3 Breckin Meyer
2004–2006
After the 1994 conclusion of Garfield and Friends, Garfield adaptations lay dormant for a handful of years. Then, a decade later came the debut of Garfield in reside-action. This time, Jon Arbuckle was played by Meyer, who played the human cat owner in individual opposite a CG-animated version of Garfield voiced by Bill Murray. Meyer produced his Garfield debut in 2004 with Garfield: The Movie and reprised the function in the 2006 sequel Garfield: A Tale of Two Kitties.
Prior to playing Jon, Meyer starred in the road trip comedies Rat Race and the aptly-titled Road Trip. His breakout function came in 1995, at 21 years old, when he played Travis in the hit ‘90s film Clueless. Following his The Garfield Movie and Garfield: A Tale of Two Kitties roles, Meyer has gone on to have roles in Television series such as The Fix, SuperMansion, and Good Girls. He is also a frequent voice actor in the animated assortment series Robot Chicken, wherein he voices notable pop culture icons such as Superman, Lindsay Lohan, and Jesus Christ.
2 Wally Wingert
2007–2016
Wingert started voicing Jon in the direct-to-video animated film Garfield Gets Real in 2007. His overall performance was nicely-received adequate that he went on to reprise his Jon function in two extra Garfield animated functions, 2008’s Garfield’s Fun Fest and 2009’s Garfield’s Pet Force. A handful of months later, he reprised his function as Jon for a seven-year stint on Cartoon Network’s (and later Boomerang’s) The Garfield Show.
Prior to his Garfield appearances, Wingert has been a operating voice actor considering that 1990, having his get started in video games. Prior to The Garfield Show, his most notable roles incorporate voicing Rufus in the video game Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children as nicely as The Riddler in Batman: Arkham Asylum. Wingert is nonetheless an active voice actor right now, and his current projects incorporate an look as The Riddler in the 2024 video game Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League and the 2023 game Starfield.
1 Nicholas Hoult
2024
The Garfield Movie is the initially theatrically-released, function-length Garfield film to grace the large screen. Opposite the controversially-cast Pratt comes Hoult in the function of Jon Arbuckle. Unlike several of his Jon predecessors, Hoult is a far far more mainstream actor who has been in a quantity of notable reside-action films prior to acting in The Garfield Movie. He got his get started as a kid actor, adorably playing Marcus Brewer in the 2002 film About a Boy, when he was 13 years old.
Hoult broke into the mainstream to play Beast in the 2011 superhero film X-Men: First Class. Since then, Hoult’s profession has been lively each in the mainstream action circuit and in independent films. Hoult played Nux in the acclaimed George Miller film Mad Max: Fury Road, as nicely as Jack in Jack the Giant Slayer. On the art film circuit, Hoult has had roles in motion pictures such as The Favourite and The Menu. Though The Garfield Movie is not Hoult’s initially-ever voice acting function, he is newer to the genre.
Thus, Hoult’s Jon Arbuckle function will be a very good possibility to see (or rather, hear) how the actor requires on this new challenge. So far, The Garfield Movie is critically panned, with a 37% Rotten Tomatoes score. As Hoult and Pratt give their vocal talents for the animated film, they do so immediately after following a extended line of Garfield and Jon. With actors like Huge and Wingert on the list, Hoult has several hard acts to adhere to.