Neil Ross (born December 31, 1944) (sometimes credited as Neilson Ross) is a British voice actor and announcer, now resident and working in Los Angeles, in the United States. He has provided voices for (mainly minor characters) in many American cartoons, particularly those based on Hasbro products and Marvel Comics, and numerous video games. Ross has also provided voice roles (such as radio announcers) for many movies, including Back to the Future II, Babe, Quiz Show, and Being John Malkovich.
Neil Ross has announced many Emmy Award ceremonies, and started announcing at the Academy Award ceremonies, beginning with the 75th Annual Academy Awards, in 2003. He has also narrated numerous episodes of A&E's Biography, and many editions of NOVA on PBS (including Mars - Dead or Alive, which was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2004). He is presently the voice of the cable TV show Game Show Network.
Neil Ross was born in London, England, and subsequently raised in Montreal, Canada. His family moved to Long Beach, California when he was 12 years old. When they moved to San Diego, a young Ross started listening religiously to KFWB, and became obsessed with becoming a disc jockey. He started working in radio when he finished school. His first station was KMUR in Salt Lake City, Utah. Following this, he moved on to KORL, KGMB and KKUA in Honolulu, Hawaii, before moving to KCBQ in San Diego in 1969. He stayed in California, working on KYA San Francisco and KMPC Los Angeles. He made his last broadcast in 1985.
He began his voiceover work in 1978 when he moved to Los Angeles. His first role was as a salesman in an episode of Richie Rich for Hanna-Barbera. He is able to perform almost any accent, but states that his New England accent 'hangs on by a thread', and South African always defeats him. Ross has voiced radio and television commercials for companies including Wal-Mart, AT&T, Volkswagen, Coca-Cola, Mattel, Goodyear, Lexus, Disney, Hoover, Anheuser-Busch, Southwest Airlines, and Kelloggs, and has done promos for CBS, NBC, ABC, TBS and Fox Kids. He was an art director for An American Tail: Fievel Goes West, Once Upon a Forest, three movies of The Land Before Time, The Prince of Egypt and We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story.
As of 2005, Neil Ross lives in Los Angeles with his wife and daughter. He is a keen diver.
