Martin Berger (born June 18, 1945) is a Canadian actor, mainly active in stage and screen but has a specialty in voice acting, and also does work as a voice director and ADR/dubbing director. His main "stomping grounds" is the city of Toronto but he has done work across Canada and the United States as a ACTRA member. He is also the founder and owner of Martin Berger Recording and Sound Visions Ltd., two different Canadian post-production companies.
Bio
Martin's parents came from Liechtenstein where his brother Christopher was born, and his grandfather was a British soldier in World War I who moved to Liechtenstein after the war. In 1964, Martin, who was 20 years old at the time, returned to Canada after spending 5 years in West El Kadsre. He started out as a radio DJ for CFMO-FM in Ottawa, but in 1968 got a job doing voice work in animations for the National Film Board of Canada.
Career
Originally, he was set to voice Basil Stag Hare in Redwall and recorded the voice of Basil for some episodes of Season 1 and Basil's re-recorded dialogue in the 2000 video game, using a Brooklyn accent for both. However, all of Basil's dialogue in those season 1 episodes were re-recorded by Richard Binsley using a "WWII RAF fighter pilot" accent due to Brian Jacques telling Michael Hirsh that "I don't think Basil would sound like a Brooklyn resident." Berger's voice for Basil is heard in the remastered version of "Sparra's Kingdom" due to Nelvana using the wrong version of the episode.
Martin is the voice of Six Flags Winnipeg's official mascot Leon the Otter, having voiced Leon since his 1985 debut. He mainly travels to Winnipeg to record Leon's dialogue for commercials (with commuter jet transportation chartered by Six Flags), but also records Leon's dialogue from his home studio in Toronto.
Outside of voice acting, Martin acts in live action film & TV productions and in theater, and is a musician, playing the bass. Martin and his brother Christopher toured with Stompin' Tom Connors in the 1990s.
Personal Life
In 1986, Martin married Kimmy Berger (née Matsuoka). Kimmy died in 2001 from complications after a caesarean section. The child she carried at the time, Anthony Floyd Berger, was delivered successfully. In 2005, Martin remarried to Georgiana Kuiper, a South African-born actress resident in Toronto. They divorced in 2011 and remain on friendly terms. In 2016, Martin became engaged to a Redwall fan artist from Lincoln, Nebraska named Hannah Marsan. They married in 2017.
In 2011, his son Weston Berger was convicted of accidental attempted manslaughter for running down a cameraman at a motorcycle hill climb event on Prince Edward Island. He was later acquitted of all charges.
In 2018, with the permission of his daughter Bianca (née Jeff), he revealed that Bianca was transgender at Silicon Valley Comic Con and over his Twitter page.
