William Vanderpuye

Last updated

William Vanderpuye
Other namesWill Vanders
OccupationActor
Years active1971–present

William Vanderpuye, also known as Will Vanderpuye or Will Vanders, is a British actor, broadcaster, writer, voice-over artist and producer.

Contents

He played Zoomer and a cast of thousands in the BBC animation series Rastamouse and appeared as "Kobi" in the Bafta nominated BBC series Apple Tree House which he co-created, co wrote and co-produced.

He is the grandson of Jacob Sylvanus Bruce-Vanderpuye, a Barrister-at-Law, Djastse and Ga Mantse (Paramount Chief) of The Otubluhun Stool, Jamestown, Accra, Ghana, formerly the British colony of the Gold Coast. The titles are hereditary, although not used by Vanderpuye or his father William Wallace Bruce-Vanderpuye Snr. The Bruce "Clan" (Nanka Bruce) are an aristocratic Ghanaian family with a pedigree tracing back to King Robert the Bruce of Scotland. The Vanderpuyes are Kings of Elmina dating back to Jacobus Vanderpuye (1780), a nobleman and Dutch Governor-General of the region at St George's Castle Elmina.

Vanderpuye has had a long career consisting of many leading theatrical roles and supporting characters in British films and television programs. He is also a sportscaster, covering combat sports such as kickboxing and mixed martial arts.[ citation needed ]

Acting

Vanderpuye studied at the Corona Theater-Academy with Nicholas Lyndhurst and Ray Winstone and took exams at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. In 1971, he had his first role at the age of eight in the film Melody , written by Alan Parker and produced by David Putnam. He went on to work extensively with iconic British director Alan Clarke during the late 70s and 80s.

Film roles include Aitch in The Firm with Gary Oldman, and thriller action film Down . [1] He voiced the Hutu radio DJ in the multi-Oscar-nominated Hotel Rwanda and characterized Phillip the dog in the BAFTA- and Oscar-winning film Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit .

He has also appeared in London's Burning , Jonathan Creek , The Brokers Man, Minder (Gunfight at the O.K. Laundrette), One Foot in the Grave , Scum , Touching Evil , The Last Detective , Casualty , and Holby City more recently as Tom Hilton in "Death in Paradise" on British television. Animations as a voice-over include Budgie the Little Helicopter The Greedysaurus Gang A Monkeys Tale and the BBC's "Fun with Phonics , [2]

Vanderpuye's theater-performances include Reggae Britannia at the Royal Court Theatre, The Great White Hope , Tramway Road with Freddie Jones and Richard E. Grant, and an appearance with Lily Savage in Elegies for Angels, Punks and Raging Queens the off-Broadway production about AIDS.

Voice acting

Will Vanderpuye is a voice-over actor and can be heard regularly on TV and radio. As a video game voice actor, he is well known for providing the voice of the character Patches in each of the latter's appearances across FromSoftware's Dark Souls series and the closely related Bloodborne , Demon's Souls and Elden Ring . Vanderpuye also voiced the Grand Theft Auto series. He played the Head Honcho in Heart of Darkness [3] and more recently the WW1 game Tungaska, yet to be released. As a voice-actor he has also played characters in the Hobbit trilogy .[ citation needed ]

He appeared in the films The Curse of the Were-Rabbit , Quest for a Heart , and Minions .[ citation needed ]

He is the voice to certain promos for the Nickelodeon UK Channels (common with Nick Jr), The Africa Channel, Comedy Central and the Fox International Channels.[ citation needed ]

Martial arts

Inspired by the Kurosawa Akira-film Seven Samurai , Vanderpuye began studying Shotokan-Karate at the age of 13 earning a brown belt in the discipline. He later switched to Kyokushin in which he currently holds a 3rd Dan black belt. In addition to karate, he has also studied/trained boxing, jujutsu and judo. [4]

In 2002, he began commentating for K-1 and Fight Club on Eurosport under the name Will Vanders (or Sensei Will Vanders) and has commentated to viewing audiences in over fifty countries. [5] He is known for his commentary on past K-1 events, and his catchphrases "it's a knockdooooooown!" and "bye bye Pepsi-Cola, hello holy wine" (a line from the song "The Last Train" by the 1970s rock band The Movies, off their album Bullets through the Barrier.)

His TV production company produces Fight-Sport programs for Eurosport and other major TV channels. He has worked as a broadcaster for the BBC, Sky TV, BT Sport, Fox TV, Abu Dhabi TV, and Channel 4. Presenting for television for K-1, Glory, King of Kings, Superkombat, Legends, Pancrase, Shooto, World Freefight Challenge, KSW and Abu Dhabi Warriors. He is an official AIBA (IOC) and World Series of Boxing commentator.

Related Research Articles

Barbara Jane Horrocks is a British actress. She portrayed the roles of Bubble and Katy Grin in the BBC sitcom Absolutely Fabulous. She was nominated for the 1993 Olivier Award for Best Actress for the title role in the stage play The Rise and Fall of Little Voice, and received Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations for the role in the film version of Little Voice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jim Broadbent</span> British actor (born 1949)

James Broadbent is an English actor. A graduate of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in 1972, he came to prominence as a character actor for his many roles in film and television. He's received various accolades including an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards, and two Golden Globe Awards as well as nominations for two Primetime Emmy Awards and a Grammy Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Sallis</span> British actor (1921–2017)

Peter John Sallis was an English actor, known for his work on British television. He was the voice of Wallace in the Academy Award-winning Wallace and Gromit films and played Norman "Cleggy" Clegg in Last of the Summer Wine from its 1973 inception until the final episode in 2010, making him the only actor to appear in all 295 episodes. Additionally, he portrayed Norman Clegg's father in the prequel series First of the Summer Wine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bob Peck</span> English actor (1945–1999)

Robert Peck was an English actor who played Ronald Craven in the television serial Edge of Darkness, for which he won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actor. He was also known for his role as game warden Robert Muldoon in the film Jurassic Park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mackenzie Crook</span> British actor

Mackenzie Crook is an English actor, director and writer. He played Gareth Keenan in The Office, Ragetti in the Pirates of the Caribbean films, Orell in the HBO series Game of Thrones, and the title role of Worzel Gummidge. He is also the creator and star of BBC Four's Detectorists (2014–2022), for which he won two BAFTA awards. He also plays major roles in TV series Britannia, as the opposite leading druids Veran and Harka.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ralph Ineson</span> English actor and narrator

Ralph Michael Ineson is an English actor and narrator. Known for his deep and rough Yorkshire accented voice, he rose to fame as Chris Finch in the BBC sitcom The Office (2001).

The BAFTA TV Awards, or British Academy Television Awards, are presented in an annual award show hosted by the BAFTA. They have been awarded annually since 1955.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Capaldi</span> Scottish actor (born 1958)

Peter Dougan Capaldi is a Scottish actor and director. He portrayed the twelfth incarnation of the Doctor in the science fiction series Doctor Who (2013–2017) and Malcolm Tucker in The Thick of It (2005–2012), for which he received four British Academy Television Award nominations, winning Best Male Comedy Performance in 2010. When he reprised the role of Tucker in the feature film In the Loop, Capaldi was honoured with several film critic award nominations for Best Supporting Actor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rufus Jones (actor)</span> English actor

Rufus Jones is an English actor known for his appearances on television which include David Wilkes in W1A, Dr. Foggerty in Hunderby, Tom in Camping, and Peter in Home.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephen Mangan</span> English film and stage actor (born 1968)

Stephen James Mangan is an English actor, comedian, presenter and writer. He has played Guy Secretan in Green Wing, Dan Moody in I'm Alan Partridge, Seán Lincoln in Episodes, Bigwig in Watership Down, Postman Pat in Postman Pat: The Movie, Richard Pitt in Hang Ups, Andrew in Bliss (2018), and Nathan Stern in The Split (2018–2022).

Benjamin Hugh Railton Edwards is a British motor racing commentator employed by Formula One, and formerly employed by Channel 4. In the past, he has voiced television coverage of Formula One, Superleague Formula and the British Touring Car Championship, in addition to Formula One DVD Reviews for Duke Video. After spending well over a decade working for networks including Eurosport, ESPN, ITV and F1 Digital +, he was named the BBC's lead TV commentator on its Formula One coverage from 2012 in December 2011. He is known for his enthusiastic and energetic commentary style. In 2022 Edwards is one of the commentators for F1TV’s Formula One racing coverage. As of June 2023, he will also assume a role as one of the main commentators in respect of Formula E.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kayvan Novak</span> British actor

Kayvan Novak is a British actor and comedian. He co-created and starred in the comedy series Fonejacker (2006–2008) and Facejacker (2010–2012), winning the BAFTA Television Award for Best Comedy in 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tim Whitnall</span> English actor, playwright and screenwriter

Timothy Charles Whitnall is an English actor, playwright and screenwriter. He is known for playing Angelo in the long-running CITV series Mike and Angelo and narrating the BBC children's TV programme Teletubbies from 1997 to 2001. As a writer, he has won a BAFTA and an Olivier Award for his work on TV movie Best Possible Taste: The Kenny Everett Story and play Morecambe. He is also a voice actor, providing voices on characters from television shows such as Fifi and the Flowertots, Roary the Racing Car, and Thomas & Friends.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yuji Okumoto</span> American actor (born 1959)

Yuji Don Okumoto is an American actor of Japanese descent. He is best known for his role as Chozen Toguchi in The Karate Kid franchise. He has also appeared in such films as Better Off Dead,Real Genius, True Believer (1989), American Yakuza (1993), Contact (1997), The Truman Show (1998), Pearl Harbor (2001), Only the Brave (2006), Inception (2010) and Driven (2018).

Rob Curling is a British television presenter and journalist. He presents the sport for Sky News. He also fronts the tennis coverage for British Eurosport. Up to and including 2011, he anchored BBC Sport's interactive television coverage of: Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, Wimbledon, Open Golf, Six Nations Rugby and World Athletics Championships. He was the host of the game show Turnabout, which aired on BBC One for eight series between 1990 and 1996. He presented the Halford Tour Series cycling for ITV4, and commentated on table tennis on the BBC at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi.

Ross Dyer is a British sports and entertainment broadcaster. He is currently a football commentator and presenter for ESPN and Fox Sports in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colin Bryce</span> British bobsledder

Colin Bryce is a former Great Britain Olympic bobsledder, Strongman, now working as a television presenter and producer. He currently works as a sports commentator for the BBC, ESPN, Fox Sports, Eurosport, Channel Five, Channel 4 and CBBC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aneurin Barnard</span> Welsh actor

Aneurin Barnard is a Welsh actor. He is known for playing Davey in Hunky Dory, Claude in The Truth About Emanuel, Bobby Willis in Cilla, Tim in Thirteen, King Richard III in The White Queen, William in Dead in a Week or Your Money Back, Gibson in Dunkirk, and Boris Pavlikovsky in The Goldfinch.

Jonathan Tudor Owen is a Welsh producer, actor and writer who has appeared in TV shows including Shameless, Murphy's Law and My Family. Owen won a Welsh BAFTA in 2007 for the documentary The Aberfan Disaster, which he co-produced with Judith Davies.

Archibald Macpherson is a Scottish football commentator and author. He has been commentating on Scottish football, on radio and television, for over four decades.

References

  1. "Down (2001)". down.the-movie.net. Retrieved 17 August 2010.[ permanent dead link ]
  2. "Fun with Phonics". BBC. Archived from the original on 22 December 2010. Retrieved 17 August 2010.
  3. Amazing Studio. Heart of Darkness. Infogrames Multimedia; Ocean Software; Interplay Productions. Scene: Ending credits, 30:39 in, English voiceover, cast.
  4. "William "The Sensei" Vanders". Archived from the original on 15 March 2012. Retrieved 7 May 2011.
  5. Doyle, Paul (3 February 2005). "Why K-1 is the toughest, most exciting sport in the world". Guardian.co.uk. London: Guardian News and media. Retrieved 17 August 2010.