Christian Potenza (born December 23, 1972) is a Canadian actor and voiceover artist.
He is best known for his work on popular Fresh TV projects such as 6teen (where he voices the incredibly laidback skater dude Jude Lizowski) and the Total Drama series (where he voices the show's immoral and self-absorbed host Chris McLean), but his distinctive voice has earned him roles in quite a number of other Canadian animated series, most notably Sidekick (where he voices the easygoing, none-too-bright, and mischievous aspiring evil henchman Trevor Troublemeyer). He has also done his share of live-action work, but most of his roles are minor when compared to his animated roles. One of his more notable ones however was as the host of the reality show Last Car Standing (yes, you read that correctly; Chris McLean has hosted a non-animated reality show!).
Due to the fact he voices the character who could be described as the face of the show, Christian Potenza tends to be very heavily involved in stuff related to Total Drama and has more or less become the franchise's ambassador. He interacts quite a bit with the show's large fandom online (and elsewhere), and is close with many of the people who work on the show, including series creators Jennifer Pertsch and Tom McGillis. Deven Mack even recounted on his Tumblr
about how Potenza gave him a 30-minute phone call to welcome him into the “Total Drama family” when he got the role of Chef Hatchet for the Total DramaRama spinoff series.
He has YouTube channel where he puts up a lot of Total Drama-related content, such as interactions with fans, discussions with his fellow Total Drama voice actors, news and announcements on the series, and interviews with figures in the Total Drama community. He also has some other career-related stuff there too, like voice demos. You can check it out here.
Roles by Christian Potenza include:
Animation Roles
- 6teen - Jude Lizowski
- Almost Naked Animals - Dirk Danger
- Bob and Margaret - Ray (his very first voice acting role)
- Braceface - Hockey Player ("She Got Game")
- Detentionaire - Zed and the Skaters
- Fugget About It - Gus ("Hate Crime Legislation is for Pussies")
- Grojband - Party Danimal
- Inanimate Insanity - MePhone4 (S1E1, S1E18, S2E12)
- Jimmy Two-Shoes - Peep
- Leafie, a Hen into the Wild - Mr. Otter
- Looped - Stan ("Monster Stink")
- Moville Mysteries - Gizzard Gizersky
- Pearlie - Scrag
- Pikwik Pack - Brando Beaver, Bison Bros, Rafi
- Scaredy Squirrel - Bobby Lovelife ("Stack to School")
- Seven Little Monsters - Cashier ("All the Marbles")
- Sidekick (and the Funpak shorts it originated from) - Trevor Troublemeyer
- Skatoony - Chris McLean ("Pop Video"; reprising the role from Total Drama)
- Stōked - Shep ("Take Your Kook to Work Day")
- Total Drama - Chris McLeannote , Jerd McLean ("Newf Kids on the Rock")
- Total DramaRama - Jude Lizowski (reprising the role from 6teen), Chris McLean ("Broken Back Kotter" and "A Hole Lot of Trouble")
- Transformers: BotBots - Clogstopper
- Winston Steinburger and Sir Dudley Ding Dong - Grinder ("Very Fast Forward")
- Wishfart - King Neptune
Live-Action Roles
- Bunks (2013 TV movie) - Crawl
- But I'm Chris Jericho! - Ryan Archer
- Covert Affairs - Raymond Kent ("Trompe Le Monde")
- Creeped Out - Bob ("One More Minute")
- Degrassi: The Next Generation - Cashier ("The Mating Game")
- The Expanse - Mason
- The Famous Jett Jackson - Deputy Spencer
- Flashpoint - Dixon ("No Promise")
- Frankie Drake Mysteries - City Clerk ("Ward of the Roses")
- Hendrix (2000 biographical TV movie) - Chas Chandler
- King's Ransom - Officer Holland
- La Femme Nikita - Reuben ("Any Means Necessary")
- Last Car Standing - Host
- Murdoch Mysteries - "Shoeless" Jack Leary ("Back and to the Left")
- Mutant X - Hotel Clerk ("Brother's Keeper")
- Orphan Black - Cashier ("Mingling Its Own Nature with It")
- Population 436 - Frank Ramsey
- Riverdale (1997 CBC series) - Jimmy Snow (his very first credit)
- Rookie Blue - Speeder ("Girlfriend of the Year")
- Saving Hope - Carl Palansky ("Awakenings")
- Sharpay's Fabulous Adventure - Mic Tech Guy
- The Thin Blue Lie - Danny O'Brien
- The Tuxedo - CSA Agent Joel
Tropes associated with Potenza:
- He Also Did: He once voice acted in a Thomas & Friends fanseries, Joey Turner's Tomy Thomas and Friends. He played an Expy of Chris McLean known as "Chris McTrain" in "Gameshow Carnival 2: Rooftop Stranded".
- Pigeonholed Voice Actor: In a good day, he stated the fact he really enjoys in playing a lot of Jerkasses and villains.
