Stefan Ashton Frank (referred to onscreen as Stefan Frank) is an American voice actor and television actor who provided commentary for the two seasons of Robot Wars: Extreme Warriors, Nickelodeon Robot Wars, and Robot Wars: Grand Champions.
Robot Wars[]
Stefan Frank first became associated with Robot Wars when he was enlisted to commentate all episodes of Robot Wars: Grand Champions, the US broadcast of Robot Wars: The Fourth Wars, hosted by Joanie Laurer. Stefan Frank was the primary speaker for these episodes, transitioning between most of the battles in each episode, all of which were commentated by Frank.
Around this time, Stefan Frank was also hired to provide commentary for the North American version of the video game Robot Wars: Arenas of Destruction, replacing the lines recorded by Jonathan Pearce to suit an American audience.
Once TNN commissioned their first dedicated series of Robot Wars for an American audience, Stefan Frank became the commentator for both seasons of Robot Wars: Extreme Warriors. His role was much the same, commentating all matches while also reading out battleboards, robot statistics, and transitioning over to Mick Foley and the various pit reporters of each season. Stefan Frank also reprised his role in Nickelodeon Robot Wars, the only personality from Extreme Warriors to do so while working with new presenters Dave Aizer and Vivianne Collins.
Stefan Frank's style of commentary was very enthusiastic, and Frank was not afraid to state his opinions of competing robots, often referring to less serious designs as "the comedy entrant", and provided frantic dialogue throughout most battles. This approach was somewhat calmed for Nickelodeon Robot Wars, which was targeted towards a younger audience, although Frank was still noticeably more intense than his co-hosts.
Outside Robot Wars[]
Outside Robot Wars, Stefan Frank has lent his voice to many computer games in recent years, such as Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit, Call of Duty 3 and Advance Wars: Dual Strike. Frank also starred in the UK animated series BB3B, as well as short lived BBC Three comedy series The Message in 2006. He also worked on the children's animated show Thomas & Friends in 2010 singing the songs Misty Island Rescue and Sir Topham Hatt for the show. He also voiced Mr. Gaylord Robinson on the animated television series The Amazing World of Gumball.
Outside of voice acting, Stefan Frank is also a singer-songwriter. He has recorded, toured or wrote with artists such as Prince, Boy George and The Prodigy, as well as co-writing his own comedy album called Dogland.[1] More recently, Frank has voiced a variety of US commercials, ranging from promotions for South Park to advertisements for Jeep and Samsung.[2]
Television/film credits[]
- Eliott from Earth (2021)
- Manhunt: Kill or Capture (2015)
- The Amazing World of Gumball (2011-2019)
- Chuggington (2010-2015 - US dub only)
- Thomas and Friends: Misty Island Rescue (2010)
- No Signal (2009)
- The Message (2006)
- BB3B (2005)
- Planet Cook (2004)
- This Is Dom Joly (2003)
- Nickelodeon Robot Wars (2002)
- Robot Wars: Extreme Warriors (2001-2002)
- Robot Wars: Grand Champions (2000)
Video game credits[]
- Horizon Forbidden West (2022)
- Cyberpunk 2077 (2020)
- Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2 (2017)
- Horizon Zero Dawn (2017)
- Star Ocean: Anamnesis (2016)
- Transformers Universe (2014)
- Sacred 3 (2014)
- Company of Heroes 2 (2013)
- Need for Speed: Rivals (2013)
- Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit (2010)
- The Club (2008)
- Battlefield: Bad Company (2008)
- Call of Duty 3 (2006)
- 24: The Game (2006)
- Battalion Wars (2005)
- Advance Wars: Dual Strike (2005)
- Sacred Underworld (2005)
- The Sniper 2 (2004)
- Sacred (2004)
- Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising (2003)
- Prisoner of War (2002)
- Robot Wars: Arenas of Destruction (2002 - US release only)
- Martian Gothic: Unification (2000)
- Blade (2000)
Trivia[]
- Much like Jonathan Pearce from the UK series, Stefan Frank was the only personality present across all three American series of Robot Wars, excluding the Judges.
- Despite being born in Ohio and growing up in California, Frank now resides in London.
- Stefan Frank advertises himself as "The Voice Dude" on social media, where he showcases some of his work.[3][4]
Quotes[]
- Main article: Stefan Frank/Quotes