Richard Darbois

Richard Guimond (French pronunciation: [ʁiʃaʁ ɡimɔ̃] ; born 7 December 1951), professionally known as Richard Darbois (pronounced [ʁiʃaʁ daʁbwa] ), is a Canadian actor who specializes in French dubbing.

Darbois is a regular French voice for many actors, including Harrison Ford, Danny Glover, Richard Gere, Jeff Goldblum, Dan Aykroyd, and Patrick Swayze, as well as for Bill Murray, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone.

Darbois is also very present in the animation industry, standing out singularly by his playing and various vocal possibilities. He has participated in many works for Disney Studios, notably lending his voice to Buzz Lightyear in the Toy Story franchise and the series Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, Genie in Aladdin, Oogie Boogie in The Nightmare Before Christmas, Shan-Yu in Mulan, Bruce in Finding Nemo, Mr. Waternoose in Monsters, Inc.. He also lent his voice to Batman in several series and animated films of the 1990s (including Batman: The Animated Series) and Captain Harlock in the anime series Space Pirate Captain Harlock.

In the media, he is also known as the voice-over artist of the radio station NRJ and some brands for advertising.

Richard Darbois is the son of comedian Olivier Guimond and singer Jeanne-d'Arc Charlebois.

In 1955, his parents separated and his mother left for a career in Europe, accompanied by her children, where she took the artist name of Jeanne Darbois, a surname that her children would adopt.

In the 1970s, at the start of his acting career, Richard Darbois appeared in several soft erotic films, then in pornographic films; however, he was dubbed in the latter for the hard shots. He then turned to dubbing, where he professionalized. Within the post-synchronization, Richard Darbois is distinguished by a very recognizable voice, of which he is able to modify the bass as well as the treble (though his normal voice is still very deep, even cavernous).

Darbois has since been in many French versions for films and television series through animation. He doubles Harrison Ford, Richard Gere, Danny Glover and Jeff Goldblum and has repeatedly dubbed Bill Murray, Patrick Swayze, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Liam Neeson, George Clooney and even Sylvester Stallone (during a certain period, Alain Dorval, the usual voice of Stallone, was at odds with the studios, following union demands).

He also modulates his voice according to the actors he doubles; he retains his normal voice for Harrison Ford (who also has a very deep voice), while giving a much less serious voice to Richard Gere and Jeff Goldblum and even less serious to Bill Murray. Danny Glover, on the other hand, has the same voice as Harrison Ford, but with a slight black African-American accent. Darbois also kept his normal voice for Richard Chamberlain, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Ironside and Keith Richards, who played Edward Teague in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.

Darbois currently lives in Guadeloupe with his wife, with whom he has a son. However, he continues to record announcements for NRJ Radio, and the firm has set up a studio for him there.