Jerry O’Connell is an accomplished actor, whose career extends back to when he was 11 years old when he starred in “Stand By Me”, the film adaptation of Stephen King’s “The Body”.
He’s probably most famous for roles in films like “Jerry Maguire” and “Scream 2,” as well as the TV series “Sliders,” but in a recent interview with CloserWeekly.com O’Connell reveals that the role that gave him his highest rating on Rotten Tomatoes was voicing Superman in “The Death of Superman” animated movie.
O’Connell has voiced Clark Kent/Superman in a number of DC Universe animated movies since then, including “Justice League: Throne of Atlantis” (2015), “Justice League vs. Teen Titans” (2016), “Justice League Dark” (2017), “Reign of the Supermen” (2019), “Batman: Hush” (2019) and the latest release “Justice League Dark: Apokalips War”.
As he puts it, being a part of these films has given him the most “street cred” and, Jerry emphasizes, “It’s an honor to be a part of something so important to so many people. My psychiatrist tells me not to do this, but I read pretty much all the tweets and comments and you do get compared to not only everyone who has portrayed Superman, but pretty much anyone who’s acted or voiced any superheroes. When it really strikes me is when I walk the floor at Comic-Con and everyone’s throwing out high-fives and no one gives me any side-eye. It’s kind of funny, but typically on social media people say pretty nasty things about me, except when it comes to voicing Superman. The worst I get is that he’s ‘pretty good.’ There’s none of that, ‘I can’t stand this guy, get him out of here.'”
Beyond superhero fandom, he’s amusingly found a real-life perk that caught him by surprise. “A couple of months ago, I went to the DMV to get a Real ID,” he says, “and there was a huge line. I had already been there for about an hour and I figured I had another one or two hours ahead of me. I’m just sort of goofing around on my phone and somebody comes up to me and says, ‘Hey, are you waiting for a Real ID?’ I said, ‘Yeah,’ and he tells me to come with him. I’d filled out all my stuff and said to him, ‘My number hasn’t been called yet,’ and he was, like, ‘Don’t worry about it.’ I paid the fee and thanked the guy and he said, ‘Hey, man, I love you as Superman!’ He actually recognized me as a voice actor and as the voice of Superman. How mind-blowing is that?”
Jerry, I don’t know if you will read my comment, but if you do, I just want to say that you are a great Superman. I really enjoy watching your Superman.
🙂