Tom Hanks’ younger brother spoke about voicing Woody in “Toy Story” and several other Disney projects.
Since the very first “Toy Story” film, Tom Hanks has been the voice of Woody. However, when his schedule does not allow it, his brother Jim steps in as the character’s official voice actor.
In fact, Jim provides Woody’s voice in nearly all media products derived from the franchise and currently has more voice acting credits as the cowboy than his brother.
In an interview for the podcast Love it Film, Jim explained how he ended up voicing Woody in various supporting projects over the years, including short films, video games, and even licensed merchandise.
“The first thing I did was voice one of those pull-string toys from the first movie, the one that says ‘You’re my favorite deputy’ and ‘There’s a snake in my boot’ and things like that,” he said. “They had processed the voice so much that they needed a cleaner version, so I came in and did it.”
The brothers are clearly not only similar in appearance, and Jim had previously commented that he was surprised to discover how nearly identical their voices were as well.
“I never realized my voice sounded so much like Tom’s,” he remarked. “Since then, I’ve watched videos of myself and thought, ‘My God, I really do sound just like him.’”
Jim revealed that he is “immensely grateful” for the opportunity to voice Woody and explained that he tries to remain as faithful as possible to the character when substituting for his brother, although he occasionally adds a personal touch.
Tom Hanks’ brother can be heard as Woody in several “Toy Story” spin-off projects, including Pixar’s 2020 short film “Lamp Life”, as well as Disney video games such as “Dreamlight Valley” and “Kingdom Hearts III”.
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Images: Disney reproduction, Wikimedia Commons, Instagram @jimmymhanks. This content was created with the help of AI and reviewed by the editorial team.
