Jason Adam Griffith (born November 29, 1980, New York City, New York), (also known as J. Griff, Adam Caroleson or DJ Tanner) was the voice actor for Sonic the Hedgehog, Shadow the Hedgehog and Jet the Hawk from 2005 until 2010. He has worked as a voice actor for 4Kids Entertainment, where he voiced a variety of characters in a variety of shows.

Voice Acting CareerEdit

When 4Kids localized Sonic X for United States viewers, Griffith took on the voices of both Sonic and Shadow the Hedgehog. When Sega replaced all of the Sonic the Hedgehog voice actors with the Sonic X voice acting team, Griffith took over the voices of Sonic and Shadow from their previous actors, Ryan Drummond and David Humphrey respectively. When Jet was introduced in Sonic Riders, Griffith began voicing that character as well.

In 2010, Sega announced that they were replacing the entire voice cast (except for Mike Pollock who would keep on voicing Dr. Eggman). Sonic's new voice actor is Roger Craig Smith, starting with Sonic Free Riders and Sonic Colors.^[1] The new voices for Shadow and Jet are provided by Kirk Thornton and Michael Yurchak, respectively. However, Griffith has still voiced Sonic for commercials for the CW4kids' program block, Toonzai, which was recorded after the new cast was announced.^[2]

After leaving the Sonic cast, Jason is currently doing the lead role of the gym leader Cilan in the new Pokémon Black and White anime as well as co-staring in the podcast 'Casterstheshow' as seen on YouTube.

Sonic Series Voice CreditsEdit

• Sonic X - Sonic and Shadow
• Sonic Rush - Sonic
• Shadow the Hedgehog - Shadow, Shadow Androids and Sonic
• Sonic Riders - Sonic, Jet and Shadow
• Sonic the Hedgehog - Sonic and Shadow
• Sonic Rivals - Sonic and Shadow
• Sonic Rivals 2 - Sonic and Shadow
• Sonic and the Secret Rings - Sonic and Shadow
• Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games - Sonic and Shadow
• Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity - Sonic, Jet and Shadow
• Sonic Rush Adventure - Sonic
• Super Smash Bros. Brawl - Sonic and Shadow
• Sonic Unleashed - Sonic/Sonic the Werehog, Professor Pickle's Assistant
• Sonic and the Black Knight - Sonic, Shadow/Lancelot, and Jet/Lamorak
• Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games - Sonic, Shadow, and Jet
• Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing - Sonic and Shadow

Reception/ControversyEdit

Since the decision to replace the original cast with the 4Kids staff, there has been a much debated war mainly over the internet on who is the better voice actor for Sonic and Shadow. Primarily in the beginning, Griffith's voice has been highly criticized for lacking the emotion that Ryan Drummond had brought to Sonic, but some have also praised it for making him sound older. The Werehog voice was mostly praised in Unleashed, with many saying Griffith fit the role perfectly. His voice for Shadow has been received with much praise, some saying he has captured Shadow's dark, emotionless, and somewhat smug demeanor perfectly. Many fans also felt Griffith did a much better job as Sonic in Unleashed and Black Knight than he did in previous games. Despite the rough start Griffith had as Sonic, fans have started to warm up to him more even after the cast change which many fans felt was unnecessary since they felt that he finally perfected Sonic and was getting less complaints about his voice. It should be noted, that Jason is, so far, the most favorable voice for both Sonic and Shadow, according to polls on the Behind The Voice Actors website.

Chat SessionEdit

• On July 2009, Jason and Mike Pollock (the current voice actor for Eggman) attended a chat session with over 120 fans.
• In the session, he said he originally auditioned for Chris Thorndyke because he was a huge Sonic fan and wanted to see what it felt like to be Sonic's human companion, but a producer and representative from SEGA felt he sounded more like Sonic and ultimately gave him the role.
• He also stated that there is no tension between him and Ryan Drummond. In fact, he is good friends with Ryan.
• He also told about how he became Shadow during a recording of One Piece. A recording engineer told him he should audition for Shadow using a dark voice trying to match David Humphrey's and got it.
• He also said that the role of Jet the Hawk was something that SEGA wanted him to do.
• He said the Sonic Games he owns are Sonic 1-3 + Knuckles, CD, and Unleashed (which is his favorite).
• He also says out of all the roles he has done, Sonic is his favorite.
• He also said that Sonic was his first ever voice acting role. He originally came to New York to study theater and heard about the Sonic X auditions, which led to his career as a voice actor.

SoniconEdit

• In November 2010, he attended Sonicon, a Sonic-themed convention in Texas with Lisa Ortiz, Mike Pollock, and Pete Capella.
• He revealed that since he was 6 he has always wanted to be an actor, in both live action and voice. He would use a camera to record himself acting and doing various voices.
• He stated that he felt the voice he used for Sonic during Sonic X didn't feel right to him but it's how both 4Kids and Sega wanted him to sound.
• He also stated that 4Kids brought in the Japanese voice directors of Sonic Team to co-direct the English voices for Sonic 2006, Unleashed and the Mario & Sonic series.
• When asked if he ever met Charles Martinet, the voice of Mario, he simply replied, "No."
• A VIP got footage of Jason quoting a line from Sonic Colors in his Sonic voice.^[3]

TriviaEdit

• He is currently the longest running voice for Sonic having voiced him for a total of seven years (two in the anime, five in the video games) and is still voicing Sonic for promotions for 4Kids.
• He is the first and only English voice actor to play Sonic in both animation and games.
• He is often referred to among fans as Jason Anthony Griffith, because of his credit under that name. However, this is the name of an entirely different actor. This Jason's real middle name is Adam.
• The current Sonic Team head Takashi Iizuka said he met Jason when recording for Sonic Unleashed when a fan asked him about it at Sonic Boom.

ReferencesEdit

1. ↑ Sega America Blog | Out of the Mouths of Hedgehogs
2. ↑ Jason Griffith as Sonic in Toonzai Commercial
3. ↑ Last day of Sonicon Jason Griffith says a Roger Craig Smith line