The Voice Behind 'Trollhunters' Blinky Is A TV Pro

There are some actors who have those indistinguishable voices that are just meant for voiceover work, and on Netflix's new animated series, Trollhunters, the voices from the trolls are familiar enough to wonder who the face is behind them. So if you're asking yourself who plays Blinky on Trollhunters, that's probably because Kelsey Grammer is one of those actors with an amazing voice that you never really forget. And although he's played plenty of different roles before taking on Blinky on Trollhunters, Grammer has actually done a lot of other voice work throughout his career.

You probably remember his voice best as Sideshow Bob on The Simpsons from one of the first seasons up until now, but he's also done plenty of other things with that hypnotizing voice of his. In the most recent season of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, his voice was used as a narration of sorts, and then in the 2015 animated movie, Storks, he played one of the leads, lending his voice to the head stork in charge.

Usually, when you have an animated series of movie that you expect fans to attach themselves to, there are tons of celebrities involved to attract an even wider range of viewers, but with Trollhunters, it's been more about the story and less about who plays different characters. Still, that Grammer voice is unmistakable and will undoubtedly bring a unique personality to the character of Blinky.

Grammer is probably most well known for his sitcom, Frasier, which aired for 11 seasons and centered around a Seattle psychiatrist. But even before that, he was a regular cast member on Cheers where he played the same character who would later star in the Frasier spin-off. And although Grammer is still regularly popping up on the silver screen (he was just in Neighbors 2 earlier this year), he always seems to be lending his voice to something. Before Trollhunters was released on Netflix, he played a role in the animated movie Bunyan and Babe, opposite Mark Hamill and John Goodman.

On Trollhunters, Jim (Anton Yelchin) becomes the trollhunter, sworn to protect the world from evil trolls. According to creator Guillermo Del Toro, Grammer's Blinky is "a little bit pompous, but always righteous, and he has a great knowledge. He is sort of an academic of troll lore.” Sounds legit for Grammer, honestly. Del Toro, an apparently huge Frasier fan, also reportedly created the role just for Grammer. According to UPI.com, Del Toro's first renderings of the Blinky character even had Grammer's name on them because the director was that set on having the actor play the part.

For his part, Grammer was also more than ready to take on the role of Blinky immediately after giving the script a quick read. "When I just read a couple of the [Trollhunters] scenes," he said in the Netflix press release, "I thought, yeah, I can do this." And with the smooth voice he has almost become known for, Grammer is kind of the only guy you can imagine for the role at this point.