Who knew the voice behind so many of our favorite trailers belongs to a black man? YouTube channel Great Big Story shined its spotlight on voice actor Redd Pepper, who has narrated the UK trailers for cinema classics such as Men in Black 2, Armageddon, The Blair Witch Project, Space Jam and many more. Along with his work as being the booming voice behind the trailers, he’s also done audiobooks, voices for animation and video games and TV advertisements.

Pepper got into the industry by accident. “The way I got into being a voice artist was kind of strange. I used to drive trains on the London Underground,” he said. “One morning I was making my announcements, [and] a television executive was a passenger on my train. He got off at the next stop, ran up to my cab, we exchanged details, and the rest is history.”

Pepper said he’d forgotten half of the numerous trailers he’s done voice work for, but there’s one he’ll always remember. When he was recording for The Lost World: Jurassic Park UK trailer, a voice in his headphones commented on his work.

“A voice in my headphones said, ‘Wow, that’s a great voice!’ And I didn’t recognize it was Steven Spielberg. He was listening in from the stage into London. I swore I said, ‘Who the **** is that?’ Everyone went crazy in the studio.”

Pepper said he’s proud of his career, a career he doesn’t view as work.

“I’m having fun. It really is a cool job. It’s gotta be up there with one of the coolest jobs on the planet.”

Redd Pepper

Get relevant content delivered to you once a week