James Arnold Taylor (born July 22, 1969), also known by his initials JAT, is an American voice actor and podcaster. He is known for voicing Ratchet in the Ratchet & Clank franchise, Fred Flintstone in various commercials, Tidus in the Final Fantasy X series, Shuyin in Final Fantasy X-2, Obi-Wan Kenobi in various Star Wars media beginning with Star Wars: Clone Wars, Wooldoor Sockbat in Drawn Together (2004–2007), and the titular character in the animated series Johnny Test (2005–2014) and its revival (2021–2022).
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Early life and career
Taylor grew up in Santa Barbara, California. He dropped out of high school. Taylor started performing stand up comedy at the age of 16. He later became a radio DJ and comedy writer for various radio personalities such as Jonathon Brandmeier, Mancow, Rick Dees and Howard Stern. Taylor eventually became a production director where he was focused on radio commercials. He worked at Premiere Radio Networks. He decided to become a voice actor after doing a radio commercial with voice actor Don Messick. Taylor decided to use his full name to distinguish himself from singer James Taylor due to Screen Actors Guild guidelines.
Voice acting career
Taylor began his animation voice acting career in 1997, appearing in numerous roles including Ratchet in the Ratchet & Clank video game series and Tidus from Final Fantasy X. From 2005 until 2011, Taylor voiced Fred Flintstone in commercials and promotional material following the death of Fred Flintstone's previous voice actor, Henry Corden in 2005. He was also the voice of the titular character on Johnny Test. Taylor is currently the announcer for Fox’s Animation Domination.
In 2013, Taylor published the book JAT 365: 365 Inspirations for the Pursuit of Your Dreams. In 2018, he began the podcast Talking to Myself.
Personal life
Taylor is married. As of 2017, his wife Allison is also his manager. Together they have a daughter, Lydia, who was adopted from China. He starred in Animal Crackers alongside his daughter.
Taylor is a devout Christian and has discussed his faith on several occasions.
He contracted a black mold infection in 2005 which nearly caused him to lose his voice and took almost a year to recover.
