Leslie La Penna (b. 1954), also credited as Leslie James La Penna, is an Italian voice actor and dubbing director. Most often working for The Walt Disney Company, he has directed the dubs of Muppet projects beginning with I Muppet (The Muppets). He has dubbed Zoot several times, including the Disney+ redubs of Il Muppet Show (The Muppet Show) and Muppets Mayhem.
La Penna is the son of American actor Anthony La Penna, who spent much of his career in Italy and was a prominent member of Rome's English language dubbing community as a voice actor, dubbing director, and script adapter. The senior La Penna acted in films such as Journey to Italy (with Ingrid Bergman) and moved to New York City for a few years, dubbing at Titra Studios (Mothra and others) and co-starring in the B movie The Brain That Wouldn't Die.
Following in his father's profession after the family returned to Rome, Leslie La Penna began English dubbing as a child, for juvenile actors. As an adult, he was frequently heard dubbing both leading men and supporting actors in Italian horror and crime movies, including those of Lucio Fulci and Dario Argento, for export. He was busiest during the eighties and nineties, dubbing Urbano Barberini in Lamberto Bava's Demons and Argento's 1987 film Opera, Stefano de Sando in Until Death and School of Fear, American star Fred Williamson in The Last Mission of Detective Malone, and various actors in low budget genre films. For the 1996 movie Fatal Frames, La Penna directed the dubbing in both English and Italian, dubbing Italian actor Ugo Pagliai into English and New Zealand actor David Warbeck into Italian.
As English language exports dried up (apart from some animation), La Penna focused on Italian dubbing, lending his voice to Tim Curry in Burke & Hare, Jason Flemyng in Gemma Bovary, Michael Jordan in Looney Tunes: Back in Action, and Jim Turner in Jobs. He dubbed Brian on Family Guy, Pluto in later Mickey Mouse projects (which he also voice directed), Sour Bill in Ralph Breaks the Internet, and Lumiere in Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers. He directed the dubs of The Country Bears, Christopher Robin, Girl Meets World, Good Luck Charlie, High School Musical, and other Disney productions.
Muppet dub credits[]
- I Muppet (The Muppets): Voice director
- Muppets 2 - Ricercati (Muppets Most Wanted): Voice director
- I Muppet (The Muppets): Zoot, Bobo the Bear
- Muppet Babies: Hug-a-Saurus, voice director
- Ecco i Muppet (Muppets Now): Beauregard, Bobo, Zoot, Elena, voice director
- Il Muppet Show (The Muppet Show) redub: Zoot, voice director
- Muppets Haunted Mansion: voice director
- Muppets Mayhem: Zoot, voice director
External links[]
- Professional credits listing in Italian
- AntonioGenna.net profile
- Dubbed in Rome - English dubbing profile and credits