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A MOUSE ON A ROLE!
a biography
of Phillip Glasser, by Aaron Banks
(with thanks to JR for letting me put this up)
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If anyone out there is a mouse lover then surely they've seen An American Tail, one of Don Bluth's finest films and one of my personal favorites. The character Fievel has touched everyone who has seen it. But who is the man behind the mouse? Acctually when the film was made he wasn't a man yet, just an uptight witty boy. His name is Phillip Glasser and he has a long list of voices and guest stars.
Phillip was born in Tarzana California on October 4th, (around 1981), and, at the age of 4 was immediatly introduced to the entertainment industry. But why and how could he have gotten into it soo soon? Simple - let's just say that family matters. His mother was a talent agent, his father his personal manager, his brother is a PRODUCER! and finally his sister is also a talent agent. So from the start little Glasser had a good carrer ahead of him.
When Don Bluth made a great film ( The Secret of NIMH ) but failed with it at the box office he teamed up with Steven Spielgburg to make "American Tail" (or AT as we'll call it). Phillip's mother knew that this would be the perfect part for him so she set him up for an audition and he got the part! While making the film Phillip made friends with people that would come in handy later in his career. While making "AT" Spielgburg managed to get Phillip not to act his lines, but say them for real... Spielgburg got Glasser to go into his inner feelings, like he would feel if he really did loose his family. The young boy would feel that feeling - a sad, lonely feeling and then Spielgburg would put a microphone in front of Glasser and he would read the line with that feeling, which is why some people cry while watching "AT" because of it's real feelings of losing loved ones.
The second Fievel film was more joyous and fun. Phillip Glasser a little older would come into the studios, and, (from what I heard) he would wear a cowboy outfit and keep talking in his cowboy accent all day. "Fievel Goes West (AT2)" was more fun so Glasser had more fun with it than feeling sad like last time. He then went on as Fievel doing the great but unsuccessfull TV show series "Fievel's American Tails"
After the show was cancelled after only having one season and being the character that shapped his future for the last time Phillip's family (as talent agents) got him a lot of roles to be a guest star in many TV shows. Over the years he would be on "Sabrina the Teenage Witch", "Boy meets World", "Full House", "Saved by the Bell: The New Class", and "Coach". He was a guest star on all of those and sometimes return more than once to a show. Notice anything about those shows above? Yep! They're all Sitcoms so Glasser definentally had fun with those. He was a good guest star actor but Hollywood didn't see him as a live actor. He tried for more acting parts but was denied them. So his only refuge for Hollywood career was voiceovers. Like I said earlier Glasser had made friends with people in while making "AT". He became close friends with Dom DeLueise and Don Bluth. So when Glasser couldn't get a real part Bluth gave him plenty of parts in his films. Phillip was also in more voice overs such as: "Pound Puppies", "Pink Panther", "Bebe's Kids", and "Frosty the Snowman". As time passed Phillip Glasser got older therefore his cute Fievel voice was long gone. No one could hire him now! So Phillip took it to the theater. He appeared in "Les Miserables" for 2 years! Later he got another voice over job which he was getting a little tired of but he's become a proffesional voice overer so he was used to it. He did the voice of Timmy as a teenager in "NIMH2" which was a failure on the US home video market. Until, finally a break through! Paramount pictures offered him a part in "Star Trek Insurrection"! Phillip was thrilled (who wouldn't for Star Trek). However when they were done making the film, THEY CUT PHILLIP'S SCENE OUT!!! He was going to play as one of the evil Ru'afo, a Ba'ku fighter who is transformed into his younger self, and who battles against Captain Picard. Even though his scene was cut his name was still in the credits and he still got paid but he was deeply disapointed. So what's he doing now? Well they say that he working on a new TV show, and is supposed to play some crazy wild guy. His hobbies at home are very interesting. He enjoys writing songs and has a band. He has written songs that have appered or have been heard in movie credits.
What does he look like now? Well for those of you who watch the X-Files he looks like a teenage MULDER! He has dark short hair, kind of a big nose, long face, skinny and handsome (for you girls that is) and well what can I say he's a teen!
From what started out as a mouse to band player his carrer has been based on survival, just like his character Fievel, Never gave up! Phillip, after many put downs, is still going for it. But to this day his best part so far is still Fievel. However after 7 years of Fievel in rest the torch has been pased to someone else to be Fievel. Thomas Dekker did the voice of Fievel in "An American Tail III The Treasure of Manhattan Island" and suprisingly he sounds EXACTLY like Phillip Glasser. So even though Phillip is too old to do Fievel, Thomas Dekker is still doing the part based upon the character Glasser set. This biography is a tribute to Phillip Glasser and Don Bluth who forever changed the way we looked at animation, and showed everyone that it didn't have to be Disney's domain, and that even the smallest of hero's could make an imprint in this world.
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This section was added 7 December 1999
