Robert Anthony Rist (born April 4, 1964) is an

American actor. He is known for playing Cousin Oliver in The Brady Bunch, Martin in Grady and "Little John" in Big John, Little John. Rist is also known for voicing assorted characters in television shows, games and movies, most notably as the voice of Michelangelo in the films Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze (1991), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III (1993), and Casey Jones (2011); his other voice roles include Stuffy in Doc McStuffins, Whiz in Kidd Video, Star in Balto, Maroda in Final Fantasy X, and Choji Akimichi in Naruto. He made four guest appearances on CHiPs and the short-lived CBS series Whiz Kids, and also played "Booger" in a failed Revenge of the Nerds TV pilot. In 1986, Rist had a supporting role as Milo in the action film, Iron Eagle, which was a box-office hit despite being critically panned.

As of 2006, Rist was acting, working with music and also working in film production. Rist produced a horror/comedy film, Stump The Band, directed by William Holmes and JoJo Hendrickson.

In 2013, he portrayed Robbie the Bus Driver in the camp horror film Sharknado. Rist said in an interview that his friend Anthony C. Ferrante came upon the film's poster at the American Film Market and became enthusiastic about the concept. When Ferrante said that he had been approached to direct the film, Rist insisted that Ferrante take the job, and that if he did, that he should have a part in it. He also mentioned that Sharknado was his very first red carpet premiere.

In 2009, he voiced Griffin in Terminator Salvation. He also provided additional voices in Final Fantasy XIII, as well as reprising his role as Michelangelo in a fan-made movie about Casey Jones.

Rist voiced the reincarnation of Mondo Gecko in TMNT 2012.

In 2014, he appeared as the voice of an alien in the James Rolfe film Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie.

Music

Rist is also a musician and producer; he sings, plays guitar, bass guitar and drums. Rist has worked with many Los Angeles rock bands, including Wonderboy, The Andersons, Cockeyed Ghost, Nice Guy Eddie, and Steve Barton and the Oblivion Click. The list of west coast pop bands Rist has performed with numbers in the hundreds. He divides his time between film and music production, performing with Los Angeles alt-country band KingsizeMaybe and rock band Jeff Caudill & The Goodtimes Band (with Jeff Caudill of Orange County punk band Gameface and Michael "Popeye" Vogelsang of Orange County punk band Farside). Rist has also produced a number of records for bands, including Suzy & Los Quattro, Backline, Ginger Britt and the Mighty, Jeff Caudill, Steve Barton and the Oblivion Click, Nice Guy Eddie, Kingsizemaybe and The Mockers. Rist produced the album Automatic Toaster for The Rubinoos and played drums on that album. He currently is the drummer for the rock formation Your Favorite Trainwreck.

Rist and director Anthony C. Ferrante provided the music for the Sharknado film, initially writing about six songs for the first film. Rist and Ferrante would provide music for the sequel Sharknado 2 as the band Quint, and perform its theme song "(The Ballad of) Sharknado", which had originally appeared in the first film but few in the initial audience noticed it. Quint was named after the character in Jaws and served as their band's name for future work on the franchise, including the song "Crash" in Sharknado 3. They also released an EP called Great White Skies with several of the theme song's variants.

Rist and Don Frankel's power-pop group Sundial Symphony recorded two of Paul Levinson's songs -- "Merri Goes Round" and "Looking for Sunsets (In the Early Morning)" -- which were released by Big Stir Records in 2019.

Advertising

In October 2016 and April 2019, Rist promoted The Brady Bunch television series on the MeTV television network.

Filmography

Animation

  • Balto – Star
  • Batman: The Animated Series – Brian Daly
  • Doc McStuffins – Stuffy
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – Mondo Gecko
  • The Adventures of Puss in Boots – Lamarr, Angry Villager
  • The Weekenders – Thomson Oberman, various
  • The Electric Piper – Mick Dixon
  • Boruto: Naruto Next Generations – Choji Akimichi (English dub)
  • Mega Man Star Force &ndash Bud Bison (English dub)
  • Naruto – Choji Akimichi (English dub)
  • Naruto: Shippuden – Choji Akimichi (English dub)
  • The Last: Naruto the Movie – Choji Akimichi (English dub)

Live action

  • Blending Christmas – Sheldon
  • Little Lulu – Iggy
  • The Big Hex of Little Lulu – Iggy
  • Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie – Alien
  • Big John, Little John – Little John
  • Casey Jones – Michaelangelo
  • Galactica 1980 – Dr. Zee
  • Grady – Martin
  • Iron Eagle – Milo
  • Lucas Tanner – Glendon Farrell
  • Petrocelli – Ray
  • Sharknado– Robbie the Bus Driver
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – Michelangelo
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze – Michelangelo
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III – Michelangelo
  • The Brady Bunch – Cousin Oliver
  • Bronk – Tommy
  • The Bionic Woman – Andrew
  • The Mary Tyler Moore Show – David Baxter
  • Unseen Evil – Bob
  • The Ransom of Red Chief -- by O. Henry -- Short Story Film -- 1975 – Johnny Dorset

Video games

  • Final Fantasy X – Maroda (English dub)
  • Final Fantasy X-2 – Maroda (English dub)
  • Final Fantasy XIII – Cocoon Inhabitants
  • Mega Man Star Force Legacy Collection &ndash Bud Bison (English dub)