Daran Norris

Daran Morrison Nordland (born c. 1964), known professionally as Daran Norris, is an American actor. He has appeared or voiced characters in more than 400 films, video games, and television programs, including: Gordy in Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide; Cliff McCormack in Veronica Mars; the voices of Cosmo, Mr. Turner, Jorgen Von Strangle, and Anti-Cosmo in The Fairly OddParents franchise; Buddha Bob in Big Time Rush; Spottswoode in Team America: World Police, Knock Out in Transformers: Prime and Jack Smith on ‘’American Dad’’. In anime, he is best known for his roles as Tasuki and Mercurymon in the English dubs of Fushigi Yûgi and Digimon Frontier respectively.

Career
Norris has been an actor since 1988, beginning such work in television commercials for Pop-Tarts, and moving into film, television, and voice work in the 1990s.

Live action
His first film was Hobgoblins in 1988. Afterwards, he moved to television. He is known for playing Gordy in 44 episodes of Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide. Gordy is the "school's lazy, wacky janitor" who always goads Ned into rash actions while acting as Ned's go-to guy for advice. Norris recurred as Buddha Bob in the 2009 series Big Time Rush.

He portrayed Cliff McCormack, a public defender and family friend in the television drama Veronica Mars. The character of McCormack served as an ally to Keith and Veronica Mars and a client of Mars Investigations. He reprised the role in the movie, released in 2014, and the fourth season, which debuted on Hulu in 2019. He recurred on Rob Thomas's subsequent series, iZombie as weatherman turned anchorman Johnny Frost, from 2015 to 2019.

In 2015, it was announced that Norris would star as Phil Hartman in a film about him, directed by Jason Priestley. As of 2022, the film has yet to begin development.

Voice acting
Among his voice projects, Norris voiced Count Spankulot and various others in 22 episodes of Codename: Kids Next Door from 2002 through 2007, and 18 episodes of The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack from 2008 through 2009. He is noted for voicing the lead Dick Daring in 71 episodes of The Replacements from 2006 through 2009, and for voicing Mr. Turner, Cosmo, and Jorgen Von Strangle, for The Fairly OddParents franchise from 2001 to present, including 126 episodes of the television series, six specials, and seven TV movies, and reprised the roles for the related Jimmy Timmy Power Hour trilogy: The Jimmy Timmy Power Hour, The Jimmy Timmy Power Hour 2: When Nerds Collide, and The Jimmy Timmy Power Hour 3: The Jerkinators.

In October 2010, Norris voiced the Decepticon 'Knock Out' in The Hub TV network original series, Transformers: Prime. Norris recurs as the voice of The Chief and The Chameleon in the 2010 series T.U.F.F. Puppy. He also played Mr. Turner in the special live-action television film A Fairly Odd Movie: Grow Up, Timmy Turner!. He also is the voice of Jack Smith (Stan Smith's estranged father) on American Dad!.

In anime, he has voice acted in the English dub for the series Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex.

In video games, he voiced Venom and various characters in the 2000 video game Spider-Man.

Norris has also done voice work for Burger King commercials.

Personal life
Born in 1964 in Ferndale, Washington, Norris graduated from Ferndale High School in 1983, and married voice actress Mary Elizabeth McGlynn in 1988. They divorced in 2012.

Norris currently operates a performing arts school in Texas with his husband, Ray Garcia, who is also an actor whom he wed in 2021. They live in Bay City, where he is a board member and director of the Community Actors of South Texas.