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Christian Potenza

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Christian Potenza
Potenza in 2014
Born
Anthony Christian Potenza

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Occupations
  • Actor
  • comedian
Years active1997–present
Spouse
Edie Inksetter
(m. 1997; div. 2000)
Children1[1]

Anthony Christian Potenza[2] is a Canadian actor and comedian. He has voiced Jude Lizowski on 6teen as well as Brando Beaver and both of the Bison Brothers in Pikwik Pack. From 2007 to 2014, Potenza was also the original voice actor for Chris McLean in Total Drama.

Early life

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Potenza was born in Ottawa, Ontario to Doris (née Heimann) and Joseph Potenza.[3]

Career

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Potenza has been on television since 1997, when he first appeared in the television series Riverdale as the character Jimmy.

His performances include appearing as Doug in the CBC Television hockey comedy series The Tournament, as well as CSA Agent Joel in the 2002 Jackie Chan movie The Tuxedo.[4] Most of Potenza's roles are in television commercials, including a giant yellow toothbrush in the "evil gingivitis" commercials for Listerine, a dog in the Fido commercials "The Office" and "The Promotion", as well as a sunflower in Canadian Kia ads. He performed the voice for Jude Lizowski on 6teen; another cartoon character is Trevor Troublemeyer on the show Sidekick. He also guest starred in the show Grojband as Party Danimal and performed the voice for Chris McLean in the Total Drama series.

He also appeared in an episode of Colin and Justin's Home Heist in 2007, in which the suburban Oakville home he shares with his daughter Teagan was remodelled.[5]

Potenza in 2012

Potenza also portrays Ryan Archer in the web series But I'm Chris Jericho!. He is the voice of Brando Beaver and both of the Bison Brothers in Pikwik Pack.

His YouTube channel, The Infinity Forge (originally called "SwitchBoardNetwork"), largely features videos of his experiences as a voice actor for Teletoon, and has gathered a respectable fan following. He has also guest-starred on various independent animated series on YouTube.

In 2023, Potenza began co-hosting a bi-weekly podcast segment on The Corcoran Entertainment Show in which he and his co-host, Franky Corcoran are pitched content ideas from a series of guests.[6]

Personal life

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Allegations

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In February 2022, Potenza was accused of drugging and sexually assaulting his acting students in a Facebook post by actress Sonya Côté.[7] These allegations gained publicity in March 2023 when it was announced that Potenza would not be returning as the voice of Chris McLean in the Total Drama revival, having been replaced by Terry McGurrin.[8]

Filmography

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Film

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Year Title Role
1999 Forever Mine Corrections Officer
2002 The Tuxedo CSA Agent Joel
2003 The Arbuckle Academy Bobby
2004 Ham & Cheese yum yum Patt Watts
My Brother's Keeper aka Le Sang du frère (Canada: French title) Dave
2005 King's Ransom Officer Holland
A Wing and a Prayer Barry
The White Dog Sacrifice Rob
Neil Homeless Man
2006 Run Robot Run! Garth
Population 436 Frank Ramsey
2011 Moon Point Rick
Sharpay's Fabulous Adventure Mic Tech Guy
2013 Bunks Crawl
2014 Daisy, A Hen into the Wild Mayor/Mr. Otter
Shelby Uncle Stephen
2021 V/H/S/94 (Segment Storm Drain) Cameraman Jeff

Television

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Year Title Episode Role
1997 Riverdale Jimmy
1998 Naked City: Justice with a Bullet Rudy
1999 La Femme Nikita aka Nikita (Canada: English title) "Any Means Necessary" Reuben
2000 The Famous Jett Jackson "Beauregard's Beach Bash" Deputy Spencer
Hendrix Chas Chandler
One Kill Parker
The Thin Blue Lie Danny O'Brien
Twice in a Lifetime "Birds of Paradise" Young Barry Kirkbride
2001 Degrassi: The Next Generation "The Mating Game" Cashier
The Famous Jett Jackson "Battle of Wilsted" Deputy Spencer
Leap Years 5 episodes Lighting Guy
2002 Escape from the Newsroom Chris
Patti
2002–2003 Moville Mysteries Gizzard Gizersky (voice)
2003 The One Bill
2003–2004 Foolish Girl Punk Rock Boyfriend (voice)
2004 The Eggs 2 episodes The Monos
2004–2010 6teen All Jude Lizowski (voice)
2005 Funpak Not-So-Superheroic Adventures of Sidekick shorts only Trevor Troublemeyer
The Tournament Doug
The Shakespeare Comedy Show Episode #1.2
2007 Ten Seconds Friend
2007–2014 Total Drama All (except "Are We There Yeti?", TDA Aftermaths II & III, and TDWT Aftermaths) Chris McLean, Jerd McLean (voices)
2008–2010 Stoked "Take Your Kook to Work Day"
"Grand Theft Whale Bus"
Shep, Announcer guy (voices)
2010–2011 Jimmy Two-Shoes "Everyone Can Whistle", "Heloise's Secret Admirer" Peep (voice)
2010–2013 Sidekick All Trevor Troublemeyer (voice)
2011–2013 Almost Naked Animals Dirk Danger (voice)
2011 Detentionaire Zed, The Skaters (voices)
2011–2012 Scaredy Squirrel "Life Slaver" Viking (voice)
2012 Murdoch Mysteries "Back and to the Left" Jack "Shoeless Jack" Leary
2013 Skatoony "Pop Video" Chris McLean, Doug (voices)
2013 Last Car Standing All Himself (host)
2013 Grojband "Pox N' Roll", "Grin Reaper" Party Danimal (voice)
2018 Carter "Episode 8" Clifford
2018 Wishfart "Aw, Man!" Neptune (voice)
2018–2022 Total DramaRama Main Role/Episodes: "Broken Back Kotter", "A Hole Lot of Trouble" Jude Lizowski, Chris McLean (voices)
2019–2021 Norman Picklestripes Additional voices
2020–2021 Pikwik Pack Bison Bros (voice)
2022 Transformers: BotBots Clogstopper (voice)

References

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  1. ^ "It's that guy". Inside Halton. January 6, 2006. Retrieved May 5, 2021.
  2. ^ Christian Potenza Explains All The DRAMA (Part 1 of 2) - The Corcoran Entertainment Show Episode 107 on YouTube
  3. ^ "Joseph Potenza Obituary". Ottawa Citizen. Hulse, Playfair & McGarry. Retrieved May 9, 2025.
  4. ^ Helwig, David (January 22, 2005). "A Saultite take on the Evil Gingivitis". SooToday. Retrieved October 25, 2006.
  5. ^ "'50s swamp actor's home" Archived October 20, 2010, at the Wayback Machine. Metro Ottawa, November 4, 2007.
  6. ^ "Wrapping up the Drama and Starting Something New: Thursday Think Thank with Christian and Friends". YouTube. February 8, 2024.
  7. ^ Rao, Karishma (March 29, 2023). "'He was so iconic for the role': Christian Potenza allegations explored as Chris Mclean voice actor is replaced". Sportskeeda. Retrieved August 3, 2023.
  8. ^ Terry McGurrin [@standupmonkey] (March 28, 2023). "I'm incredibly excited to be the voice of Chris McLean. This was one of the creative decision with respect to the reboot. In preparation for the role I stopped feeding my children months ago and make them compete in highly dangerous events in order to win a marshmallow" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
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