Edward Harry Deezen (March 6, 1957, Cumberland, Maryland, USA) is an American actor, voice actor and comedian best known for his bit parts as nerd characters in 1970s and 1980s films such as Grease, Grease 2, Midnight Madness, I Wanna Hold Your Hand, 1941 and WarGames, as well as for larger and starring roles in a number of independent cult films, including Surf II: The End of the Trilogy, Mob Boss, Beverly Hills Vamp and Teenage Exorcist.
As a voice actor, he is recognized for his distinctively high-pitched and nasal voice, which has been used for the characters of Mandark in the Cartoon Network series Dexter's Laboratory, Snipes the Magpie in Rock-A-Doodle, Ned in Kim Possible and the Know-It-All Kid in The Polar Express.
Deezen landed his first and perhaps best known role in the film Grease, playing nerdy student Eugene Felsnic, a part he won through a standard audition process. During Grease's post-production period, Deezen won another small role playing a bully in the low-budget independent science fiction movie Laserblast. Despite being his second film, Laserblast marked Deezen's screen debut when it was released in March 1978, three months before the theatrical release of Grease.
n the mid-1980s, Deezen transitioned into voice acting, a change of pace he favored due to better pay and not needing to memorize dialogue. He started out lending his voice to animated feature films, including the voice of Donnie Dodo in Sesame Street Presents Follow That Bird and Snipes the Magpie in Don Bluth's 1991 film Rock-A-Doodle. According to a 2011 interview, Deezen unsuccessfully auditioned for the role of the title character in Robert Zemeckis's Who Framed Roger Rabbit, losing out to comedian Charles Fleischer. He was also considered for the role of Judge Doom in the film along with several other actors that were considered but lost the role to Christopher Lloyd.
Deezen eventually found full-time voice work on television in the mid-1990s, playing recurring characters on the animated series Grimmy, Duckman, Kim Possible and What's New, Scooby-Doo?, as well as guest spots on many others, including Johnny Bravo, Recess, and Darkwing Duck. His best-known voice-over character, however, is that of Mandark, the nemesis of the eponymous Dexter on Cartoon Network's Dexter's Laboratory, a role he played for the series' entire run from 1996–2003. Deezen also voiced the character on the TV special Dexter's Laboratory: Ego Trip and the video games Cartoon Network Racing and FusionFall.
| Year | Image | Character | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | 
|
Know-it-All | The Polar Express |
| 1996-2003 | 
|
Mandark | Dexter's Laboratory |
| 1992 | 
|
Road Hogs Biker | Goof Troop |
| 1985 | 
|
Donny Dodo | Follow That Bird |