Background and career
John Dezso Ratzenberger (born April 6, 1947) is an American actor, widely known for his role as Cliff Clavin on the comedy series Cheers (1982–1993), for which he earned two Primetime Emmy nominations. Ratzenberger reprised the role in the short-lived spin-off The Tortellis, an episode of Wings, as well as in an episode of Frasier. He has voiced various characters in Pixar animated feature films including Hamm in the Toy Story franchise, Yeti the Abominable Snowman in the Monsters, Inc. franchise, The Underminer in The Incredibles franchise, Mack in the Cars franchise, Fritz in the Inside Out franchise, and many others. Ratzenberger began his entertainment career while living in London in the 1970s. He acted in and wrote film and television through the 1970s and early 1980s before returning to America. At an audition for a role in a new sitcom, Ratzenberger created the character of Cliff Clavin. Cheers was a success and went on to run for 11 years. After Cheers, he began voicing characters for Pixar; his first role was Hamm in Pixar's debut feature film Toy Story (1995), and he would continue to voice characters in many subsequent Pixar films. Including voice acting and cameos, he is the fourth highest-grossing actor of all time.
John Dezso Ratzenberger was born on Easter Sunday, April 6, 1947, in Bridgeport, Connecticut, the son of Bertha Veronica (née Grochowski), and Dezso Alexander Ratzenberger, a WWII veteran who had been a Combat Engineer in the Philippines. John's father, Dezso, was of Austrian and Hungarian descent, and John's mother was of Polish ancestry. Ratzenberger attended St. Ann's School, Fairfield Prep, and Bassick High School in Bridgeport and then Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut. In 1969, Ratzenberger worked at the Woodstock Festival as a heavy equipment operator and as part of the crew building the stage. He moved to London in 1971, where he began his acting, writing, and directing career.
Ratzenberger began his career in the performing arts while living in London, England. Through the 1970s, he performed with Ray Hassett as the comedic theatrical duo Sal's Meat Market, which toured throughout Europe for eight years. Sal's Meat Market heavily influenced Peter Richardson and Nigel Planer as a duo in The Outer Limits and in The Comic Strip. His first role in a major feature film was as a patron in The Ritz (1976). Throughout the late 1970s and early 1980s, Ratzenberger appeared in various roles in feature films throughout Europe including: A Bridge Too Far, filmed in Holland, as Lieutenant James Megellas; Superman, as a missile controller; Superman II, as the NASA control man; Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back as Major Derlin; Outland as a doomed mine worker named Tarlow; and Gandhi, filmed in India, playing an American lieutenant.
Ratzenberger played mail carrier Cliff Clavin on the sitcom Cheers. As an improv artist, he asked the producers if they had written a bar know-it-all character; the producers decided it was a great idea, and the character of Cliff Clavin was born. Ratzenberger also came up with the idea for Cliff's trademark white socks, which he wore as a tribute to French comedian Jacques Tati. Cliff became known for his outlandish stories, trivia, and his trademarked (and oft-repeated) "It's a little known fact..." catchphrase. Cliff and Norm, the primary customer characters of the iconic bar, Cheers, played buddies who met at Cheers to talk about the day or nothing in particular. Ratzenberger was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series in 1985 and again in 1986. Ratzenberger provided the voice for an animated version of Cliff on The Simpsons sixth-season episode "Fear of Flying". He also played the role in the short-lived spin-off The Tortellis and in an episode of Wings, which was made by the same creators.
Ratzenberger has contributed voice work for animated projects. Ratzenberger has voiced characters in 24 Pixar films. His roles include:
Hamm the piggy bank in the Toy Story series (1995, 1999, 2010, 2019, 2026) P.T. Flea, the Circus Ring Leader in A Bug's Life (1998) Yeti the Abominable Snowman in the Monsters, Inc. series (2001, 2013) The school of Moonfish in Finding Nemo (2003) The Underminer in The Incredibles series (2004, 2018) Mack the truck in the Cars series (2006, 2011, 2017) Mustafa the waiter in Ratatouille (2007) John the Axiom passenger in WALL-E (2008) Tom the construction worker in Up (2009) Gordon the Dunbroch palace guard in Brave (2012) Fritz the mind worker in the Inside Out series (2015, 2024) Earl the Velociraptor in The Good Dinosaur (2015) Bill the crab in Finding Dory (2016) Juan Ortodoncia the deceased dental patient in Coco (2017) Fennwick the cyclops construction worker in Onward (2020) According to Ratzenberger, Pixar's tradition of including him as a good luck charm in every film beginning with the studio's first film, Toy Story, was due to him becoming good friends with former Pixar filmmaker John Lasseter, who directed or executive-produced each of the first 20 Pixar films. Ratzenberger's tenure at Pixar was parodied during the end credits of Cars, where his character, Mack, watches car-themed versions of Pixar films (Toy Car Story, Monster Trucks, Inc., and A Bug's Life, the latter of which references the Volkswagen Beetle). Mack notes that all the characters that John Ratzenberger has played had excellent voice actors until he realizes that they are performed by the same actor, at which point he remarks, "They're just using the same actor over and over," and asks, "What kind of a cut-rate production is this?!" The practice of regularly casting Ratzenberger in Pixar films was so well-known that his characters also occasionally shared the same voice actor in languages other than English, notably Renato Cecchetto who dubbed nearly all of Ratzenberger's Pixar roles for the Italian versions of the respective films. Ratzenberger has stated that his favorite Pixar roles were Hamm from the Toy Story series and P.T. Flea from A Bug's Life. Following Lasseter's exit from Pixar, Ratzenberger revealed at Motor City Comic Con in May 2024 that he was not a fan of the regime that replaced Lasseter or the studio's subsequent films, claiming "[...] they suck", and was critical of the political messaging that he felt was being placed in the films. Pixar's 23rd feature film, Soul (2020), was the first Pixar film that did not involve Ratzenberger himself, though it featured a character animated in his likeness as a cameo according to the film's co-director Kemp Powers; the cameo was also confirmed by director Pete Docter on the film's audio commentary track. After voicing a character in each of Pixar's first 22 films, Toy Story (1995) through Onward (2020), Ratzenberger would not have another role in any Pixar film except for sequels in which he reprised roles he previously played such as Fritz in Inside Out 2 (2024) and Hamm in Toy Story 5 (2026). Ratzenberger would also reprise previous Pixar roles in new television series produced by Disney Television Animation rather than Pixar, including Yeti (now named Adorable) and a new character named Bernard in Monsters at Work (2021–24), and Mack in the upcoming Cars: Lightning Racers (2027). Ratzenberger has also continued to work with Lasseter, who produces all feature films and executive-produces all series at Skydance Animation. Ratzenberger has appeared in every Skydance Animation feature film and series to date. His roles include:
