Christopher Collins
American actor, voice artist and comedian (1943-1994)
Christopher Charles Collins (born Christopher Lawrence Latta; August 30, 1949 – June 12, 1994) was an American actor and stand-up comedian. He is best known as the voice of Cobra Commander in the G.I. Joe animated series and Starscream in the first Transformers animated series. He had a few guest roles in the Star Trek series The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine, he voice acted Moe Szyslak and Mr. Burns in the first season of The Simpsons (1989–1990), and he had many other roles in television series and films. He also had a successful stand-up comedy career.
Early life
Christopher Lawrence Latta was born in Orange, New Jersey to Robert Latta (1920–1966), a New York stage actor, and Jane Morin (1925–2001), an advertising executive. He grew up in the Morningside Heights (sometimes called "West Harlem") section of Manhattan, New York City. His legal name became Christopher Charles Collins when his stepfather adopted him.
After a year at New York University, he studied acting, dance, voice, and mime in Paris.
Career
Radio work and stand-up comedy
In the mid-1970s, he acted on the New York and Boston stage and did voice-over work for Boston radio station WBCN.
Collins's stand-up career peaked in the late 1980s and early 1990s, when he performed in most of the major comedy venues in the United States and Canada.
The public source identifies “Christopher Collins” as american actor, voice artist and comedian (1943-1994). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Christopher, Collins and American.
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Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1086582. VIAF identifies the subject as 73671789. The Library of Congress control number is no2008109512. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1949, 1994, 1989 and 1990.
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This entry incorporates text from “Christopher Collins” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.