Rupert Joel Degas (born in London on 17th August 1970) is an English actor, voice actor and impressionist, who provided voices for the CGI series of Thomas & Friends. He was originally hired to voice Diesel 10 in Misty Island Rescue, but was later replaced by Matt Wilkinson. He was kept on and voiced several characters for the fifteenth and sixteenth series. In the fifteenth series, he voiced Den at one point but that role was later given to Keith Wickham. During the sixteenth series, the role of Butch was given to Matt Wilkinson. Rupert eventually left the voice cast after the sixteenth series due to him residing in Australia and his remaining roles were given to Keith Wickham, Ben Small and Steven Kynman. When Ben Small left the voice cast, the role of Flynn was then given to Kerry Shale until later being given to Rob Rackstraw.
Voices
UK/US
- Diesel 10 (original workprints only)
- Dart (2011 - 2012)
- Den (Fiery Flynn only)
- Flynn (2011 - 2012)
- Bertie (2011 - 2012)
UK
- Butch (Stuck on You only)
Trivia
- He was originally cast to voice Diesel 10 in Misty Island Rescue and Day of the Diesels, but was cut and his role was taken over by Matt Wilkinson because his voice sounded too scary, camp and theatrical. He also mentioned that he could have still voiced his characters while living in Australia but ultimately someone in the production crew said it was too complicated.
- Following his departure from Thomas & Friends, some of his roles from The Amazing World of Gumball were given to other voice actors, such as his original role of Gaylord Robinson, who was given to Stefan Ashton Frank.
- He is the first voice actor to leave the voice cast of the CGI series.