Philippe Hartmann was born on December 18, 1970, in Montréal, Québec, to a French mother, Françoise Hartmann (née Hanssens-Eischen),an animator and film director at the National Film Board of Canada, and a Belgian-born Hungarian father, István Hartmann, a window dresser, display artist, and decorator for several well-known Canadian department stores.
Philippe attended John Abbott College and trained in professional theatre for three years before studying English and French literature at Concordia University. He then left for New York City to study film and TV acting with George Loros and Irma Sandrey at The Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute from 1992-1995, graduating from the program.
In the summer of 1995, Philippe began working as a driver at Kaufman Astoria Studios, where he met Bill Cosby, who gave him his first break on the TV sitcom "Cosby." He went on to appear in TV series such as "Soul Man," "Lateline," "Whoopi," "Sesame Street," and films like "A Cat In Paris," "The Walk," "Stonewall," "X-Men: Apocalypse," and "Mother!"
Philippe has also performed in several plays, including his one-man show "Pipo Bertani: The Schmuck from Venise," which he performed at the New York International Fringe Festival in 1997. He has acted in several plays at The 13th Street Repertory Company and has taken clowning, physical comedy, and mime workshops with renowned artists.
Known for his smooth and strong voice in both English and French, Philippe has worked primarily in the voice-over industry for over 20 years. He is best known for being the Euro-French speaking Co-Host/Announcer and Color Commentator voice of the WWF "Les Superstars du Catch" during the "Attitude Era" from the late 1990s to 2002, broadcasting in France, Belgium, Switzerland, Senegal, and Northern Africa.
Philippe co-hosted several classic pay-per-view specials with Raymond Rougeau, including Royal Rumble, No Way Out, King of the Ring, SummerSlam, Survivor Series, and No Mercy. He returned to the WWE Network in 2016 to host "WrestleMania 32" alongside Jean Brassard, which broke the record for attendance that night with 101,763 screaming fans.
Philippe has also worked in several major films, television sitcoms, specials, and TV mini-series. He divides his time between Canada and the United States and continues to polish his voice-over talent by taking workshop classes and recording demos with Kim Handysides. Recently, he returned to playing piano and keyboards by taking one-to-one coaching and mentoring sessions with Mike Lindup of LEVEL 42.
