The voice behind Winnie the Pooh in live-action Christopher Robin on 30 years of stealth celebrity

Shrek, Sonic the Hedgehog, Captain Caveman, Who Framed Roger Rabbit – you’ll have heard Jim Cummings in most of the Disney animated film since the 1980s. If he had favourite characters they’d be Winnie the Pooh and Tigger

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Madeline Robin, played by Bronte Carmichael, and her father Christopher’s long-time friends Tigger, Piglet and Winnie the Pooh go on an adventure in the film Christopher Robin.

Published: 10:01am, 29 Jul 2018Updated: 10:01am, 29 Jul 2018

“Sometimes the smallest things take the most room in your heart,” a wise little bear once remarked – and Jim Cummings has put his heart and soul into playing Winnie the Pooh for three decades.

The 65-year-old American voice actor has been playing the Disney character based on the stories of English novelist A.A. Milne since The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh in 1988.

After more than a dozen films and various other television and video game appearances, Cummings plays Pooh and his bouncy feline friend Tigger in their first live-action outing, the upcoming Christopher Robin.

“These guys are extremely special. Everybody says, ‘Who’s your favourite? Who’s your all-time favourite?’ First of all, I don’t have ‘a’ favourite but, if I had two, it would be Pooh and Tigger,” Cummings said. “They’re kind of in their own class, their own category. They’re on their own shelf and everybody else isn’t.”

Disney’s history with A.A. Milne’s characters dates back to 1966, when the studio released the animated short Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree, featuring the character Christopher Robin, based on the author’s son.

In the new live-action adventure, the young boy who embarked on countless adventures in the Hundred Acre Wood with his band of spirited and lovable stuffed animals has grown up and lost his way.

Christopher Robin (Ewan McGregor) and his long-time friend Winnie the Pooh walk down the street in London in the film. Photo: Laurie Sparham.

It is up to his childhood friends to venture into the world of humans and help Christopher Robin remember the loving and playful boy who is still inside.