Jimmy Hodson

American actor, narrator, and television host Jimmy Hodson was born in Orange, California, April 16, 1962. He is a former announcer on the long running syndicated TV show Divorce Court. Hodson narrates many movie trailers, commercials, shows and TV promos and was the signature voice of Fox Soccer Channel since its inception in 2005 until 2011.

In the past, Hodson was the announcer and comedy cast member on basketball legend Magic Johnson's short-lived late night talk show on Fox called The Magic Hour. Hodson's height of 6'-8" was instrumental in securing the job with Magic Johnson who liked the idea of a similarly tall announcer. Hodson appeared in a number of motion pictures and television shows, most notably Touched by an Angel on CBS, and many TV pilots.

Hodson began acting on stage and directing 8 mm films in 6th grade and longed to work in film and broadcasting. He would sneak onto studio lots and observe shows in production, as well as attend legitimate tapings of shows. His dreams began to come true when he was hired for his first TV and radio jobs while still a sophomore in college.

As a voice over actor Hodson has narrated thousands of commercials, promos, videos, shows in a career that began in 1980 while he was still in college and started working as a disc jockey at now defunct KYMS-FM in Orange County, California. Hodson has narrated many long form shows for National Geographic Channel, ESPN, Fine Living, Animal Planet, Travel Channel, Discovery Channel, PBS and more. He has been the voice of a few campaigns for Fox Sports, including Major League Baseball and College Football Saturday on FSN.

In 1984, Hodson co-created and co-hosted the groundbreaking half-hour music video show Real Videos which continues to air to this day, although he left the show after the first two years. In 1990, Hodson co-created and hosted an hour-long music video series on the Family Channel entitled Videosyncrasy. Both series were vehicles for Hodson's man-on-the-street style of found humor and combined songs with interviews of scores of musical artists and fun locations and stunts. He was featured sky diving, being set on fire, hang gliding, wrestling alligators, jumping off waterfalls, and traveling extensively. The Family Channel also commissioned Hodson to host prime time music specials with Harry Connick, Jr., Michael Bolton, Natalie Cole, Nelson, and Amy Grant. Videosyncrasy was cancelled in the autumn of 1991.

Behind the scenes, Hodson also worked as a cameraman, producer, writer, director, editor and motion graphic designer, directing music videos, commercials, corporate videos, and documentaries. The latter took him to some 32 countries around the world. In 1989, Hodson was selected by the late Rich Snyder, then owner of In-N-Out Burger, to be the corporate voice of the company. Hodson edited and hosted training videos for In-N-Out for 13 years, and has narrated them all since 1989, and has been the broadcast commercial voice of the company since 2008. Hodson traveled with rock band Guns 'n' Roses in 1991 to Rio de Janeiro to document their Rock in Rio performance there and shoot behind the scenes footage, including a side trip to Sao Paulo, Brazil with guitarist Slash to visit the Butantan Institute of Snakes.

Today, Hodson still acts in front of the camera, but is mostly known as a voice over actor. Most recording is done in his home studio in Newport Beach, CA, a suburb of Los Angeles. Hodson is married to former television producer Sonya Dunn Hodson and has two children with her, Hayley and Jonathan. Daughter Hayley Hodson is a volleyball player who is committed to Stanford University starting in 2015, and has been a member of the USA Youth National Team (winning a silver medal in Thailand at the World Championships in 2013), and played for the USA at the 2013 Women's U23 World Championships in Mexico, and the 2014 NORCECA Women's World Qualifier in Colorado Springs (gold medal).