Actor and voice artist Clarence Brown III was born on January 5, 1959 in Urbana, Ohio. Born to a concert pianist mother and a politician father, he studied at the Northwestern University on the back of a scholarship. There, he was encouraged to act after being shown Shakespearean works by a friend. He started acting in the early 1980s, and thanks to his tall stature and deep voice, he is often typecast in villainous roles. He played such roles in many movies—from his debut in Bad Boys, to The Guardian, to The Shawshank Redemption, to Highlander. He also starred in several independent films recently, including The Burrowers, which was a participant in the 2008 Toronto Film Festival.

Brown had several roles in television, including recurring roles in Earth 2 and ER, as well as guest roles in Enterprise and The Practice. His most known television role is in the HBO series Carnivàle, where he starred as Methodist preacher—and main antagonist—Justin Crowe. However, his most prominent television work was in animated series, where he provided his voice to many characters. Most memorably, he provided his voice to Lex Luthor in the Batman cartoons, and to Mr. Krabs in SpongeBob SquarePants. He also provided his voice to shows such as The Powerpuff Girls, Jackie Chan Adventures, Justice League, Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Spectacular Spider-Man.