Ratzenberger began his career in the performing arts while living in London, England. Sal's Meat Market heavily influenced
Peter Richardson and
Nigel Planer as a duo in
The Outer Limits and in
The Comic Strip. His first role in a major feature film was as a patron in
The Ritz (1976). Throughout the late 1970s and early 1980s, Ratzenberger appeared in various roles in feature films throughout Europe including:
A Bridge Too Far, filmed in Holland, as Lieutenant
James Megellas;
Superman, as a missile controller;
Superman II, as the
NASA control man;
Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back as Major Derlin;
Outland as a doomed mine worker named Tarlow; and
Gandhi, filmed in India, playing an American lieutenant.
Cheers Ratzenberger played mail carrier
Cliff Clavin on the sitcom
Cheers. As an improv artist, he asked the producers if they had written a bar know-it-all character; the producers decided it was a great idea, and the character of Cliff Clavin was born. Ratzenberger also came up with the idea for Cliff's trademark white socks, which he wore as a tribute to French comedian
Jacques Tati. Cliff became known for his outlandish stories, trivia, and his trademarked (and oft repeated), "It's a little known fact..." Cliff and Norm, the primary customer characters of the iconic bar, Cheers, played buddies who met at Cheers to talk about the day or nothing in particular. Ratzenberger was nominated for an
Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series in 1985 and again in 1986. Ratzenberger provided the voice for an animated version of Cliff on
The Simpsons sixth-season episode "
Fear of Flying". He also played the role in the short-lived spin-off
The Tortellis and in an episode of
Wings, which was made by the same creators.
Voice work Ratzenberger has contributed voice work for several animated projects, most notably
Pixar productions. Ratzenberger has voiced characters in 24 Pixar films. His roles include: •
Hamm the
piggy bank in the
Toy Story series (
1995,
1999,
2010,
2019,
2026) • P.T. Flea, the Circus Ring Leader in ''
A Bug's Life'' (1998) •
Yeti the Abominable Snowman in the
Monsters, Inc. series (
2001,
2013) • The school of
Moonfish in
Finding Nemo (2003) •
The Underminer in
The Incredibles series (
2004,
2018) •
Mack the truck in the
Cars series (
2006,
2011,
2017) • Mustafa the waiter in
Ratatouille (2007) • John the Axiom passenger in
WALL-E (2008) • Tom the construction worker in
Up (2009) • Gordon the Dunbroch palace guard in
Brave (2012) • Fritz the mind worker in the
Inside Out series (
2015,
2024) • Earl the
Velociraptor in
The Good Dinosaur (2015) • Bill the crab in
Finding Dory (2016) • Juan Ortodoncia the deceased dental patient in
Coco (2017) • Fennwick the
cyclops construction worker in
Onward (2020) According to Ratzenberger, Pixar's tradition of including him as a good luck charm in every film beginning with the studio's first film,
Toy Story, was due to him becoming good friends with former Pixar filmmaker
John Lasseter, Pixar's 23rd feature film,
Soul (2020), was the first Pixar film that did not involve Ratzenberger himself, though it featured a character animated in his likeness as a cameo according to the film's co-director
Kemp Powers; the cameo was also confirmed by director
Pete Docter on the film's
audio commentary track. After having voiced a character in each of Pixar's first 22 films,
Toy Story (1995) through
Onward (2020), Ratzenberger would not have another role in any Pixar film except for sequels in which he would reprise roles he previously played, such as Fritz in
Inside Out 2 (2024) and Hamm in
Toy Story 5 (2026). Ratzenberger has also continued to work with Lasseter, who produces all feature films and executive-produces all series at
Skydance Animation. Ratzenberger has appeared in every Skydance Animation feature film and series to date. His roles include: • Rootie the juice bar-owning bad luck root in
Luck (2022) • Caruncle the shopowner alien in
WondLa (2024, 2025) • Milo the monster handler in
Spellbound (2024) Aside from Pixar and Skydance animated productions, Ratzenberger voiced Harland the jet tug in
Disneytoon Studios'
Planes (2013), and Brodi the plane in its sequel,
Planes: Fire & Rescue (2014), which are spin-offs of Pixar's
Cars series and executive-produced by Lasseter. Additionally, Ratzenberger provided the voice for Aniyaku the assistant manager in the English dub version of
Studio Ghibli’s
Spirited Away (2002), which Lasseter also executive-produced. ==Personal life==