(NEXSTAR) — If you’re tuning in to the 97th Academy Awards on Sunday, you’ll see plenty of familiar faces. You may also hear a familiar voice, despite not seeing their face.
The Oscars host — this year, comedian Conan O’Brien — and the stars who are being recognized will receive a lot of attention during the show. Helping to move the Oscars along will be a voice from above, of sorts: actor Nick Offerman, who is serving as the announcer for Sunday’s award show.
You may recognize Offerman for his roles as Ron Swanson on “Parks and Recreation,” Karl Weathers on “Fargo,” Murray Thompson on “The Resort,” and Bill on “The Last of Us.” Offerman has also had voice roles in multiple animated series and films, like “Gravity Falls,” “Sing,” and “The Great North.”
While this is Offerman’s first time announcing for the Oscars, he isn’t the show’s first announcer.
Instead, that title was clinched by Ronald Reagan — yes, the 40th president of the United States — during the 25th Academy Awards.
Reagan, then just 42 years old, was considered a veteran actor whose career began as a radio broadcaster and play-by-play announcer. He seemed perfectly at ease narrating the scene outside the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood in real-time, as heard in a clip shared to YouTube by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
He had also done it before. During the 22nd Academy Awards, Reagan reportedly contributed to the radio broadcast alongside sports announcer Ken Carpenter and actress Eve Arden, according to The Old Radio Times. And it didn’t hurt that he was well-educated on the inner workings of Hollywood, having just ended his tenure as the seventh president of the Screen Actors Guild.
Roughly two decades later, Reagan would be elected to the Oval Office. It is, of course, too soon to tell whether the same fate awaits Offerman.
Nexstar’s Michael Bartiromo contributed to this report.
