Steve Jobs personally requested Jeff Goldblum be the voice of Apple

Last Updated on August 12, 2024

Actor and ever-present gem Jeff Goldblum has one of the most distinct and unique voices in the business, with a pattern that is jazzy and riffy and a cadence that is both curious and sexual. So who better than to sell the sleekest products out there? As it turns out, Jeff Goldblum did indeed serve as spokesman for Apple in the late ‘90s and early 2000s, and it may have never happened without Steve Jobs himself.

Jeff Goldblum once revealed that he was hand-picked by Apple’s co-founder for the ad gig, even though he had no idea who he was talking to at the time. “Steve Jobs called me up a few decades ago to be the voice of Apple. That was early on, and I did not know it was Steve Jobs.” With that, Goldblum would get to work selling MacIntoshes, iMacs and more to the masses. In one ad from 1999, Goldblum remarks that only 20% of people were on the internet at that time. Today, it’s estimated that around 5.4 billion people across the world are on the web – that’s close to 70%. Now, we’re not saying that Jeff Goldblum helped bump those numbers up beginning at the turn of the century, but…he totally did.

When we think “voice of Apple”, another name comes to mind other than Jeff Goldblum: Siri. And while it would be lovely to hear the gorgeous pipes of Goldblum come out of our phones, there is no evidence that Steve Jobs anticipated that technology (at least in that form) at the time. So, no, it’s extremely unlikely he wanted Goldblum in that particular role. That said, the idea of saying, “Jeff Goldblum, wake me up at 8 a.m.” sure is titillating. For what it’s worth, the original voice of Siri was Susan Bennett, 

Outside of Apple, Jeff Goldlbum has also been the spokesman for everything from beer to cars to apartments to international lotteries. But his tenure with the software giant remains his most popular pitch work – and was hopefully more likely to get you to buy their products than whatever this was supposed to be.

What is the quintessential Jeff Goldblum performance? Drop your pick below!