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Q: I was watching a little half-hour boxing documentary on HBO and I'm sure I recognized the voice of the narrator. Do you know who it was?

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Author: 
Adam Thomlison / TV Media

On first read, your question sounds impossibly vague, but it turns out it isn't. Film and TV star Liev Schreiber has been the voice of HBO Sports for years.

His is a distinctive voice: gravelly, rich and deep. If you hear it in any of his many films -- such as the "Scream" series or his 2006 remake of "The Omen" -- or perhaps in his TV series "Ray Donovan," you'll remember it.

He has narrated HBO's sports documentaries, as well as its docu-reality shows "Hard Knocks" and "24/7" (which was likely the boxing doc you watched), for the past 19 years.

However, his role in "Ray Donovan" actually came close to ending that streak. His contract with HBO was up for renewal in 2011, at the same time he was in negotiations to star in the new series on the rival Showtime network.

Rumor (as reported by the influential rumor-mill Deadline.com) had it that his flirtation with the rival premium-cable network led HBO to consider letting him go, but he eventually was renewed after all -- on the same morning that he finalized the Showtime deal, according to Deadline.

He's started diversifying the narration section of his resume beyond just HBO. He also did the voiceovers for the high-profile History Channel documentaries "The Lost Kennedy Home Movies" (2011) and "America: The Story of Us" (2010).

 

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