Who voiced Chef Louis?

René Auberjonois voiced Chef Louis in The Little Mermaid.

Chef Louis is Prince Eric’s castle chef, a theatrical French cook who discovers Sebastian in the kitchen and tries to prepare him as seafood. His frantic pursuit of the crab forms one of the movie’s best-known comic sequences, culminating in the song “Les Poissons,” whose title means “the fishes” in French.

Auberjonois brought an exaggerated, manic performance to the character, matching the fast physical comedy of the kitchen chase. The actor was also widely known for playing Odo on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, but Chef Louis demonstrated his gift for broad comic vocal acting. The character is distinct from Sebastian, who is voiced by Samuel E. Wright and is the chef’s intended dinner.

The song can cause another common mix-up: Auberjonois supplied the film voice, while different performers played Chef Louis in stage productions, including John Treacy Egan in the Broadway musical. For Disney’s original 1989 animated film, the canonical answer is René Auberjonois.