Early life and education
Coulier was born on September 21, 1959, and raised in St. Clair Shores, Michigan, in the Detroit area, one of four siblings in a Catholic family. He graduated from Notre Dame High School in Harper Woods in 1977, where he played varsity ice hockey, and briefly attended the University of Michigan before leaving after his freshman year to pursue comedy. He began performing stand-up and developing his impressions at The Comedy Store in Los Angeles, sharing stages with then up-and-coming comedians including Jay Leno and Jerry Seinfeld.1
Career
Coulier built his early career on impressions and voice work. He joined the cast of Muppet Babies after Howie Mandel departed, voicing Baby Animal, Baby Bunsen, Bean Bunny, and the elderly hecklers Statler and Waldorf, and his other animated credits include Scooby and Scrappy-Doo, The Jetsons, Rude Dog and the Dweebs, and the title segment of Yogi Bear and the Magical Flight of the Spruce Goose. He has also voiced Felix the Cat on several occasions.1
His breakout came in 1987 when he was cast as Joey Gladstone, the impression-loving comedian and family friend, on Full House. He remained with the series through its run until 1995, often working his voices and impressions into the character. He later reprised Joey for the Netflix continuation Fuller House (2016 to 2020) and directed several episodes of that series, earning a GLAAD Media Award nomination for the episode "The Prom."1
Beyond the Full House franchise, Coulier appeared in the sitcoms Out of Control, Nick Freno: Licensed Teacher, and George and Leo, and took on-camera roles in the Disney Channel movies The Thirteenth Year and The Even Stevens Movie and the Nickelodeon film Shredderman Rules. As a host he fronted America's Funniest People, America's Most Talented Kid, and Opportunity Knocks. He founded the children's entertainment company F3 Entertainment in 2000. In 2008 he was named commissioner of the independent professional wrestling promotion CHIKARA, succeeding his Full House castmate Bob Saget. In 2023 he launched the Full House Rewind rewatch podcast.1
Ghostbusters
The Real Ghostbusters
When ABC retooled the series for its 1986 season, Coulier replaced Lorenzo Music as the voice of Peter Venkman. The change was made in part to bring the cartoon Venkman's delivery closer to Bill Murray's film performance, and Coulier voiced the character for the remainder of The Real Ghostbusters run.2 As was standard for the show's small voice cast, he also performed dozens of incidental and one-off characters across the series, from monsters and ghosts to bystanders and bit players.
Slimer! and the Real Ghostbusters
Coulier continued as Venkman when the program was repackaged as the hour-long Slimer! and the Real Ghostbusters, again doubling on assorted incidental voices in the Slimer-focused segments.2
Extreme Ghostbusters
Coulier returned to the role of Peter Venkman for the two-part finale of Extreme Ghostbusters, in which the original Ghostbusters reunite with the next generation of busters:2
Personal life
Coulier married actress Jayne Modean in 1990; the couple had a son, Luc, born that year, before divorcing in 1992. He married photographer Melissa Bring on July 2, 2014. He became a grandfather in March 2025. He is a longtime ice hockey player and Detroit sports fan and holds a private pilot's license.1
Coulier dated Canadian American singer-songwriter Alanis Morissette in the early 1990s, before the release of her 1995 album Jagged Little Pill. For years he has been popularly identified as a possible inspiration for the album's breakout single "You Oughta Know," a claim Coulier has said he came to suspect after recognizing personal references when he first heard the song.3 Morissette has generally declined to confirm who the song is about, treating it as open to interpretation, and her 2021 documentary Jagged did not name him as its subject.4
Health
In a November 2024 episode of his Full House Rewind podcast, Coulier revealed he had been diagnosed in October 2024 with Stage 3 non-Hodgkin lymphoma, after an upper respiratory infection caused rapid swelling of his lymph nodes. He underwent chemotherapy and was declared in remission in early 2025.5 In December 2025 he disclosed a second, unrelated diagnosis: a p16 squamous carcinoma at the base of his tongue, found via a PET scan and treated with a course of radiation. He reported losing about 45 pounds during treatment and being unable to eat solid food for months, which affected his speech. As of February 2026 he said he was in remission from both cancers.6
GBFans.com members know Coulier primarily as the long-running animated voice of Peter Venkman, the role most fans associate with the cartoon era after Lorenzo Music's departure. His convention and autograph appearances, often tied to Full House nostalgia, are of interest to collectors who follow The Real Ghostbusters voice cast.
References
Some content on this page was researched using the Ghostbusters Wiki on Fandom.
