Donald LaFontaine (born August 26, 1940 in Duluth, Minnesota), is a legendary voice actor famous for recording over 5,000 movie trailers, television commercials, network promotions, and video game trailers. Due to the sheer volume of trailer voiceovers LaFontaine has recorded, he has become identified with the phrase “In a world…”, which has been used in movie trailers so frequently that it has become a cliché. He has also parodied this cliché several times, more recently in a commercial for GEICO insurance.
Trailers or previews are film advertisements for films that will be exhibited in the future at a cinema, on whose screen they are shown. The term “trailer” comes from their having originally been shown at the end of a film programme.
[GEICO] commercials use a variety of fictional characters such as Speed Racer and Bill Dutchess as well as real people such as Tony Little and Don LaFontaine spoofing themselves.