Voice actor
In a live-action production, voice actors may be called upon to read the parts of computer programs (Douglas Rain; Majel Barrett), radio dispatchers (Shaaron Claridge), or characters we never actually see on a show who give instructions by telephone (John Forsythe in Charlie's Angels) or mailed recording (Bob Johnson in ).
It is not unusual to find amongst the ranks of voice actors people who also act in live-action film or television, or on the stage. For those actors, voice acting has the advantage of offering acting work without having to bother with makeup, costuming, lighting, and so on.
A common practice in animation voice casting not widely known to the general public is to have young boy-character roles read by women. On The Simpsons, for example, Nancy Cartwright plays not only Bart Simpson, but also Nelson Muntz, Ralph Wiggum, Todd Flanders, and other juvenile males. This casting practice goes all the way back to Gracie Lantz as Woody Woodpecker, and continues with Elizabeth "E.G." Daily as Tommy Pickles on Rugrats and All Grown Up today. June Foray, even as a senior citizen, can still faithfully voice Rocket J. Squirrel. Casting adult women for these parts can be especially useful if an ad campaign or a developed series is expected to run for several years, for while the vocal characteristics of an adolescent male actor would change over time, the voice of an adult female will not.
For much of the history of North American animation, voice actors had a predominantly low profile as performers, with Mel Blanc the major exception. Today, however, many Hollywood celebrities perform voice acting roles in movies, with one of the earliest examples being , which counted among its cast Orson Welles, Leonard Nimoy, Judd Nelson, Robert Stack and Eric Idle. The film which truly brought about this modern perception, however was Aladdin which was marketed with a noted emphasis on Robin Williams' role. The success of this film eventually spurred the idea of highlighting the voice actors as stars of a film becoming the norm in movie marketing, with a greater focus on hiring Hollywood celebrities for name power, rather than performers with more experience in voice acting. By contrast, using anime voice actors as a box office draw was developed far earlier in Japan.
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2 Some notable voice actors 3 See also 4 External links |
SAG and aliases
A voice actor may be occasionally credited under an alias. Sometimes producers aren't willing to spend the higher cost of hiring members of the Screen Actors Guild, which prohibits its members from taking non-union jobs; but a voice actor needs income, so he may take a job under a false name in an attempt to avoid the SAG's notice. If caught, SAG may respond with fines and suspended health coverage. So the actor has an obligation to do all he can to discourage people from linking his name with the alias.
Some notable voice actors
- Charlie Adler (both Cow and Chicken, Red Guy, I R Baboon and others on Cow and Chicken and I M Weasel)
- Joseph Ashton (Jack in the 1997 movie Babes in Toyland; Iggy on Hey Arnold; Otto on Rocket Power)
- Ed Asner (voiced many animation series, movies, and specials with good friend Linda Gary)
- Hank Azaria (Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, Moe Szyslak, Chief Clancy Wiggum, and others on The Simpsons)
- Michael Bell (Duke on GI Joe and Prowl on Transformers)
- Jodi Benson (voice of Ariel in The Little Mermaid and various other animated character voices)
- Mary Kay Bergman (Liane Cartman, Sharon Marsh, Sheila Broflovski, Mrs. McCormick, Wendy Testaburger, Principal Victoria, and others on South Park; Daphne Blake in numerous Scooby Doo direct-to-video films; and others)
- Mel Blanc (Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Yosemite Sam, Wile E. Coyote, Barney Rubble, Tom and Jerry, Woody Woodpecker and others)
- Tex Brashear (Charlie the Tuna, Sonny the Cuckoo bird, Dirt Devil Vacuums, Cobra Commander, the Qantas Airlines koala and others
- Arthur Q. Bryan (Elmer Fudd)
- Rodger Bumpass (Squidward on SpongeBob SquarePants, and others)
- Arthur Burghardt (Destro on GI Joe)
- Daws Butler (Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound and others)
- Nancy Cartwright (Bart Simpson and others on The Simpsons; also (since 2002) Chuckie Finster on Rugrats and All Grown Up)
- Adriana Caselotti (Snow White in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs)
- Dan Castellaneta (Homer Simpson and others on The Simpsons)
- Lacey Chabert (Megan on Family Guy; Eliza on The Wild Thornberrys)
- Ardwight Chamberlain (Ambassador Kosh on Babylon 5 and Zor Prime on Robotech on which he was also a scriptwriter)
- Cameron Clarke aka Jimmy Flinders (Max Sterling and Lancer on Robotech Leonardo on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 80s series)
- Townsend Coleman aka Michaelangelo on the original "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles", the voice of "The Tick", Gobo on the animated "Fraggle Rock" and many others. In commercials, was the 7-Up "Spot", Keebler Elves and Raid Bugs and is the voice on NBC's "Must See TV" comedy promos and "Tonight Show" promos for Jay Leno
- Christopher Collins aka Chris Latta (Cobra Commander on GI Joe and Starscream on Transformers)
- Pinto Colvig (Goofy)
- Alyson Court (Rainbow Road, Timothy Goes to School, Clifford the Big Red Dog, Get Set for Life, The Silver Surfer, The Big Comfy Couch, X-Men, Beetlejuice, My Pet Monster, The New Archies, Ewoks)
- Peter Cullen (Optimus Prime and Ironhide from Transformers and Coran and King Alfor from Voltron)
- Jim Cummings (Darkwing Duck, Ed in The Lion King; currently provides the voices for both Winnie the Pooh (original voice actor Sterling Holloway is deceased) and Tigger (original voice actor Paul Winchell's voice has reportedly declined with age and he had retired in any case))
- Elizabeth "E.G." Daily (Tommy Pickles on Rugrats and All Grown Up; Rudy Tabootie on ChalkZone; Buttercup on The Powerpuff Girls; and others)
- Jerry Dexter (Voiced young, heroic men in Hanna-Barbera cartoons of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s)
- Melissa Disney (title role on As Told By Ginger)
- Walt Disney (Mickey Mouse)
- Hal Douglas (Movie trailers)
- John Erwin (Prince Adam/He Man on 80s He-Man and Morris the Cat for the 70s Nine Lives commercials)
- Peter Fernandez (Speed Racer and others in the 1967 series)
- June Foray (Granny, Jokey Smurf, Natasha Fatale, Rocket J. Squirrel, Witch Hazel, among others)
- Shayna Fox (Bela in several Land of Oz related animated spinoffs, Savannah on All Grown Up, Reggie on Rocket Power)
- Stan Freberg (Chester the Terrier, Hubie, Junior Bear Tosh of the Goofy Gophers, narrator on The Wuzzles)
- Paul Frees (voiced several Disney attractions and Rankin-Bass films)
- Linda Gary (considered one of the premier animation voice-over artists of the 1970s through the 1990s, voiced many Hanna-Barbara, Filmation, and Disney cartoon series until her death in 1996)
- Gilbert Gottfried (Digit on Cyberchase, Iago in Disney's Aladdin, Dr. Bender on The Fairly OddParents, the AFLAC duck)
- Gary LeRoi Gray (Sammy on Rocket Power; A. J. on The Fairly OddParents)
- Jennifer Hale (Extremely popular video game voice actress)
- Mark Hamill (The Joker in )
- Ben Hardaway (Woody Woodpecker)
- Phil Hartman (various characters on The Simpsons)
- Richard Steven Horvitz (the voice of Zim from Invader Zim, and Daggett on The Angry Beavers, as well as the voice of Alpha 5 and Alpha 7 on Power Rangers)
- Jim Henson (Kermit the Frog and other characters on The Muppet Show)
- David Jason (title character on Dangermouse)
- Bob Johnson (read mission briefings on )
- Casey Kasem (among others, Shaggy Rogers in the Scooby-Doo franchise; also Robin/Dick Grayson in Batman cartoons up until the mid 1980s)
- John Kassir (The Crypt Keeper on Tales from the Crypt; Raymundo on Rocket Power)
- Julie Kavner (Marge Simpson and others on The Simpsons)
- Josh Keaton (The voice of Disney's Young Hercules, Young Michael in Batman, Metal Gear Solid 3 as Ocelot and many popular Video Games and more)
- Tom Kenny (voice of SpongeBob and other characters on SpongeBob SquarePants)
- Don LaFontaine (Movie trailers)
- Maurice LaMarche (Chief Quimby from Inspector Gadget, Egon Spengler from The Real Ghostbusters and Extreme Ghostbusters, The Brain from Animaniacs, various characters on Futurama)
- Phil Lamarr (Samurai Jack on Samurai Jack, Vamp in Metal Gear Solid 2 )
- Tress MacNeille (various characters from The Simpsons, Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs, Futurama, anime dubs, etc.)
- Kenneth Mars, King Triton from Disney's The Little Mermaid and the various Land Before Time movies
- Jason Marsden (Tino on The Weekenders, Chester on The Fairly OddParents, among others)
- Tim Matheson (Voice of Jonny Quest and other 1960s characters as "Tim Mathieson")
- Scott McNeil (Multiple characters on series such as "Beast Wars", "Dragon Ball Z", "Inuyasha", "Gundam Wing", among others)
- Jack Mercer (Popeye, Wimpy, Felix the Cat)
- Don Messick (Scooby Doo, Papa Smurf, Dr. Benton Quest, Hampton J. Pig, Muttley, Clunk, Zilly)
- Lorenzo Music (Garfield, Peter Venkman on The Real Ghostbusters, and Carlton, the never-seen doorman on the live-action TV sitcom Rhoda)
- Clarence Nash (Donald Duck)
- Alan Oppenheimer (Man at Arms and Skeletor on 80s He-Man)
- Gary Owens (legendary radio personality and announcer, also voiced Roger Ramjet and Space Ghost)
- Frank Oz (Yoda from Star Wars and many characters on The Muppet Show)
- Mae Questel (Betty Boop, Olive Oyl, and many others)
- Douglas Rain (HAL 9000 the computer, in ' and ')
- John Ratzenberger (Various voices in Pixar films. Also a bath attendant in Spirited Away
- Thurl Ravenscroft (Tony the Tiger in television commercials for Frosted Flakes cereal; singing voice in many works, including How the Grinch Stole Christmas and The Jungle Book)
- Christopher Sabat (Vegeta, Piccolo in dubbed anime Dragon Ball Z)
- Terry Scott (Ernest Penfold on Dangermouse)
- Lou Scheimer (many character voices on Filmation cartoons as well as being the President of Filmation)
- Harry Shearer (Charles Montgomery Burns, Ned Flanders, Principal Skinner, and others on The Simpsons)
- Yeardley Smith (Lisa Simpson and others on The Simpsons)
- Kath Soucie (Phil and Lil from Rugrats, Fifi LaFume from Tiny Toon Adventures, Rodney and Megan Bitterman from Baby Blues, among others)
- Arnold Stang (title character on Top Cat)
- Tara Strong (Bubbles from The Powerpuff Girls, Kylie Griffen from Extreme Ghostbusters, Dil Pickles from Rugrats, Timmy Turner from The Fairly OddParents, and Raven (comics) from "Teen Titans")
- Cree Summer (Career has spanned from the voice of Penny Gadget in 1983's series Inspector Gadget to the voice of Luminara Unduli in 2004's series
- Lauren Tom (Sherry and Trish on Rocket Power, Numbuh Three (Kuki Sanban) on , and others)
- Mathew Valencia (Robin/Tim Drake in Batman cartoons from the late 1990s)
- Janet Waldo (Typically voiced ingenues such as Judy Jetson)
- Blayne Weaver (The voice of Peter Pan)
- Frank Welker (Freddy Jones from Scooby-Doo, Where Are You, Megatron and Soundwave from Transformers, Ray Stantz and Slimer from The Real Ghostbusters, Santa's Little Helper from The Simpsons, and many others)
- Billy West (Ren and Stimpy from The Ren and Stimpy Show, Phillip J. Fry and others from Futurama)
- Wally Wingert (voice of Almighty Tallest Red on Nickelodeon's "Invader Zim" and Psycho Blue in Power Rangers in Space), as well as many others
- Paul Winchell (Dick Dastardly and Private Meekly from Wacky Races, Gargamel from The Smurfs, Tigger from Disney's Winnie the Pooh cartoons, and others)
See also
Amateur Voice ActingExternal links
