Favourite Celebrity Voice Actors

[TylerMirage]

Because I'm tired of the constant - and more often than not, undeserved - negativity towards various things that I've been exposed to lately, I decided to make a thread to promote POSITIVITY! YAY! Specifically, celebrity voice actors.

So here is where we can discuss our favourite celebrity voice actors and their roles. Do you like them as a person only? Or their roles/performances? Both? Who would you like to see them voice? So let's throw some positivity towards some celebrity voice actors, shall we?

*Let it be noted, yes, many of these situations will vary depending on one's own personal definition of "celebrity".

Robin Williams as the Genie. I think this one goes without saying. He had such charisma with the role.

Tony Todd as The Fallen. The fact that he could do that voice without having any alteration in post is amazing. That gravelly, deep, sultry voice. Whether it's The Fallen or Dreadwing, it doesn't matter, he's great. This man deserves more voice-acting gigs.

Gary Oldman and Ian McShane as the antagonists in the two Kung Fu Panda films.

Gene Hackman as Mandible in Antz. His voice fit perfectly with the character.

I don't think there's any denying Leonard Nimoy's performance in DotM as Sentinel Prime was the best thing about DotM - if not the entire trilogy - and perhaps one of the only tolerable things about the films. :p I'd really like to see Leonard be involved in Transformers again someday. His voice is perfect for heroes, villains, wise old sages, grizzled warriors or grumpy old men.

And of course, pretty much anything Tim Curry, Patrick Warburton, and Michael Clarke Duncan do.

There was one that I was really impressed with recently, and that was Adam Sandler as Dracula in Hotel Transylvania. It seems like a strange casting choice, but boy oh boy, did it work. He was fantastic as Dracula.

I'm sure there's more, but that's all I can think of for now.

See? Even celebrities can do some solid voice work, despite what a lot of people seem to think. Yeah, celebrities get hired for lots of big budget, high-profile blockbusters over veteran VAs, but they can still pull in some solid performances.

So, how about you guys?

[NCZ]

Alec Baldwin. Guy's got top-quality acting skills, a killer voice, and I fondly remember his work on Thomas the Tank Engine. He was also brilliant as Dennis in the SpongeBob movie. He sounded truly threatening there!

Leonard Nimoy, that's another great one. I've never watched Star Trek (don't kill me), but his voice is nothing short of epic.

The Kingdom Hearts series has a lot of standout celebrity performances. There's Leonard Nimoy as mentioned above, plus Haley Joel Osment's Sora and Billy Zane's Ansem (though Richard Epcar is also really good).

I always get giddy when I see a Buffy cast member doing voice work. Fun fact: every single actor who had a regular (i.e. in the opening credits) role on the show, as well as many of the prominent recurrers, are on the site. Well, except for Marc Blucas, but nobody cares about Riley anyway.

However, as much as I may like some celebrities, when it comes to characters with multiple actors, I'm not going to automatically be biased and side with them. Here's a good example. Combining my last two points, you'd think that logically, I should go nuts for David Boreanaz voicing Squall in the first KH. A talented actor who played one of my favourite characters, Angel, on one of my favourite shows, doing the voice of one of my favourite Final Fantasy characters. And the funny thing is, I really do like Doug Erholtz in the part better. I honestly think that despite all of that, his voice is just more fitting for Squall. I do think that David would absolutely own Cloud, though. Wish he had more voice roles, though I'm sure he's busy working on Bones right now.

One last thing. Personally (I get the feeling people will debate me over this), I don't consider Clancy Brown, Mark Hamill, and to a slightly lesser extent Keith David to be "celebrity voice actors". Yeah, they're famous, but they've done so much voiceover work that's equally, if not more known than their live-action stuff that I consider them real voice actors (especially since the first two have over 100 credited characters under their belt).

[TylerMirage]

Originally Posted by NCZ

One last thing. Personally (I get the feeling people will debate me over this), I don't consider Clancy Brown, Mark Hamill, and to a slightly lesser extent Keith David to be "celebrity voice actors". Yeah, they're famous, but they've done so much voiceover work that's equally, if not more known than their live-action stuff that I consider them real voice actors (especially since the first two have over 100 credited characters under their belt).

Yeah, that's why I put that little caveat about your definition of "celebrity". I think we can all agree where the "top paramter" is on celebrity voice actors, with the likes of Tom Hanks, Will Smith, Angelina Jolie, Gerard Butler - or pretty much any cast member in any Pixar/Dreamworks/any CG animated film, but the real questions comes with where the "bottom parameter" lies. Where does the "celebrity" status begin and end? Your examples are good, and I'm sure some of the people I've listed could fall with them too. It all depends on what you view as a celebrity. Some might think Keith David and Leonard Nimoy are "celebrities", and others don't. There's plenty of actors whose voice-over resume is as equally impressive as their live-action work.

[TaZZerath]

Sorry I'm gonna be a bit lazy here

Originally Posted by TylerMirage

Robin Williams as the Genie. I think this one goes without saying. He had such charisma with the role.

100% agree. This was/is my favourite Disney animated movie and Robin Williams made it special.

Originally Posted by TylerMirage

Tony Todd as The Fallen. The fact that he could do that voice without having any alteration in post is amazing. That gravelly, deep, sultry voice. Whether it's The Fallen or Dreadwing, it doesn't matter, he's great. This man deserves more voice-acting gigs.

How could I have not picked up on Dreadwing??? *smacks head* I first knew of Tony Todd as the mortician from Final Destination and he has a very distinctive voice. I think his Fallen range was great, pity about the movie

Originally Posted by TylerMirage

Gene Hackman as Mandible in Antz. His voice fit perfectly with the character.

I actually didn't mind Woody Allen either!

Originally Posted by TylerMirage

I don't think there's any denying Leonard Nimoy's performance in DotM as Sentinel Prime was the best thing about DotM - if not the entire trilogy - and perhaps one of the only tolerable things about the films. :p I'd really like to see Leonard be involved in Transformers again someday. His voice is perfect for heroes, villains, wise old sages, grizzled warriors or grumpy old men.

Completely agree again. I actually liked the fact that he never really changed his voice to become menacing or 'evil' in DoTM but he felt he was totally justified in what he was doing!

I'd really like to see Joseph Gordon-Levitt in some more roles, his acting is really impressing me recently. Also I really enjoyed Neil Patrick Harris' rendition of Nightwing in the awesome Batman - Beyond the Red Hood.

[RySenkari]

Mandy Moore was absolutely amazing as Rapunzel.

Elizabeth Gillies was incredible as Daphne in Winx Club and should be doing voice acting for a living. She's a fantastic actress and already has ridiculous range, if she got someone like Grey Delisle as a mentor she might seriously end up being the best voice actress of all time,, though I'm not even sure she needs a mentor. A LOT of these Nick/Disney actors and actresses would make surprisingly good voice actors, even Miley Cyrus was decent in Bolt.

[TaZZerath]

Originally Posted by RySenkari

Mandy Moore was absolutely amazing as Rapunzel.

Elizabeth Gillies was incredible as Daphne in Winx Club and should be doing voice acting for a living. She's a fantastic actress and already has ridiculous range, if she got someone like Grey Delisle as a mentor she might seriously end up being the best voice actress of all time,, though I'm not even sure she needs a mentor. A LOT of these Nick/Disney actors and actresses would make surprisingly good voice actors, even Miley Cyrus was decent in Bolt.

While I haven't seen these movies or TV series (as they are well below my age range) it seems that there are quite a few up-and-coming actors/singers/voice-actors which aren't afraid to broaden their horizons.

[RySenkari]

This is Liz Gillies speaking normally:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NffzjNmV-U

This is Liz Gillies as Daphne:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ja7AwnwSD8E

This is some of her other voices:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SHKUNwObe4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhm9mWsKdpA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDDXy88FfQk

[Trami0501]

What about Makiko Omoto is the Japanese voice of Demi Lovato?

[RySenkari]

Oh! ISLA FISHER. She is tremendously good at voice acting in the roles she's had and could definitely do it professionally. One of the best if not the best celebrity voice actress I've ever heard.

[TheVengeanceKnight]

Jesse McCartney as Robin I/Nightwing in YJ.