History Main / AmateurCast

** Also around this time, Creator/ADVFilms collapsed and resurrected as Creator/SentaiFilmworks, their dub budget (when it existed at all) would often be a third of what it was in the old days. As a result, they cast newer names in lead roles in which some would later be almost as prominent as the ADV veterans themselves.

* ''Anime/WolfsRain'' was this in the original Japanese; the director intentionally cast unknowns for the four leads (since then, two of them, Creator/MamoruMiyano and Creator/KentaMiyake became famous in their own right in later series), backed up by veterans in supporting roles. Averted for the English dub, which was as close as you get in anime to an AllStarCast.
* The Mexican Spanish dub of ''Manga/LoveHina'', due to the fact the dub was an innocent victim of a voice actor strike caused by ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''[='=]s Mexican voice actors, forcing the studio on rely on this. The only veterans at the time were Naru (Gaby Ugarte), Mei (Georgina "Gina" Sánchez) and Mutsumi's (Creator/LilianaBarba) voice actors, and it shows.
* ''Anime/TenchiMuyo'' was one of the first uncut anime dubs to use union voice actors (though it was a non-union project until partway through the second [=OVA=]). As a result most of the original cast were theater actors who hadn't had much voice acting experience beforehand, (the notable exceptions being Creator/JenniferDarling, Ellen Gerstell, and Creator/SherryLynn; all of whom had prior experience in western animation productions) and they had no dub roles at all until that point. Most of them didn't have much success afterward. (Creator/DebiDerryberry is a notable exception, though she's more well known for her western animation and video game roles.)
* ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'' was probably ''the'' first example of an uncut anime dub with union voice actors, partly because Creator/VizMedia outsourced the voice acting to the UsefulNotes/{{Vancouver}} based [[Creator/TheOceanGroup Ocean Studios]]. Like ''Tenchi Muyo'' above, most of the original cast didn't do much before hand, at least in terms of dubbing. That didn't mean most of them didn't do much ''[[StarMakingRole afterwards]]''. In fact several cast members still get roles to this day.

* ''Manga/Reborn2004'' The main characters are voiced by relatively unknown or amateur voice actors at the time of airing, which is pretty obvious in the first episodes. Contrast that to some of the side characters, who has been voiced by seasoned voice characters like Creator/KenjiroTsuda and Creator/DaisukeNamikawa.
* The ''Franchise/LoveLive'' franchise has developed a trend of casting newcomer and amateur voice actresses for their later series, in a sharp contrast to the main cast of the [[Anime/LoveLive the original series]] who were played by voice actresses who are mostly well-known.
** The main cast of ''Anime/LoveLiveSunshine'' is made up of newcomers who, at the time the project started, had no notable prior roles and little professional acting/singing experience. For most of the voice actresses, the anime proved to be their StarMakingRole.
** The girls of ''Anime/LoveLiveSuperstar'' are all voiced by industry newcomers; Liyuu (who voices Keke Tang) is better known as a singer and cosplayer and Naomi Peyton (who voices Sumire) is a former IdolSinger, while the rest are complete unknowns.
* The English anime dubs by Macias Group, including ''Onihei'' and ''Literature/{{Anpanman}}'', are comprised of voice actors who only work for dubs produced by the company.
* The English dub of ''Anime/{{Tamagotchi}}'' that aired in Australia has voice actors that seem to have acted on no other shows, likely because with the exception of Kuchipatchi, [[ChildrenVoicingChildren the characters seem to be voiced by children]].
* For a time, LUK Internacional S.A. switched its European Spanish dubbing from Barcelona to the Bilbao area in the Basque Country (originally doing dubs at Mar Digital in Llodio, then switching to Domusic TV in Erandio), where the dubbing was done by relatively unknown or amateur voice actors. While other Spanish dubs have been done in Bilbao, such as ''Manga/SlamDunk'' and ''Anime/NadiaTheSecretOfBlueWater'', those dubs didn't share much of their cast members with the LUK dubs done in Bilbao.
* The European French dub of ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'' was done using French-speaking actors in Brussels, Belgium, many of whom had no prior dubbing experience (though some did have prior experience in theater, such as Fanny Roy and Jean-Marc Delhausse). Before 1999, Belgium had mainly been used for minor projects, following [[https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-12-20-wr-10970-story.html a 1994 voice actors' strike in France]] that forced companies to dub their material elsewhere. Belgium would later rise in popularity as time went on.
* The voice actors for the 1965 English dub of Creator/OsamuTezuka's ''The Amazing 3''/''Wonder 3'' (known as ''W3'' in Japan) consisted of local theater actors and college students from the Miami, Florida area. With the exception of Bobbie Byers (Bokko/Bonnie), none of the voice cast ever returned to voice acting [[OneBookAuthor or did anything else]] since the dub's original broadcast on American television during the mid 60s.
* In the original Japanese version of the ''Manga/KOn'' movie, Creator/KyotoAnimation hired real English people (such as Alfred Amedume) to voice the people in London. None of them were professional actors, [[OneBookAuthor and the movie is the only acting gig any of them have ever done]]. Their lines were redubbed in the English dub.
* The cast of the second English dub of ''Anime/OxTales'' is an example of this. While the original dub by Saban used well-known early anime dubbing talent such as Steve Kramer and Michael Sorich, the second dub was made in the Netherlands using English-speaking actors (some of which came from the Boom Chicago comedy troupe), most of which have no other voice acting credits. The only actor from the second dub to go to do anything notable is Creator/AmberRuffin, who's gone on to a successful career as a comedienne, including hosting her own talk show on Creator/{{Peacock}}.
* When the English dub was first released, many of the cast members of ''Manga/{{Horimiya}}'' were either newbies or lesser known in dubbing with names like Creator/MarisaDuran, Jaltiza Delgado, Celeste Perez, Belsheber Rusape Jr. and Y. Chang etc. Although, there were rising stars like Creator/AlejandroSaab, Creator/ZenoRobinson and Creator/AnairisQuinones (the latter 2 only having had their [[StarMakingRole Star Making Roles]] as [[Manga/MyHeroAcademia Hawks]] and [[Literature/ReZero Echidna]] a few months prior). Oddly enough, there's also Creator/JohnnyYongBosch who's the only long-time veteran and well-known actor in the main cast.
* The Creator/TezukaProductions-made English dub of [[Anime/AstroBoy the 1980 version of]] ''Anime/AstroBoy'' was recorded in Madison, Wisconsin using a cast made up entirely of students from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and local theater actors, none of whom never went on to do anything else. Averted with the Montreal dub, which used professional actors, including A.J. Henderson and Pauline Little.

* The original cast of ''Series/RedDwarf'' had all ''appeared'' on TV and/or film before, but none of them were "proper actors": Creator/ChrisBarrie was an impressionist and voice actor, Creator/CraigCharles was a poet, Creator/DannyJohnJules was a dancer, and Creator/NormanLovett was a stand-up comedian. Likewise, Creator/HattieHayridge was also a stand-up comedian before joining the cast in Series III and recurring cast member Creator/ClareGrogan had a few proper acting credits but was best known as the frontwoman for the new wave band Altered Images. However, Creator/RobertLlewellyn and Creator/ChloeAnnett (who joined the cast in Series III and VII respectively) were both "legit" actors.
* The early 90's cast of ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' was made up almost entirely of stand-up comedians (Creator/DavidSpade, Creator/AdamSandler, etc.) instead of the improv actors the series had relied on. Although VindicatedByHistory, the ratings were so low that the show was almost cancelled. This is often blamed on the cast concentrating on characters from their stand-up instead of doing ensemble work.
* Creator/PeterKay assembled the cast for ''Series/PhoenixNights'' from stand-up comics, personal friends from college and elsewhere, and otherwise amateur actors, because he knew them all and had a feeling they'd work together.
* Creator/TimAndEric love to cast ordinary people in their shows, in keeping with their trademark StylisticSuck aesthetic.
* Five of the main cast of ''Series/HeyDude'' - Kelly Brown (Brad), Geoffrey Coy (Kyle), Jonathan Galkin (Jake), Joe Torres (Danny), and Josh Tygiel (Buddy) - were amateur actors, and none of them have had any further screen credits since the series wrapped in 1991.

* All of the child actors on ''Series/StrangerThings'' were almost complete unknowns going into the show. This is averted with the adult actors, with the exception of Creator/DavidHarbour.

* Most of the children in the Tummy Tales segments of the original run of ''Series/{{Teletubbies}}'' just happened to be in a location the outside filming crew were at.
* Very few of the child actors in ''Series/BarneyAndFriends'' had acted prior to the show and/or had an agent. Most of them were from the Dallas/Fort Worth area (where the show was filmed).
** Meanwhile, Dean Wendt (the latest voice for Barney) was recruited out of the original [=DJ=] lineup of Radio/RadioDisney (at the time based in the Dallas/Fort Worth area).

* With some excpetions, most of the side cast of ''Series/ChappellesShow'' had little-to-no further screen credits before or after it's run. Some of them are even {{one book author}}s.
* None of the actors in ''Series/{{Kindergarten|2001}}'' have had any further screen credits to their names since.
* Most, if not all of the lead actresses in ''Series/TheBabySittersClub1990'' have not had any further screen credits to their names since.
* Most of the talking head comedians in Creator/{{VH1}}'s ''I Love The...'' series are not known for much else. {{Averted}} with some of the talking heads, such as Hal Sparks, best known for his roles on shows like ''Series/QueerAsFolkUS'' and ''Series/LabRats'' and doing the voice of the titular character in ''WesternAnimation/TakAndThePowerOfJuju'' (the cartoon, not the games).

* ''VideoGame/DiscoElysium'' has a full cast of almost complete unknowns, with several prominent roles being voiced by non-actors. For example, the role with by far the most dialogue, that of the game's narrator, was voiced by Lenval Brown, who is primarily a jazz singer. Jullian Champenois, who voices the game's deuteragonist Kim Kitsuragi, only had roles in commercials prior to ''Disco Elysium''. In the original cut of the game, several prominent roles were played by podcasters, but these were changed for ''The Final Cut'' edition.
* ''VideoGame/KingsQuestVAbsenceMakesTheHeartGoYonder'' used Sierra employees to voice the CD-ROM version, with varying degrees of success. Josh Mandel's performance as King Graham was good enough that he reprised the role in ''VideoGame/KingsQuestVIHeirTodayGoneTomorrow'' and several {{Fan Remake}}s.
* All of Creator/{{Rare}}'s games up to and including ''VideoGame/StarFoxAdventures'' used studio staffers (and the occasional local actor) for the voice cast. It wasn't until ''VideoGame/PerfectDarkZero'' that they started having their games voiced entirely by professional actors.
* The latter ''VideoGame/{{Ultima}}'' games had voice casts consisting mostly of staff members of developer Creator/OriginSystems and local no-names, though with experienced film and TV actor Bill Johnson voicing the BigBad of those games, the Guardian.

* Whenever Creator/{{Nintendo}} of America makes a dub, they usually cast local actors from UsefulNotes/{{Seattle}}, which is close to their Redmond offices, as well as staff members.
* The ''VideoGame/BackyardSports'' games were recorded in Seattle, before moving to San Diego, then back to Seattle, both times with local voice actors. The most notable cast members were Creator/JenTaylor (''Backyard Baseball'' was her voice acting debut), and Creator/LaniMinella (who has voice acted in hundreds of video games).

* The Boston-based developer Boston Animation (who developed such games as ''VideoGame/DarkenedSkye'' and the 1999 remake of ''[[Creator/RichardScarry Busytown]]'') tended to use local theater actors for voice talent.

** Nearly all of WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse's English voice actors are non-actors. Creator/WaltDisney (the original voice) was his creator, Jimmy [=MacDonald=] (the second voice) was the head of the Disney sound effects department, Creator/WayneAllwine (the third voice) was also involved in the sound effects department, and Bret Iwan (the current voice) was recruited straight out of Hallmark Cards' illustration department. The only exception is Chris Diamantopolous, who voices him in ''WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse2013'' , who's done on camera work and voice acting.

** Many of Donald Duck's voice actors are non-actors. Clarence Nash, the original voice of Donald, had been a local entertainer in the Los Angeles area at the time he was cast, and his replacement Tony Anselmo had been an animator for Disney. Daniel Ross, who's filled in for Tony on projects such as ''WesternAnimation/MickeyAndTheRoadsterRacers'', has a resume mostly made up of video game voice acting credits.

* The Creator/TezukaProductions-made English dub of ''Anime/AstroBoy1980'' was recorded in Madison, Wisconsin using a cast made up entirely of students from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and local theater actors, none of whom never went on to do anything else. Averted with the Montreal dub, which used professional actors, including A.J. Henderson and Pauline Little.

* This was common in the late '90s for Japanese English languages video game and dubs, as many studios didn't have the money for proper casts, and English vocals were outright required for the UsefulNotes/PlayStation. As such, English speaking expatriates were frequently cast, most of whom had little more than commercial experience. By the mid '00s these types of dubs had largely dropped off as budgets grew, but some further examples pop up from time to time. The original release of ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil'' is the most infamous and frequently parodied example, but far from the only one. The English voice actors for ''VideoGame/Siren1'' are ''literal'' unknowns; no one knows who any of them are, if any are credited by their real names, or if any of them were even professional actors or just random studio staff.

* More than 40% of the cast of ''Film/SaturdayNightFever'' made their feature debuts including, Joseph Cali, Shelly Batt, Denny Dillon, Creator/FranDrescher, Donald Gantry, Adrienne King, Ellen March, Bruce Ornstein, Paul Pape, Lisa Peluso, Donna Pescow, Ann Travolta and mother Helen Travolta (her only feature cameo).

* A majority of the voice cast of ''WesternAnimation/DoraTheExplorer''. A minor exception is Harrison Chad (Boot's original voice actor) who had a few other roles, such as Cardigan the Lamb in ''Charlotte's Web 2: Wilbur's Great Adventure'' and [[WesternAnimation/{{Tarzan}} Young Tarzan]] in ''Tarzan II''. After Season 4 of Dora wrapped up in 2007, he retired from voice acting.

* Most of the actors in the original ''Series/WeeSing'' videos were local theater actors from the Portland, Oregon area (where the production was originally based) who haven't been in much else.

* This is the norm for pinball machines, which usually don't set aside enough budget to hire professionals. Most of the companies, historically, have been in Chicago as well, a city without a large pool of professional actors to hire, though some, such as ''Pinball/MedievalMadness'', hired local theatrical actors, while others, such as ''[[Pinball/FamilyGuy Shrek]]'', apparently used performers pulled off the street. More often than not, though, characters would be voiced by the designers themselves, though some, such as Creator/SteveRitchie, would become decent voice actors through sheer experience. Exceptions include ''Pinball/TheSimpsonsPinballParty'', with Dan Castellaneta, Nancy Cartwright, and Hank Azaria voicing most of their roles from the TV show; and ''Pinball/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' with the entire main cast brought in.

* This is the norm for pinball machines, which usually don't set aside enough budget to hire professionals. Most of the companies, historically, have been in Chicago as well, a city without a large pool of professional actors to hire, though some, such as ''Pinball/MedievalMadness'', hired local theatrical actors. More often than not, though, characters would be voiced by the designers themselves, though some, such as Creator/SteveRitchie, would become decent voice actors through sheer experience. Exceptions include ''Pinball/TheSimpsonsPinballParty'', with Dan Castellaneta, Nancy Cartwright, and Hank Azaria voicing most of their roles from the TV show; and ''Pinball/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' with the entire main cast brought in. It says something when Creator/{{Stern}} ran dry their voice acting budget for ''soundalikes'', uncredited and pulled off the street, for ''[[Pinball/FamilyGuy Shrek]]''.

* This was common in the late '90s for Japanese video game dubs, as most studios didn't have the money for proper casts, and English vocals were outright required for the UsefulNotes/PlayStation. As such, English speaking expatriates were frequently cast, very few of whom had ''any'' acting experience. By the mid '00s these types of dubs were all but dead, though a few examples of these dubs popped up from time to time. The original release of ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil'', oft considered to have some of the worst voice acting of all time, is the most famous and frequently parodied example, but far from the only one. The English voice actors for ''VideoGame/Siren1'' are ''literal'' unknowns; no one knows who any of them are, if any are credited by their real names, or if any of them were even professional actors or just random studio staff.

* This was common in the late '90s for Japanese video game dubs, as most studios didn't have the money for proper casts, and English vocals were outright required for the UsefulNotes/PlayStation. As such, English speaking expatriates were frequently cast, very few of whom had ''any'' acting experience. By the mid '00s these types of dubs were all but dead, though a few examples of these dubs popped up from time to time. The original release of ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil'', oft considered to have some of the worst voice acting of all time, is the most famous and frequently parodied example, but far from the only one. The English voice actors for the original ''VideoGame/{{Siren}}'' are ''literal'' unknowns; no one knows who any of them are, if any are credited by their real names, or if any of them were even professional actors or just random studio staff.

** Around this time L.A.-based recording studio Creator/BangZoomEntertainment tended to use this trope when it lands a dubbing job; they'll cast newer voice actors and prefer to avoid all star casts or union association. The major exception to this is when they're asked to continue a legacy series like ''Literature/HaruhiSuzumiya''. This was around the time when voice actors like Creator/SteveBlum, Creator/CrispinFreeman, Creator/KariWahlgren, Creator/YuriLowenthal, Creator/TravisWillingham and Creator/LauraBailey stopped appearing in anime regularly; whereas they started having voice actors like Creator/CristinaValenzuela, Creator/ChristineMarieCabanos, Creator/CassandraLeeMorris, Creator/LaurenLanda, Creator/KiraBuckland and Creator/CarrieKeranen just to name a few (all of whom eventually became as prominent as those before them).

* With the exception of Music/LanceBass, nobody in the cast of WesternAnimation/BossyBear has a particularly strong resume.

* Nobody in the cast of WesternAnimation/BossyBear has a particularly strong resume.

* This was common in the late '90s for Japanese video game dubs, as most studios didn't have the money for proper casts, and English vocals were outright required for the UsefulNotes/PlayStation. As such, English speaking expatriates were frequently cast, very few of whom had ''any'' acting experience. By the mid '00s these types of dubs were all but dead, though a few examples of these dubs popped up from time to time.

* None of the actors in ''Series/{{Kindergarten}}'' have had any further screen credits to their names since.

* ''Comic Book: The Movie'' is notable in that most of the cast consists primarily of ''voice actors''.

* Peter Hall's 1974 British film ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akenfield Akenfield]]'' used entirely non-union amateur actors (and apparently cameramen, too, by the look of it).

* ''Krisha'', a NoBudget PsychologicalThriller, with the exception of voice actor Bill Wise, has a cast made up of the writer/director's extended family.

* The cast for ''The Last House on Dead End Street'' were local theatre students the film's [[DescendedCreator director/star]] met while attending college. A few of them later went on to find marginal success on Broadway after filming wrapped.

* Swedish director Creator/RoyAndersson has used unprofessional actors in most of his films. ''Gilliap'' is an exception, but it's also disowned by Andersson.

* For the original ''VideoGame/MaxPayne'', Remedy employees posed as characters for the game's graphic novel-style panels, with Sam Lake standing in for Payne. Lake even had his mother play the role of Nicole Horne.

** When Creator/{{Funimation}} began dubbing ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' in-house after losing Saban's funding and being unable to afford Ocean Studios' voice-casting, they hired many at-the-time inexperienced people to replace the Ocean cast (for example, Monika Antonelli, the voice of Puar and Chiaotzu, was a local librarian and had no voice acting experience before), who tried to imitate their predecessors for consistency before developing their own voices for the characters. They would all go on to become veterans in the industry, and have largely [[ThePeteBest displaced the Ocean cast.]]

* Wrestling/{{W|OWWomenOfWrestling}}omen Of Wrestling, GLOW's longest running SpiritualSuccessor, was/is only slightly better in that its original "run" had the veteran Peggy Lea Leather under the ring name "Thug". The 2012 {{revival}} moved further away from this trope, largely because a few wrestles such as Jungle Grrl, Delta, Riot and [[Wrestling/CagedHeatWrestling Loca]] had kept working on the independent circuit while WOW was dormant, and thus had gotten much better, and there was a fairly strong effort to recruit experienced wrestlers such as Santana Garrett, Amber O'Neal, Wrestling/ChristinaVonEerie, Barbi Hayden and Hudson Envy. Still, these veterans had a lot of amateurs to carry.

* The cast of ''Film/TheRoom2003'' had very little acting experience beforehand.

* The cast of ''Film/TheRoom'' had very little acting experience beforehand.

* In Brazil, this is often an accusation thrown at dubs made in the US (mostly in Miami - the Animation folder mentions one in English for ''ComicBook/MonicasGang''). A dubber is a voice actor, hence in Brazil only those registered with the artists' guild are allowed to work. Outside the country, there's no such requirement. Hence while the studios have many expatriate actors and dubbers, the cast also features non-actors hired only because they can speak Portuguese.

* Several [[Creator/DicEntertainment DiC Entertainment]] series from the late 90s to mid-2000s, such as ''WesternAnimation/ArchiesWeirdMysteries'', ''WesternAnimation/StreetSharks'', the 2003 incarnation of ''WesternAnimation/StrawberryShortcake'', ''WesternAnimation/LibertysKids'' , ''WesternAnimation/{{Horseland}}'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{DinoSquad}}'' used voice actors based out of Omaha, Nebraska. The large majority of them were local theater actors supplied by the Omaha Theater Company for Young People, while a few had been local or regional radio/television personalities and had roles in a few films shot in Nebraska beforehand. However, quite a few of them [[OneBookAuthor have no other credits]]. A major exception was future Broadway star (and anime voice actor) Creator/AndrewRannells, who started his career in Omaha.