Line #376 Main/InkSuitActor


1	[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/Shrek1 https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/InksuitActor.jpg]]]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:[[Characters/ShrekMainCharacters Princess Fiona]] and Creator/CameronDiaz seem to have more in common than just being sound-alikes.]]
3
4	->''"I'm playing Killmaster. Type casting, y'know."''
5	-->-- '''[[Music/{{Motorhead}} Lemmy Kilmister]]''', ''VideoGame/BrutalLegend'' Celebrity Trailer
6
7	An actor whose animated counterpart is designed to resemble the actor themself. Actors [[AsHimself playing themselves]] is an admittedly common occurrence, but one that makes less sense in animation.
8
9	Some of this began with traditional 2D animated movies; [[Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon Disney's]] ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'' gave top billing to Creator/RobinWilliams [[note]] even though his contract specifically requested that he ''not'' receive top billing, in return for his working for scale[[/note]], in a very successful example, partly because he was enough of a character to be funny on his own. Movie makers noticed they could bank on an actor's star power even if viewers never ''saw'' the actor.
10
11	Later, it became common to give voice acting jobs to [[CelebrityVoiceActor actors who didn't traditionally perform voice acting]], just to get their names on movie posters. One simple example is for the actors to play themselves, with the assumption that the audience will recognize them anyway. This can be taken to extremes when the animated character is modified to ''look'' like the actor, even if that requires a bizarre caricature that makes no sense in the story. This has a strange effect: The character feels less genuine, as if the writers just [[Creator/HannaBarbera "stole" the actor to make into a character]].
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13	The transition from 2D cel animation to computer animated "3D" films, both in the stylistic and literal sense, in both movies and computer games, has made accurately ink-suiting actors much easier, therefore introducing an element of "because we can" to the proceedings. It's also become common practice, especially in video games, for an ink suited actor to be showing going through the motions and "acting," while someone else (usually a name actor) provides the voice.
14
15	The advantage to this is it can assist the animator in getting the details and mannerisms to look correct, since it is even easier to reproduce the mannerisms of an actor in three dimensions than in (the already commonly done) two dimensions. Also, there is more "acting" in voice acting than most people think; it is almost impossible to voice act properly without making facial expressions and gestures in front of the microphone.
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17	Note that actors essentially portraying themselves, as on ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', is '''not''' an example of this trope; that's basically an animated SpecialGuest. Note also that sometimes animated characters in live-action films are intentionally made to look like their actors [[JustifiedTrope so that the character can "become real" for a scene or two]]; two good examples are Gollum from ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' and Davy Jones from ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean''.
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19	Elements of actors' mannerisms and personality are often worked into their characters; while filming ''WesternAnimation/ABugsLife'', for example, Creator/{{Pixar}} often filmed big-name voice actors and then added a few of their gestures to their characters. This trope is for more severe cases, where the creators basically just took their voice actor and made him a bug/robot/genie/whatever.
20
21	See also SerkisFolk, where a motion capture suit is used to model an actor's movements which is then overlaid with the CGI character, and its traditional animation counterpart {{Rotoscoping}} where film of an actor is taken and the animation drawn on top of it. Compare "NoCelebritiesWereHarmed", where the celebrity caricature is voiced by an impersonator, and ComicBookFantasyCasting, which includes the modelling of a cartoon or computer character on an actor who does not voice them. Frequently LostInTranslation in dubs, since the animated character looks the same, but the voice actor is different. Not to be confused with AnimatedActor, where an animated character is implied to be an actor and the artifice of the work is acknowledged.
22	----
23
24	!!Examples:
25	[[index]]
26	* InkSuitActor/{{Disney}}
27	* InkSuitActor/{{Film}}
28	* InkSuitActor/VideoGames
29	* InkSuitActor/WesternAnimation
30	[[/index]]
31	[[foldercontrol]]
32
33	[[folder:Advertising]]
34	* The 2021 Marks & Spencer Christmas ad stars a Christmas fairy voiced by Creator/DawnFrench, who looks exactly like Dawn French.
35	[[/folder]]
36
37	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
38	* Most of the opponents of Manga/TigerMask are real world professional wrestlers, using their real world gimmicks in real world territories and promotions such as Sicodelico, Dos Caras, Wrestling/DickTheBruiser, Wrestling/BoboBrazil, Wrestling/AntonioInoki and Giant Baba. The animated sequel Anime/TigerMaskW features Wrestling/KazuchikaOkada.
39	* Emporio Ivankov from ''Manga/OnePiece'' is based off of Norio Imamura, an acquaintance of author Creator/EiichiroOda. Imamura ended up voicing Ivankov in the anime, [[TheOtherDarrin initially, before]] [[RoleEndingMisdemeanor erratic behavior took him out of the picture]].
40	* ''Anime/KillLaKill''[='=]s Mako Mankanshoku resembles [[https://web.archive.org/web/20160625183633/https://cdn.myanimelist.net/images/voiceactors/3/29497.jpg her JP voice actress]] Creator/AyaSuzaki. WordOfGod states that this was intentional and came about when they picked her voice actress, opting to style her to match.
41	* The ''Anime/CowboyBebop'' movie has a minor character voiced by Renji Ishibashi who looks like Renji Ishibashi and is even ''[[TheDanza named]]'' Renji. However, this was unintentional -- the writer was having trouble writing the scene, so they based one of the robbers off of Ishibashi. Shinichiro Watanabe later half-jokingly offered the part to Ishibashi, and he accepted.
42	* Nabeshin from ''Anime/ExcelSaga'', Creator/ShinichiWatanabe's animated alter ego. Yes, [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/WatanabeShinichi.jpg Shinichi Watanabe]] ''does'' look like [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/nabeshin42.jpg Nabeshin]].
43	* ''Franchise/{{Patlabor}}'' has Shigeo Shiba, modeled after and voiced by... well, Creator/ShigeruChiba.
44	* ''Manga/SgtFrog'': Dance*Man (real name Hideki Fujisawa) in the regular show; 'Dylan & Catherine' in the ''Fundari Kettari'' title theme.
45	* [[http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120901152136/jadensadventures/images/0/05/Jaden-Yuki-jaden-yuki-20160151-376-469.png Judai Yuki]], of ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'', bears a [[http://31.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m83apaXMbY1qha76zo2_1280.jpg fairly sharp resemblance]] to Creator/{{KENN}}. In a franchise where the protagonist normally has about fifteen shades of AnimeHair, he's almost conspicuously ordinary.
46	* The manager of Franchouchou in ''Anime/ZombielandSaga'', Kotaro Tatsumi, has [[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/zombieland-saga/images/7/7b/Tatsumi.png/revision/latest?cb=20181003132903 quite a resemblance]] to his Japanese voice actor, Creator/MamoruMiyano. So similar that even Miyano has made live appearances in-character as [[https://img1.ak.crunchyroll.com/i/spire3/ff0b977edf1764835223a1acf438b9411538591844_full.png him]].
47	* [[EvilSorceror Yasunori Kato]] from the ''Doomed Megalopolis'' OVA based on ''Literature/TeitoMonogatari'' shares his voice actor Kyusaku Shimada's long face and jawline. Fitting, as Shimada also portrayed Kato in the previous, live-action, adaptation ''The Last Megalopolis''.
48	* This is more like a case of "Ink-Suit Mangaka": in the manga ''{{Manga/Vagabond}}'', the monk Takuan is the manga's author, Takehiko Inoue, inserted in the story! Seriously, look how [[https://myanimelist.net/character/14182/Soho_Takuan he was drawn]] with [[http://sports-spirits.com/archives/19353985.html quite a resemblance to Inoue]].
49	* ''Anime/BangDream'': LAYER is flat-out [[https://twitter.com/Lay0113/status/1216374633106006018 Raychell as an animated teenager]].
50	[[/folder]]
51
52	[[folder:Arts]]
53	* ''Art/RaphaelRooms'': Creator/RaphaelSanzio makes this trope OlderThanSteam.
54	** "The School of Athens".
55	*** Plato's appearance is derived from Creator/LeonardoDaVinci, whose wizened beard fit well with the wise aesthetic Raphael wanted Plato to have.
56	*** The grumpy-looking figure in the foreground with the boots is Creator/{{Michelangelo}}, representing an ancient philosopher who was seen as solitary.
57	** The "[[UsefulNotes/TheBorgias Borgia]] Apartment" directly downstairs has the same gimmick, with Pope Alexander's daughter Lucrezia as St. Catherine, his son Cesare as St. Sebastian, and the pope himself kneeling and praying as Jesus flies out of his tomb).
58	** It was Pope Julius II who first commissioned Raphael to paint the rooms-- he chose the 3rd-floor apartment because he wanted to stomp on the spirit of his old, dead enemy Borgia downstairs. After he died, the project was continued by Pope Leo X (a Medici, the son of Lorenzo the Magnificent). Leo chose as a subject... the accomplishments of previous popes named Leo. On the pope's orders, Raphael depicted Pope Leo III with Leo X's appearance.
59	[[/folder]]
60
61	[[folder:Asian Animation]]
62	* ''Animation/PleasantGoatAndBigBigWolf'': A variant, in that the person he resembles isn't actually his actor; Wolffy's face, especially his droopy eyes, were deliberately made to look like the series creator Huang Weiming.
63	[[/folder]]
64
65	[[folder:Audio Drama]]
66	* ''AudioPlay/BigFinishDoctorWho'' and other Franchise/DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse audio dramas routinely model audio-original characters on real-life photos of their voice actors for the purposes of cover art, photoshopped into period or future costume and/or alien makeup as the story requires.
67	[[/folder]]
68
69	[[folder:Comic Books]]
70	* Comic books endorsed by and featuring [[MaskedLuchador luchadores]] are a genre in of themselves, Wrestling/ElSanto, Fray Tormenta, Wrestling/{{Mistico}} and [[Wrestling/SarahStock Dark Angel]] being some of the more well known examples.
71	* Ultimate Nick Fury of ''ComicBook/UltimateMarvel'' is modeled after Creator/SamuelLJackson with his permission. [[note]]Ultimate Fury started out as an original design (possibly with hints of Wesley Snipes) in the pages of ''ComicBook/UltimateXMen''. It wasn't until Bryan Hitch redesigned him for Ultimates that he became Mr. Jackson.[[/note]]
72	* Just about every ComicBook/{{Blade}} comic since 1998 makes him look like [[Film/{{Blade}} his first movie portrayer]] Creator/WesleySnipes.
73	* ''ComicBook/AmericanFlagg'': Reuben Flagg was an actor living on Mars and starring in the hit TV series ''Mark Thrust, Sexus Ranger''. But a CGI technology called Tromplography™ perfectly duplicated Flagg's character, making Flagg himself superfluous. Flagg was fired, then drafted into the ''actual'' Plexus Rangers.
74	* This occurs when a ComicBookAdaptation is created from a live-action television series or movie such as the Franchise/{{Buffyverse}} comics.
75	* The Colonel from the ''ComicBook/LuckyLuke'' story ''The 20th Cavalry'' is very obviously modelled on Randolph Scott and the crusty cavalry officers he played in God alone knows how many Westerns.
76	* Wrestling/ChristopherDaniels and Wrestling/FrankieKazarian's appearances in ''Aw Yeah Comics''.
77	* After becoming a DracoInLeatherPants and [[EnsembleDarkhorse arguably the second most popular person]] out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Loki got a new comic, ''ComicBook/LokiAgentOfAsgard'', and a new face, which borrows heavily from Creator/TomHiddleston.
78	* ''ComicBook/{{Daredevil}}'': In the comics released after [[Series/Daredevil2015 the Netflix show]] debuted, [[https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DTModj0VwAATVD4.jpg the artists]] have redesigned Matt Murdock to resemble Creator/CharlieCox, and retweaked Foggy Nelson to resemble Creator/EldenHenson.
79	* Since the 2017 ''ComicBook/TheDefenders2017'' comic book series was adapted using the lineup from [[Series/TheDefenders2017 the Netflix show]], it's got a Luke Cage who resembles Creator/MikeColter, a Jessica Jones who resembles Creator/KrystenRitter, a Matt Murdock who resembles Creator/CharlieCox, and a Danny Rand who resembles Creator/FinnJones.
80	* ''Rad Chismo and the 88 Terras'' involves a journey through TheMultiverse, featuring appearances by professional wrestlers like Dogg Pound Dojo trainer [[Wrestling/CarleneMoore Jazz]] and Mission Pro Wrestling champion [[Wrestling/BlackRose La Rosa Negra]].
81	* The title character of ''ComicStrip/{{Mopsy}}'' was modelled after her creator Gladys Parker. Parker even came up with her name as a self deprecating gag after someone compared her hairdo to a mop.
82	[[/folder]]
83
84	[[folder:Eastern Animation]]
85	* Winnie the Pooh in [[Animation/VinniPukh the Soviet adaptation]] bears a strong resemblance to his voice actor Yevgeniy Leonov. [[InnocentBlueEyes Blue-eyed]] thin-necked Piglet also has much resemblance to Iya Savvina (though more common version is that the character is an {{affectionate parody}} on famous Soviet poet Bella Akhmadullina).
86	* ''Animation/OnceUponADog:'' Wolf's character was redrawn in already drawn scenes to better match the voice of Creator/ArmenDzhigarkhanyan, starting to look much like Dzhigarkhanyan.
87	* In ''Animation/MavkaTheForestSong'', the Ukrainian folk music ensemble that plays at the village festival in the film is a RealLife one, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DakhaBrakha DakhaBrakha]]. The likeness of each member was reproduced.
88	* Hare from ''Animation/NuPogodi'' has large blue eyes and pretty feminine features, like Klara Rumyanova. Probably, the backgrounds of HoYay in these series were not so homosexual.
89	[[/folder]]
90
91	[[folder:Literature]]
92	* Frederic Dorr Steele, the American illustrator for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's ''Literature/SherlockHolmes'' famously modeled Holmes after actor William Gillette, famous for playing Theatre/SherlockHolmes on stage.
93	[[/folder]]
94
95	[[folder:Music]]
96	* For the single "Professional Rapper" by Music/LilDicky, him and his featured artist Music/SnoopDogg play animated, exaggerated versions of themselves.
97	[[/folder]]
98
99	[[folder:Puppet Shows]]
100	* ''Series/TheMuppetShow'':
101	** Three Muppet folk singers who appeared in skits on talk shows and the first season were Foam Suit Actor versions of Creator/JimHenson, Frank Oz and Jerry Nelson. In one talk show appearance, the puppeteers wore identical outfits for the interview afterwards.
102	** In the first couple episodes, the human guest stars were presented with Muppet version of themselves for the closing good-bye. This practice was quickly dropped, possibly due to expense, possibly due to it being slightly creepy. However, a few more people got Muppet lookalikes, both on the Muppet Show and afterwards, most notably Creator/MichaelCaine and Creator/TimCurry.
103	* Cantus the Minstrel in ''Series/FraggleRock'' also looks like Creator/JimHenson.
104	* [[http://images.wikia.com/muppet/images/f/f9/Stiller.jpg Stiller the Elf]], voiced by Ben Stiller in ''[[Series/SesameStreet Elmo's Christmas Countdown]]''.
105	* Subverted with Dave the Human in ''The Animal Show with Stinky and Jake'', who's a perfect caricature of Dave Goelz, except Goelz plays Stinky, so Dave the Human is played by Bill Barretta. The "wildife film" inserts of Dave and his family have the real Dave Goelz, though.
106	* An adaption of ''Music/PeterAndTheWolf'' with [[Series/SpittingImage Fluck and Law puppets]] was narrated by Music/{{Sting}}, with a puppet version appearing on screen.
107	* To promote themselves and their collaborative show ''Series/ThunderboltFantasy'' with Creator/{{Nitroplus}}, Pili International Multimedia made a puppet modeled after Music/TakanoriNishikawa for a Japanese convention. Series screenwriter Creator/GenUrobuchi loved the design and decided that he should be [[CanonImmigrant promoted to cast member in season 2]], where Nishikawa now voices the minstrel Rou Fu You.
108	* Online trailers and other video publicity for ''Radio/TheInfiniteMonkeyCage'' feature puppet versions of Robin Ince, Brian Cox and Eric Idle. The Cox and Ince puppets also appeared in a web series called ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mu1rGujUeqc The Quest for Wonder]]''. Although the Cox puppet isn't ''always'' an example.
109	-->'''Puppet Brian Cox''': Am I not Brian?\
110	'''Puppet Robin Ince''': No, you're not Brian. You're me doing the voice.\
111	'''Puppet Brian Cox''': Oh, yeah...
112	[[/folder]]
113
114	[[folder:WebAnimation]]
115	* ''WebAnimation/GenLock'': A number of the characters appear to be physically modeled after their actors, most notably Cammie (Maisie Williams), Yasmin (Golshifteh Farahani), and Dr. Weller (David Tennant).
116	* ''WebAnimation/RedVsBlue'': Once Chairman Malcolm Hargrove got a face, he looked exactly like his voice actor Jack Lee.
117	* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': Yang was designed after her voice actress, Barbara Dunkelman, who uses her normal voice when speaking Yang's dialogue.
118	* ''WebAnimation/CampCamp'': Aside from the difference in hair color and skin tone, it's easy to see foul-mouthed and cranky Max as a child-sized version of Creator/MichaelJones, known for his foul mouth and HairTriggerTemper.
119	[[/folder]]
120
121	[[folder:Web Original]]
122	* There are several Franchise/DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse webcast examples:
123	** In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' animated webcast ''WebAnimation/ScreamOfTheShalka'', Creator/RichardEGrant voiced a now non-canonical [[TheNthDoctor ninth incarnation]] of the Doctor who [[http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100206045424/tardis/images/thumb/6/67/ShalkaDoctor.jpg/566px-ShalkaDoctor.jpg looked almost exactly like him]]. In fact, all the major characters resembled their voice actors; the hope was that the webisode would get enough support to start up the TV show again with that cast, so making the characters look like the actors would make it possible to use the webisode as part of continuity for the new series. As it turns out, that plan fell over, as the renewal of the show had already been announced before it aired.
124	** Similarly in the webcast ''WebAnimation/DeathComesToTime''. Apart from the Seventh Doctor and Ace (who obviously look like they did in the series), the Minister of Chance (voiced by Creator/StephenFry) looks like [[http://meshyfish.com/~roo/minister.jpg this]].
125	** In the webcast version of "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS17E6Shada Shada]]", all of the humanoid guest characters look like the actors who voiced them in the webcast rather than the actors who appeared in the unfinished live-action version. This was because some of the animation was done by rotoscoping to save money.
126	** In the ''Literature/BerniceSummerfield'' webcast ''Dead and Buried'', [[http://images.wikia.com/tardis/images/0/06/Benny_torch.png Bernice]] looks quite a bit like her voice actress, Creator/LisaBowerman. But then, she [[http://images.wikia.com/tardis/images/9/94/NA009_loveandwar.jpg always did]], long before Bowerman was cast.
127	* ''Webcomic/TheBedfellows'' AnimatedAdaptation episode "Next Door" features a vaguely canid-looking Music/AndrewWK, complete with an [[ActorAllusion allusion]] to his infamous "I Get Wet" album cover.
128	* Creator/TheBBC Radio 4 website has [[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02cv5cn a trailer]] for the AudioAdaptation of ''Literature/GoodOmens'', featuring comic book panels of the CreatorCameo coppers [[Creator/TerryPratchett Terry]] and [[Creator/NeilGaiman Neil]], looking very much like the writers.
129	* The Radio 4 website's ''Radio/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy1978'' [[https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03v379k page]] is illustrated by a cartoon of the main characters of the Hexagonal Phase. Arthur, Zaphod and Trillian look the same as they did in the TV series (played by the same actors), but Ford is based on his voice actor, Geoffrey [=McGivern=], and not his TV actor, David Dixon. Random Dent, who never appeared on TV, is drawn to resemble Samantha Béart, and Left Brain (formerly Zaphod's second head, which on TV was an animatronic that looked as much like Mark Wing-Davey as the FX team could manage) is Music/MitchBenn's head in a jar.
130	* ''WebVideo/Dimension20'': In Burrow's End, the art on Dr. Wenabocker's character profile shows he's identical to Carlos Luna, his voice actor.
131	[[/folder]]
132

Context Main / InkSuitActor