Voice Actors - Television Tropes & Idioms

Those voices you hear in cartoon, video game and anime dubs don't exist in a vacuum. While not quite as famous as regular actors, these folks still get a lot of mention among fans for their distinctive style and/or extensive catalogs.

See also Hey, It's That Voice!.

Note: If there is a page on the voice actor in question, just add it to the list at the bottom. If you want to list a voice actor for which there is no page, put them in the middle section, along with a few of their most famous roles.

Also, this page is for those whose primary career is in voice work. Don't bother listing TV and movie actors who also happen to do the odd voiceover.

For Japanese seiyuu, see Names to Know in Anime.

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Primarily in Western cartoons

Pamela Segall Adlon: An actress who started in the voice acting business in 1991 beginning in Rugrats playing various minor or one shot characters. She has come to specialize in playing young characters, several of whom are boys between the ages of seven and seventeen. Other characters she has done include Bobby Hill from King of the Hill, Dewey from Quack Pack, Baloo from Jungle Cubs, Lucky from 101 Dalmatians the series, Ashley Spinelli (one of the few times Adlon has ever played a school-aged girl) from Recess, Margaret "Moose" Pearson from Pepper Ann, Rusty from Big Guy And Rusty The Boy Robot, Milo Oblong from The Oblongs, Otto Osworth from Time Squad, Andy from Squirrel Boy, Sparks from Phantom 2040, and Pajama Sam.
Lori Alan: Best known as the voice of Diane Simmons on Family Guy, she has also voiced Pearl Krabs in Spongebob Squarepants and the Invisible Woman in the 1990s Fantastic Four and Silver Surfer cartoons. She is also the American voice actress of The Boss in Metal Gear Solid. Her other roles include Lt. Felina Feral from SWAT Kats.
Joe Alaskey: Originally a comedian and impressionist, he later went on to voice acting. He can imitate all of the major Looney Tunes to near perfection. He regularly performs Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Sylvester, Tweety, Marvin the Martian, and Foghorn Leghorn in many productions, and also voices Grandpa Lou from Rugrats after David Doyle died, Plucky Duck from Tiny Toon Adventures, who is basically a higher pitched Daffy, Stinky from Casper the Friendly Ghost live action movies and animated series, and the Lobster Mobster from The Little Mermaid animated series.
Wayne Anthony Allwine: Disney sound designer and the third and longest-lasting voice of Mickey Mouse, following Walt Disney himself and sound designer Jimmy MacDonald. Starting in 1983, he would voice Mickey so often that he would be available for all required projects and regions featuring the character, including the Kingdom Hearts video game series. He was married to Russi Taylor, the current voice of Minnie Mouse (and the voice of fourth-grade geek Martin Prince on The Simpsons). He passed away on May 18th, 2009. The role is succeeded officially by Bret Iwan.
Rodger Bumpass: A voice actor best known for his roles as Squidward Tentacles in Spongebob Squarepants and Professor Membrane in Invader Zim, he had been a voice actor since The Jetsons and voiced a few characters in Heavy Metal but was not very well known until he got the above roles.
Cathy Cavadini: She is best known as the voice of Blossom on The Powerpuff Girls. She was also the voice of Tanya Mousekewitz in An American Tail: Fievel Goes West and the short-lived television series it spawned, even performing songs for the soundtrack of the film (which many will argue sound even better than Linda Ronstadt's performances of the same songs), and has done voice work for the Final Fantasy video games as well.
Juan Chioran: an Argentine-born Canadian actor who is best known for playing villianous characters in Canadian animation, including Lance Boil in Grossology, Oslo in Skyland and Lord Fear in Ace Lightning.
Pinto Colvig: A former singer and actor in live-action comedies, who moved into voice acting when he provided the voice of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit for the Walter Lantz studio, where Colvig was also an animator and gag man. It was at Disney where he became most well-known though, lending his vocal talents to Grumpy (from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs), Goofy, and Pluto, along with a host of lesser-known characters. Clovig also voiced the Smart Pig on Tex Avery's first MGM cartoon (a World War II cartoon called "Blitz Wolf") and was the original Bozo the Clown.
Danny Cooksey: Best known for his high scratchy whiny voice he has been in the business since he was 15 among his more famous characters are Montana Max from Tiny Toon Adventures, Victor the bully from The Ren & Stimpy Show, Urchin from The Little Mermaid animated series, Milo Kamalani from Pepper Ann, the title character of Dave The Barbarian, and Jack Spicer from Xiaolin Showdown. Before that, he starred as Sam McKinney near the end of Diff'rent Strokes' run and played the scheming Jerkass camper Bobby Budnick on the Nickelodeon sitcom Salute Your Shorts.
Katie Crown: A Canadian stand-up comedienne known for quirky humor, some of that has carried over into her voiceover performances. These include the Cloudcuckoolander Izzy in Total Drama Island. Her role as Fin in Stoked sees her in more of a Deadpan Snarker-type role while her role as Patricia in Spliced sees her as an Only Sane Woman.
Olivia D'Abo: A London native, and one of relatively few Britons active in American voiceover. Has played a variety of roles, with or without a British accent (but mostly with), among them being Jedi Master Luminara Unduli in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Star Sapphire and Morgaine Le Fay on Justice League, Jane in The Legend Of Tarzan, and Tak on Invader Zim. She also starred as Karen Cooper on The Wonder Years.
Dom De Luise: Apart from quite a few live action roles, De Luise spent much of the latter half of his career in voice acting, and was a favorite of Don Bluth and Mel Brooks. His voice roles for Bluth included Jeremy the crow in The Secret Of NIMH, Tiger in every installment of the An American Tail series, Itchy in All Dogs Go To Heaven, and Stanley in A Troll In Central Park. Brooks cast him in Blazing Saddles (as a Camp Gay dance instructor), Space Balls (as Pizza the Hutt), and Robin Hood: Men in Tights (as Don Giovanni, who was mostly a Godfather parody). De Luise also voiced Fagin in Disney's Oliver & Company. Much later, he would do mostly one-shot guest appearances, such as in Dexters Laboratory and Robot Chicken.
Stacey DePass: A Canadian comedy actress who has performed in several animated productions, most notably as the voice of Deadpan Snarker Nikki Wong in 6teen. She's also been heard as Iris in Ruby Gloom, along with several other lesser known children's animated series and several minor roles in Undergrads.
Jessica DiCicco: The go-to voice for animated teenage girls who are slightly nicer than the Alpha Bitch. Most often heard on the Disney Channel, playing Maggie in The Buzz On Maggie and Malina in The Emperor\'s New School. Played Olette in Kingdom Hearts II and is currently voicing Gwen on The Mighty B!. Also played Lexi Bunny in Loonatics Unleashed.
Bill Fagerbakke: Dauber from the series Coach has gone on to a long career as a VA, playing a lot of Gentle Giants. He's Patrick Star on Spongebob Squarepants, Bulkhead on Transformers Animated, and Broadway on Gargoyles. He also appeared live in a few episodes of Heroes.
Megan Fahlenbock: A Canadian voice actress, Fahlenbock is perhaps most well-known for her role as Gwen in Total Drama Island, though she voiced Jen in 6teen before that. Her voice is also featured in Yin Yang Yo and Get Ed, among others.
Bill Farmer: Best known for voicing Goofy and Pluto, Farmer's also has voiced a few Looney Tunes characters, most notably Foghorn Leghorn. Despite doing a lot of funny voiced characters, he takes voice acting seriously, emphasis on acting. A Goofy Movie is a fine example of this, really giving Goofy a broad emotional range throughout the film.
Nika Futterman: Possesses a very distinct, raspy voice that usually causes her to wind up playing either boys (like Miguel in Maya And Miguel and Adam Lyon in My Gym Partners A Monkey) or tomboys (like Mike in Mike, Lu & Og or Smellerbee in Avatar The Last Airbender). Next to Candi Milo, she's the most prominent voice actress for Latina characters, such as Lola Caricola in Catdog or Zita Flores in Kim Possible. Capable of doing very feminine voices, such as Celsius in Tales of Symphonia, as well as sinister-sounding ones, like that of Asajj Ventress on Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and Silhouette of Destroy All Humans!.
Phillip Glasser: Did voice acting as a child, best known for voicing Fievel Mousekewitz in An American Tail, its sequel An American Tail: Fievel Goes West and the television series, up until the direct-to-video movies by which time he'd outgrown the role. He also voiced Gus in A Troll In Central Park and has had minor voicing roles in many other cartoons, mostly during the 1990's.
Olivia Hack: Former child actress, played Cindy Brady in the live-action The Brady Bunch movie and Teen Genius Tanna on Gilmore Girls, now primarily focusing on voiceover work with her light, sweet-sounding voice. Usually found doing Nickelodeon projects, was the voice of Rhonda in Hey Arnold and the perky Ty Lee in Avatar The Last Airbender. Also filled in for Lia Sargent as Shion Uzuki in the second Xenosaga game.
Jess Harnell: A voice actor and processional singer, best known for his roles as Wakko from Animaniacs, Captain Hero from Drawn Together, Secret Squirrel in Two Stupid Dogs, Jerry in the first two seasons of Totally Spies!, The Sewer Urchin from The Tick, and Hunter from Road Rovers. Also played both Barricade and Ironhide from the 2007 Transformers film.
David Herman: An actor and comedian who occasionally does voice acting. Was on Saturday Night Lives rival sketch show MADtv during its first two seasons. Among his more famous voice acting roles are Buckly (Luann's boyfriend), Eustice, Anthony Page, Jimmy Witchard, and many others from King of the Hill, Larry, Scruffy, Slurms McKensie, Roberto, Nudar, and many others from Futurama, various characters from American Dad!, Uncle Gabby from The Drinky Crow Show, and the second voices of Coach Stopframe and Principal Fakey from Moral Orel. Appeared in Idiocracy.
Dwayne Hill: A Canadian Voice actor who has been heard in Jimmy Two Shoes, Yin Yang Yo, the Total Drama series, Spliced and The Future Is Wild Cartoon Series.
Peter Keleghan: Best known for playing Ranger Gord in The Red Green Show, he has appeared in Ned's Newt, Producing Parker and Ruby Gloom.
Chris Latta: Probably best known as the voice of Cobra Commander in the 1980s G.I. Joe cartoon, or perhaps as Starscream in G1 Transformers; he did similar voices for D-Compose in Inhumanoids and Cravex in Visionaries. (Latta also played Gung Ho in G.I. Joe and Darkstorm in Visionaries.) He also did voices in other animated shows, including a couple of episodes as Mr. Burns in The Simpsons, and has shown up from time to time (26 of them, to be exact) in Star Blazers, as General Dire and Sergeant Knox. He died in 1994.
Carolyn Lawrence: She is best known for her roles as Cindy Vortex in Jimmy Neutron, Sandy Cheeks in Spongebob Squarepants, Orel Puppington in Moral Orel, and Ashley Graham in Resident Evil 4.
Scott McCord: One of the most prolific of the new Canadian voice-over artists, his most famous roles are probably Owen and Trent in Total Drama Island and Total Drama Action. He also provided the voice of Skull Boy in Ruby Gloom and Yang in Yin Yang Yo. His other credits include such shows as Bakugan Battle Brawlers, Spliced and the new Care Bears series.
Kevin McDonald: This former Kids in the Hall cast member is known for voicing Cloudcuckoolanders like Pleakley from Lilo & Stitch, the Almighty Tallest Purple from Invader Zim, and Waffle from Catscratch.
Patrick McKenna: Best known for playing Harold Green in The Red Green Show. His roles in animation include Lorne, the Friend for Life from the Sam And Max animated series and Two-legs Joe from Spliced.
Julie McWhirter: A rare Woman of a Thousand Voices and the wife of radio announcer Rick Dees, she has been in the voice acting business since the 1970s, starting with the redhead Jeannie (from the Animated Adaptation of I Dream of Jeannie), to whom Joe Besser played Babu.
Don Messick: Best known as the voice of Ranger Smith, Scooby-Doo, Dr. Benton Quest and Papa Smurf, Messick was one of Hanna-Barbera's first superstars, along with his friend and co-worker Daws Butler. During his later years, Messick played Hamton Pig in Tiny Toon Adventures.
Lorenzo Music: He did only one voice—his own, sleepy, phlegmatic yet warm—but he made it count. Music started out as a comedy writer until he was recruited to play The Faceless role of Carlton the doorman in Rhoda. This led to his playing Garfield in Garfield and Friends, which led to still more voice work: Tummi in Adventures of the Gummi Bears, Peter Venkman (and his father) in The Real Ghostbusters (for the first few seasons), Sergeant Dunder in Tale Spin, Super-Pac in the second season of Pac-Man, Larry the Crash Test Dummy in a series of famous Public Service Announcements, and several guest star roles and commercial voice-overs. Music was very active until shortly before his death in 2001.
Pat Musick: Best known for her roles as Fluffy, Uranus and second voice of Charles after the death of Dana Hill in Duckman, Janine Melnitz in Extreme Ghostbusters, April Eagle in Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs, Snappy Smurf in The Smurfs, Meriem Brunch in The Tick, Tony Toponi in An American Tail, Mona Lisa in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1987, and Harold Frumpkin in All Grown Up!. Notable for her impressive ability to invoke Cross-Dressing Voices.
Clarence "Ducky" Nash: Comedian and one of the first masters of television animal noises. He originated the voice of Donald Duck in 1934, who he would voice until his death in 1985. His last role as Donald was in 1983's Mickey's Christmas Carol, and the character would be voiced then on by Tony Anselmo, a Disney animator, who trained under Nash in person. He also provided animals and character voices for many of Disney's other films such as Huey, Duey and Louie, and Figaro the cat. Cited as a huge inspiration for Frank Welker and Red Coffee.
Annick Obonsawin: A Canadian singer and voice actress whose most famous role is that of Sierra in Total Drama World Tour, though she's voiced a number of characters before that, including Inez in Cyberchase and Skunk in Franklin. Her distinct voice is somewhat easy to pick out but her true talent lies in conveying numerous emotions on the fly. She's the 2010 Toonzone Award winner for best voice performance in a televised cartoon, she was very thrilled to say the least.
Christian Potenza: A Canadian Voice actor who's best known for voicing Chris Mclean in the Total Drama series, as well as Jude in 6teen. He has his own Youtube page.
Cody, Luke, and Nathan Ruegger: The sons of Warner Bros.. cartoon producer Tom Ruegger lent their voices to quite a few of the youthful characters in his shows. Nathan voiced the baby version of Plucky Duck on Tiny Toon Adventures, Skippy Squirrel on Animaniacs, and Froggo on Histeria. Luke was the Flame on Animaniacs and Big Fat Baby on Histeria. And Cody, the youngest, was the Baby Blue Bird in a few Animaniacs segments as well as the voice and inspiration for Loud Kiddington on Histeria.
Andrew Sabiston: A Canadian voice actor with a long career in both stage and screen, Sabiston has had many roles in various cartoons. He played Yoshi in the Super Mario World animated series, Diddy Kong in the Donkey Kong Country animated series, Cat in Little Bear and is currently playing Lee on The Amazing Spiez.
Dana Snyder: Well known voice actor in [adult swim] programs such as Master Shake in Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Dr. Wang in Minoriteam, The Alchemist in The Venture Brothers and Granny in Squidbillies. Has recently branched out into non [adult swim] animation as the voice of Gazpacho in the Cartoon Network original series Chowder and three characters on Robotomy: Mr. Dreadnot (the Sadist Teacher), Principal Thunderbyte, and the janitor from the "Mutilation Ball" episode.
John Stephenson: Like Daws Butler and Don Messick, Stephenson was one of the major voice talents at Hanna-Barbera. His most famous roles include Mr. Slate of The Flintstones, Lazy Luke of Wacky Races and Col. Wilcox of early Superfriends. Stephenson also played Dr. Benton Quest in the first few episodes of Jonny Quest before being replaced by Messick.
Larry Storch: An unusual example in that while he is arguably better known for his work in live action comedies, he has actually done slightly more work in cartoons and animated advertisements than he has done in live action roles. Most of his voice work was for Filmation and Hanna-Barbera, and he was also the lead voice artist for the Looney Tunes cartoons in their final years of production.
John Stocker: A Canadian voice actor whose best known role was Beastly in Care Bears but also played Toad and Oogtar in the Super Mario Bros. cartoons, Sir Burnevere in Blazing Dragons, Ankylo in Dinosaucers, Richard P. Fungus in Stunt Dawgs and Naga in Bakugan Battle Brawlers.
Jill Talley: Known for voicing Karen, Plankton's computer wife on Sponge Bob Square Pants, Sarah Dubois on The Boondocks, and Gretchen and Ms. Mucus on Camp Lazlo. Is married to fellow voice actor Tom Kenny.
Russi Taylor: Best known as the voice of Disney's Minnie Mouse. She has also voiced Huey, Dewey, Louie and Webby from DuckTales, Baby Gonzo from Muppet Babies, Martin Prince, Sherri and Terri from The Simpsons, Penny Tompkins from The Critic, various incarnations of Pebbles from The Flintstones, Widget The World Watcher, was the voice of Strawberry Shortcake throught The Eighties, and Ferny Toro from Jakers! The Adventures of Piggley Winks, a role that got her two Annie and two Daytime Emmy nominations. She was married to the late Wayne Allwine.
Peter Thomas: WWII Veteran who narrates a lot of PBS specials, NOVA and Forensic Files. He's known for his crystal clear voice and precise diction, and his unique narrative tone of urgency, concern, and empathy. Also is a humanitarian and was issued a Battle star for each of the five campaigns and awarded the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart, the Unit French Croix de guerre, and Belgian Fourragère in World War II.
Adrian Truss: A British-Canadian actor who is a founding member of the internationally renowned comedy troupe, Illustrated Men. He voiced Poe from Ruby Gloom, the titular Dragon from Jane and the Dragon and Dr. Kirk from Dino Crisis. His other credits include such shows as Rolie Polie Olie and Spliced.
Alanna Ubach: Has lent her deep Latina voice to male and female voices alike: to both Skate Lad and Rope Girl in Teamo Supremo, Mayor Spryman in Ozzy and Drix, Lola Bola in Brandy & Mr. Whiskers, and the title character in El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera. Also a prolific live actress who got her big break as Josie on Beakman's World, and has appeared in such films as The Brady Bunch Movie, Sister Act 2, Legally Blonde, Meet The Fockers, and Waiting...
Janet Waldo: Best know as voicing Judy Jetson from The Jetsons and Penelope Pitstop from Wacky Races and The Perils of Penelope Pitstop. Like many other voice actors of her generation, she began in radio. She has a very distinctive "young" voice, and arguable has the most adorable voice of all voice actresses.
B.J. Ward: Best known for the title role on Jana of the Jungle, Princess Allura from Voltron, and for her stage show Stand-Up Opera, she is also a licensed aviator and a former Playboy Bunny. She's also voiced Scarlett on the original G.I. Joe cartoons, and was the voice of Velma in several recent Scooby-Doo projects.
David Warner: A British actor who is mainly known for sinister, villainous roles. He was the voice of Ra's al Ghul in the DCAU, the first voice of Nergal in The Grim Adventures Of Billy And Mandy, Alpha in the animated Men In Black series, and Dr. Vic Frankenstein on the short-lived Steven Spielberg series Toonsylvania—not to mention having both live-action and animated roles in TRON, as Corrupt Corporate Executive Ed Dillinger, his program counterpart Sark (both live-action), and the MCP (who was CGI).
April Winchell: Voiced mostly characters in Disney animated shows (often as bitter, grizzled old women — similar to Tress MacNeille, only Winchell isn't as well-known), such as Cruella De Vil in the 101 Dalmatians TV series, Peg In Goof Troop, Dyl Piquel in Bonkers, Clarabelle Cow from Disney's House of Mouse, Tanya from The Mighty Ducks, Miss Finster from Recess, and Lydia Pearson from Pepper Ann. Also the voice of Molly Mange from the Hanna-Barbera series SWAT Kats.

Primarily in anime, video games

J. Grant Albrecht: Known for playing The End in Metal Gear Solid 3, and Crypto in the Destroy All Humans! series.
Dominic Armato: A Promoted Fanboy whose largest role (thus far) was voicing Guybrush Threepwood in the Monkey Island series. Also does bit-part voicework for LucasArts games and had a small role in Rocket Power.
Greg Eagles: Another Scary Black Man, best known for his role as Grey Fox/The Cyborg Ninja and the DARPA Chief in Metal Gear Solid, as well as Garcian Smith in Killer7. Also the voice of Grim and Sperg on The Grim Adventures Of Billy And Mandy, believe it or not.
Paul Eiding: Best known as Col. Campbell in every Metal Gear game (especially noticable since he used to be in the military himself), and Grandpa Max on Ben 10. The voice of authority itself, judging by the number of times he's played commanding officers, such as judicator Aldaris in StarCraft. He also voices the narrator and Gally "Vanish" Gregman in the fighting game Evil Zone. One of his earliest voice roles was Perceptor in the original Transformers cartoon and the ensuing movie.
Barbara Goodson: Prolific voice actress in both western and Japanese cartoons, as well as live-action voice overs. Her roles include Red Fraggle, Rita Repulsa, and Laharl.
Clarine Harp: Best known for Sei in Burst Angel and Hibari Ginza in Speed Grapher. She also played Kaede in Mahou Sensei Negima! and Laura in Mnemosyne. She is also the basis for Aubrey in the webcomic Something*Positive.
Raphael Sbarge: Probably best well known for his turn as Lt. Kaidan Alenko later promoted to Staff Commander if he doesn't die first in the Mass Effect series of games, Sbarge has been lending his seductive gravelly tones to sensitive manly love interests back in the Knights of the Old Republic games as Carth Onasi, and he's also done a host of work in games like Medal of Honor : Vanguard, Star Wars : Republic Commando, and EverQuest 2; along with some Western Animation performances such as in Avatar The Last Airbender.
Dwight Schultz: More fondly remembered as "Howlin' Mad" Murdock on The A-Team and Reginald Barclay on Star Trek: The Next Generation, he branched out into voice acting and has done roles as diverse as the Pope and Mr. Fargus on Family Guy and Harman Smith in Killer7. He is also voicing Western Animations series with roles such as Dr. Animo (AKA, Devoid) from Ben 10 and Ben 10 Alien Force as well as Mung Dahl from Chowder.
Chris Seavor: A British game designer for Rare, he voiced nearly every male character in Conkers Bad Fur Day and its remake (which was a lot of voice work). He's also voiced Slippy Toad and Peppy Hare from Star Fox on occasion.
Joshua Seth: A former voice actor who mainly voiced heroic or naive kids like Tai from Digimon and Shobu from Duel Masters, other famous roles include Tetsuo Shima in the Pioneer dub of AKIRA, Dio from Last Exile, Hige from Wolf's Rain, Maruss from Zatch Bell!, Young Knives from Trigun, and Eiji from Rurouni Kenshin. He retired from voice acting in 2006 to pursue a successful career as a magician and hypnotist.
Jim Walker: Current American voice actor of Fox McCloud in the Star Fox games, also provided Fox's voice in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
Stephan Weyte: Known best as the ~~borderline-~~Villain Protagonist Caleb from Blood and its sequel. He's also lent his voice to Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, the Pajama Sam games (no, really), and he even played Steven Spielberg in some 7-minute comedy short.

Actors with their own pages

And, finally, here's a lit of voice actors prolific enough to deserve their own pages. Don't bother listing their roles here; do so on the individual pages. Names are listed in alphabetical order by surname. All names are in European order, with personal name first and family name last.

Note: this section has considerable overlap with Names to Know in Anime.