Playing Against Type / Western Animation

• Toy Story 2: Good-natured Kelsey Grammer plays a folksy prospector Stinky Pete — and when he reveals himself as the Big Bad, it's quite unexpected. Of course, he'd done the same thing years earlier (and still continues to) as Sideshow Bob and, to a lesser degree, Dr. Frankenollie and Dr. Ivan Krank.
• Family Guy: Alex Borstein is usually a Hollywood Homely character, and Mila Kunis is usually the Ms. Fanservice. As Lois and Meg, they have swapped their roles.
• Tania Gunadi tends to play characters that are young, spunky, and energetic like Miko, Sashi, Sam, and Lady Shiva. On Sofia the First, she's cast as Miss Elodie, an adult authority figure, who's occasionally sarcastic, but otherwise fairly level headed.
• Many of the actors from Gargoyles were also Star Trek: The Next Generation alumni; you can pretty much fill out the command staff of a Federation starship on them.
  • Captain Janeway as Titania would command, though the queen of the fairies is not exactly the most sane CO you could have.
  • Her First Officer would be Riker as David Xanatos. Though how long he would remain first officer is debatable, considering that he's Xanatos.
  • Counselor Troi as Demona. Probably not the best choice of ship's councilor, what with all of the rampaging hate and evil.
  • Second Officer and ship operations go to Data as Puck. It may not be a good idea to entrust such an important position to a trickster elf, unless you want the ship a few thousand lightyears off course because he was bored.
  • At security and tactical, you have Worf as Coldstone (or part of him at any rate). Oddly enough, he'd be less likely to succumb to The Worf Effect due to being made of stone.
  • Chief engineer would go to Geordi LaForge as Anansi.
    • On a minor note, those of you familiar with the voice of Lexington may not spot him as the psychopathic Simon in Invasion America.
  • Thomas F. Wilson, best known for playing Jerkass supreme Biff Tannen, voices the heroic and eccentric Agent Mulder Matt Bluestone.
• Speaking of Data and Greg Weisman cartoons, he plays a very knife-happy Joker in Young Justice.
• Casting Patrick Stewart as Seti I in The Prince of Egypt might be considered a Double Subversion, as he initially acts like a typical "Patrick Stewart character" as a tough but loving father and authority figure deserving of respect. Then, in sharp opposition to the usual Patrick Stewart Speech, he gives a lecture to Moses justifying feeding thousands of Hebrew infants to the crocodiles. Even though the audience is likely to know of the almost-genocide from the Passover story, having Stewart in this role makes it shocking.
  • In a much less serious (and probably intentional) note, in American Dad!, Stewart was cast as Avery Bullock, Stan's often whimsical and bizarre boss.
    • Going even further, an episode of Family Guy had all the Next Gen actors reprising their roles...as themselves. Except that Stewart is the abusive father figure, Frakes is vapid, Dorn is the gentle guy, and Wheaton is the overeager chi...wait a second...
      Wheaton: [at a drive-thru] I want a hamburger. No, cheeseburger. I want a hot dog. I want a milkshake. I want potato chips...
      Stewart: [smacking him hard in the head] You'll get nothing, and like it!
  • "Number One, would you join me in a laugh if I said Commander Worf's forehead looked like a fanny?"
    • Similarly, Patrick Stewart being cast as the Yolkian king in The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius qualifies under the comedic against-type casting as well, seeing how his overall character was somewhat comical in spite of his essentially being a sacrificing genocidal ruler.
  • The Prince of Egypt had this in spades: action hero-type Val Kilmer as Moses/God comes to mind.
  • Speaking of Michael Dorn, he's also known as the cute and brainy ace of I Am Weasel.
• James Hong, veteran character actor and better known as cheesy, Large Ham villains in various kung fu productions (particularly Lo Pan of Big Trouble in Little China), appears in Kung Fu Panda instead as the clueless, Genius Ditz noodle-making goose Mr. Ping. Meanwhile, Action Girl Lucy Liu gets to be the sweet-natured, kindly Viper.
  • Likewise, in Blade Runner, James Hong appears as a meek genetic engineer specializing in eyes.
  • Hong also played goofy Mr. Miyagi parodies in Balls of Fury and Totally Awesome.
• Though his other roles may not fit, the decision to cast David Kaye as Optimus Prime in Transformers: Animated raised many eyebrows among the fans, given that Kaye's usual role in previous Transformers series' has been Megatron.
• Casting Edward Asner as Granny Goodness in Superman: The Animated Series was probably supposed to be this, but felt surprisingly appropriate.
• The Wild Thornberrys had Tim Curry, he of the deliciously slimy and evil-sounding voice, playing the energetic, good-natured, and wholeheartedly lovable naturalist Nigel Thornberry.
• Richard Steven Horvitz is usually known for playing goofy, loudmouthed characters who scream a lot such as Zim from Invader Zim, Dagget from The Angry Beavers, Billy from The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, and Orthopox from the Destroy All Humans! series. However, he played a serious role in Static Shock in which he played Jimmy Osgood, a shy, nerdy boy who was often bullied. Eventually, he loses it and tries to kill his tormentors with a gun, but he is stopped before he can do anything. The gun still goes off, though, and nearly kills Ritchie.
  • Horvitz also voiced the far more subdued and vastly more intelligent Grey Matter in the original Ben 10.
  • Does it similarly in Psychonauts with the, while still rebellious, surprisingly mature and comparatively restrained protagonist Raz Aquato; as opposed to being the resident insane loudmouth, here he portrays the Only Sane Man.
• Diedrich Bader. You know, Oswald from The Drew Carey Show? Now he's playing Warp Darkmatter, Hoss Delgado, and BATMAN.
  • And would have played Korgoth of Barbaria, had it been picked up by [adult swim].
  • And as of Transformers: Rescue Bots, Jules Verne.
• Grey DeLisle usually specializes in voicing nasty, unsympathetic teen girls such as Mandy in The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, Vicky in The Fairly OddParents!, and the downright diabolical Azula in Avatar: The Last Airbender. In Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, however, she voices Frankie, an essentially caring and good-natured caretaker, and Goo, a friendly (if overtalkative) youngster. More recently, she's given her voice to Doc Holiday from Generator Rex, a caring and friendly scientist who's a surrogate mother to the protagonist.
  • And not only that, she was Emily Elizabeth and Wubbzy as well.
  • She's also Padme Amidala.
  • She also voices Kitty from T.U.F.F. Puppy.
  • Since 2001, she has become the main voice actress for Daphne Blake.
• Compare Ron Perlman's usual roles of badasses to his role on Danny Phantom as Mr. Lancer, Danny's stern but comical teacher.
  • While badasses themselves are not outside of Perlman's wheel house, most of his roles in DC adaptations, outside of Orion, are villains — and outside of Jax-Ur and Thaal Sinestro, they're usually people who've come into conflict with Batman or his allies at some point. The video game Justice League Heroes sees him as Bruce Wayne himself.
  • Final Space sees Perlman, known for portraying dark and villainous characters like Slade and the Lich, voice John Goodspeed, a heroic character who is not only the father of Gary, but is also far goofier than his other roles.
• Political cartoonist Gerald Scarfe, the man responsible for the nightmarish Deranged Animation of Pink Floyd -- The Wall, later served as the animation director for the upbeat and Broadwayesque Hercules.
• Lorenzo Music, the voice of Deadpan Snarker Garfield in most of his animated appearances until his death, was also the sweet fool hero Ralph (the all-purpose animal) in 1983's Twice Upon a Time.
• Mark Hamill is most well-known for two roles: Luke Skywalker and the Joker. Can you get two more divergent roles?
  • Mark has also voiced various other major villains, such as the Hobgoblin, the Skeleton King, Colonel Muska, Fire Lord Ozai, Malefor, and the ghost of Darth Bane.
  • He also voices the enigmatic, morally ambiguous likes of Mr. Selactia and The Spectre.
  • Or he's done some heroic, but a wee bit to effeminate or sissy sounding characters like Larry 3000 and Sean the fairy in Ralph Bakshi's Wizards.
  • For more classic, scenery-chewing villainous roles, he also voices Undergrowth in Danny Phantom and Captain Stickybeard in Codename: Kids Next Door.
    • Most of his characters are very clever in some way. But the big, stupid zombie Solomon Grundy ain't.
  • With his roles as Von Nebula and Dr. Pullem, it appears that hammy supervillains are his type of role nowadays. For a current example of Playing Against Type, he now does the gruff-but-likable stoic Skips on Regular Show.
  • In the Best Fiends shorts, he voices Temper the Mite...who is a parody of Batman.
• Rob Paulsen, who is usually known for his comedic roles, voices the cruel, serious, foul-mouthed gangster Sal Maroni in Batman: Gotham Knight.
  • He also voiced a bigoted racist in a recent episode of The Boondocks.
    • And Riley's soft spoken, Shell-Shocked Veteran painting teacher.
    • Also his role as Gray Fox in Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes, and fans of the series would think of Gray Fox as anything but comical.
    • And the truly creepy stalker, Hydro-Man.
    • Or the genocidal Sean One in Phantom 2040.
• Hynden Walch, someone who's played characters that are incredibly kind like Starfire, Penny Sanchez, and Princess Bubblegum... plays the frightening, four-armed girl Breach in Generator Rex. Not as extreme, but a villainess nonetheless, was Harley Quinn in The Batman. She also voiced the villainesses Blackfire and Madame Rouge.
• John DiMaggio, known for his gruff voice and New Jersey accent, as the usually high-pitched Joker in Batman: Under the Red Hood. However, upon hearing the performance, most people actually liked it. He also voiced the cold, stoic Duke Togo in Golgo 13: Queen Bee, whereas most of the other characters DiMaggio us usually voices are very loud, quirky, and energetic.
• Charlie Adler, well known for comedic roles like Buster Bunny, Mr. Whiskers, and that cuddly pink dragon from My Little Pony, as well as crazy overdramatic characters like Ickis, The Red Guy, and I.R. Baboon, voices Cobra Commander in G.I. Joe: Resolute, who is quite possibly the darkest and most monstrously evil incarnation of the character to date. He reprises the role in G.I. Joe: Renegades. He also played Chance "T-Bone" Furlong in SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron. In an inverse to the David Kaye Transformers example listed above, Adler also voiced the villainous Starscream in the live-action movies. His best known Transformers role before that was as the considerably more heroic Aerialbot leader Silverbolt in the original cartoon.
• Pamela Adlon, usually known for voicing young boys or spunky or motherly women, voiced Luanne's violent, promiscuous, alcoholic, neglectful mother in an episode of King of the Hill. She also plays a coke-snorting sex fiend on Californication and voiced the snarky and teenaged Rose Wilson in Teen Titans Go!.
• Mulan also had this as well. No, it's not the title character. You know the character Yao? Well, that guy is voiced by Harvey Fierstein, who is nothing like that character.
• Over the Hedge has an enthusiastic, cheerful raccoon named RJ, voiced by Bruce Willis. Also, William Shatner as a possum. With Avril Lavigne as his daughter. One of the latter two takes part in the song over the closing credits. And it's not Avril.
• Any character played by Tom Kenny who isn't dimwitted, goofy, energetic, lovable, crazy, or just plain silly in any way will count as this.
  • His role as Doctor Octopus in Ultimate Spider-Man in particular, being quieter and creepier than his other two characters (Curt Connors and The Wizard) in the show.
  • There's also his turn as Nute Gunray in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. He's pretty damn unrecognizable as him.
  • While Transformers: Animated's version of Waspinator, Wasp, would seem like his usual fare, you might be surprised. While Wasp is at least a little goofy, when he becomes Waspinator, he is instead a snarling, hulking monster.
  • His turn as the solemn, isolated (and kinda creepy) robot Fixit on Teen Titans was only further highlighted by his clearly in-type role as Mumbo the Amazing in the same episode.
  • And Sawada from Tekkonkinkreet who is one of the most serious characters he's ever voiced, a no-nonsense, asexual detective.
  • There's also the Anti-Monitor in Green Lantern: The Animated Series.
  • His role as Old Master Mysto from Mixels, while a heroic role, is very subdued and serious, along with a much deeper voice than his other roles.
  • His roles as the Deranged Park Ranger Woody Johnson in Brickleberry and the Dirty Cop Randall Crawford in Paradise PD — both of whom are foul-mouthed and vulgar compared to his other roles.
  • He played King Jellybean, a rapist and child molester, in Rick and Morty.
• Billie Lou Watt, who earned her fame in animation as the voice actress for the All-Loving Hero main characters from Astro Boy and Kimba the White Lion, has her final role prior to retiring being Eustace's mother, Courage the Cowardly Dog's resident Jerkass.
• Cree Summer is famous for voicing young (and sassy) African-American women, in most animated cartoons (Codename: Kids Next Door, Drawn Together, Rugrats/All Grown Up!, Histeria!, etc.), but the first few characters she ever voiced were actually Caucasian women, such as Penny from Inspector Gadget and Elmyra Duff from Tiny Toon Adventures (her father is white). However, recently, Cree decided to go both ways and as a result, some of the later characters she actually voiced appear to be dark-skinned women with white hair and blue eyes (Atlantis: The Lost Empire).
  • And then there's her role as the poodle Cleo in Clifford the Big Red Dog.
  • Her role as Protoss Executor Selendis in StarCraft II isn't like the roles she usually plays either. Unlike the other roles she's done before, she really sounds dead serious and is devoid of her usual snark and sarcasm in this one.
  • There's also her turn as Blackarachia in Transformers: Animated where aside from some sarcasm, she actually sounds quite serious and bitter.
  • One of her recent roles is Haggar in Voltron: Legendary Defender. Her voice is raspy and has no joy whatsoever.
  • On Vampirina, she voices Edna Peopleson, the nice, but normal mother of Poppy and Edgar.
• Danny Cooksey is mostly known for voicing a lot of jerks and juvenile delinquents such as Montana Max, Hotstreak, Brad Buttowski, and Jack Spicer. However, he also voiced the good-natured albeit cowardly Dave the Barbarian, the soft spoken, artistic, and sensitive Milo, and super-friendly Wide-Eyed Idealist Keef.
• One Mr. Adam Baldwin, known for his roles as gruff badasses, played the cowardly and not so gruff Finn in Jackie Chan Adventures. He was also Hal Jordan in Justice League and Superman/Clark Kent in Superman: Doomsday. He reprises both roles for Injustice: Gods Among Us and DC Universe Online, respectively.
• Tony Jay as Dr. Lipschitz. And also fatherly fowl (not chicken) Virgil in Mighty Max.
• Chantal Strand, who normally plays sweet, innocent, Shrinking Violet type characters like Madeline (taking over the role from Andrea Libman), Cassie, and Bijou, was cast against type as the rich bitches Gemini Stone in Sabrina: The Animated Series, McKenna in Care Bears: Adventures in Care-a-Lot and both Diamond Tiara and her mother Spoiled Rich in My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic.
• Jerry Orbach was known for playing on Broadway, as the "tough but fair" dad of Dirty Dancing, and playing mobsters, AmoralAttorneys, and other shady types. His best known role was Lenny Briscoe in Law & Order. So what was he doing playing a lawful, good, Happily Married, By-the-Book Cop Space Cowboy in Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers? Well, he had never done animation up until that point...
• When the intelligent, calm, in-control, thoroughly evil Catbert appeared on Dilbert, he was voiced by Jason Alexander. George Costanza, Abis Mal, Hugo, and Duckman fail to qualify as having any of Catbert's characteristics (with the possible exception of the last one).
• The awesome cool Scott McNeil has these moments as well. You may know him as an awesome action hero role type of VA, but did you know he's also played roles of Pungeon Masters and Chicken-phobic shy teachers and was even a Care Bear? Now you do.
• Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM) features Tim Curry as the kind King Maximillian Acorn and Jim Cummings, the guy who did both Tigger and Winnie-the-Pooh's voice, as the evil Dr. Robotnik.
  • Pooh and Tigger are more of a Playing Against Type for Jim Cummings, as most of his characters tend to be villains of varying levels of competence, with the occasional Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist thrown in as well. If he does voice good guys, they're usually retaining some type of edge, as opposed to the very sweet Pooh and Tigger.
• In Hanna-Barbera's The Smurfs, folk musician Hamilton Camp voices Harmony, the tone-deaf Smurf.
• Catherine Tate, best known for her comedic light-hearted roles like Lauren or Donna Noble, was cast as Magica De Spell in DuckTales (2017). Seemingly averted in "Jaw$", where she's a lot more Laughably Evil and hammy, but firmly unaverted in "The Other Bin Of Scrooge", who shows her Abusive Parent and sadist tendencies in their full glory.
• Tony Todd, who's best known for his villainous roles (Candyman, The Fallen, and Dreadwing), plays the heroic Icon in Young Justice.
• Andrea Libman is best known for her roles on My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic as Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie, as well as Emmy in Dragon Tales and the titular character of Madeline (taking over the helm from Tracey-Lee Smythe). However, you'd be pretty surprised to find out that she once starred in X-Men: Evolution as X-23. Her role as Hypnotized!Fluttershy in the Season 2 two-part opening also counts.
• Tara Strong tends to voice good, even sweet characters - with Bubbles probably being one of the best examples. Of course, she also voiced Princess Clara and Toot - two characters about as far removed from Bubbles as humanly possible. Tara herself pointed out the trope when Drawn Together first premiered.
  • The same should also be said of Raven in Teen Titans, another character quite different from Bubbles.
  • She also voiced Harley Quinn in Batman: Arkham City.
  • Also Doctor Octopus 2099.
  • And Claire Brewster.
  • Also Terrence from Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends and Truffles from Chowder.
  • While you're at it, watch a few episodes of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic and then just try to play Lollipop Chainsaw without dying from laughter.
• Kevin Michael Richardson is a man best known for playing characters who are physically imposing, tough, and deep-voiced (Ex: Bulkhead, Gantu, Roadblock, Kilowog, and Panthro). In Teen Titans, his role as the skinny and high-pitched See-More is pretty much the antithesis of Mammoth and Trigon, the other two characters that Kevin voices.
  • He also starred in The Batman, though not as Bane or Killer Croc as one would expect, but as The Joker.
  • Among his usual character types in Ultimate Spider-Man, he plays Howard the Duck (though Howard was a cameo).
  • And would you expect a man known for villainous, Guttural Growlers to do a pitch-perfect interpretation of Barney Rubble? Not the deep voice that audiences are more familiar with, mind you, but the high pitched, nasally voice from the first season of the original cartoon!
• Billy West, best known for voicing wacky goofballs such as Bugs Bunny and Woody Woodpecker, greedy jerks such as Ren Hoek and Rancid Rabbit, and snarky everymen like Phillip J. Fry and the Red M&M, also voiced the shy, optimistic, Adorkable titular character of Doug during its original Nickelodeon run. Perhaps even more against type than Doug, however, would be the Bitch in Sheep's Clothing Grimtrix in Sofia the First.
• Jennifer Hale is probably best known for playing tomboyish and/or Action Girl females as the Black Cat, Silver Sable, Ivy, Mallory, Female Commander Shepard, Jennifer Mui, Bastila Shan, Sheena Fujibayashi, Ms. Marvel, and Trishka Novak. So it's a bit of a shock when she voices a character completely unlike that, such as villainous spoiled brat Princess Morebucks, Adorkable scientist Emma Emmerich in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, or the squeaky-voiced Cloud Cuckoolander Dumb Blonde Madison Spaghettini Papadopoulus of Class of 3000. But the best one that goes against type has to be the fact that she's the current official voice actress for Disney Princess Cinderella.
• Dee Bradley Baker is generally known for playing bizarre, cartoony characters and doing various creature vocalizations, similar to Frank Welker, as well as human characters that are usually regular, straight men or dorky. This trope applies whenever he plays "straight ahead" roles such as Tarrlok, Ra's al Ghul, and the clones.
  • In Kaijudo, he plays, among his usual character types, an old lady.
  • In The Owl House, he provides the vocals for Eda's monstrous and savage Owl Beast form.
• David Kaufman primarily voices characters who are either Adorkable or unpopular such as Dexter Douglas...., Jimmy Olsen, Danny Fenton... oh yeah, and he also seems to be the current voice actor for cocky, hot-headed, hotshot Johnny Storm of the Fantastic Four. He's also the Jerk Jock brother in The Buzz on Maggie.
• Gina Torres is best known for playing characters who are Anti Heroic or downright heroic such as Zoe Washburn, Vixen, and Wonder Woman. This trope comes into play whenever she plays villains such as Superwoman and Airachnid.
• Jesse McCartney usually voices young, heroic characters. In Young Justice he voices Nightwing, who is older and well on his way to becoming a morally ambiguous Anti-Hero.
• Jason Marsden, who tends to get pegged as adolescent nasally-voiced sidekick type characters like Tino in The Weekenders or Chester McBadbat in The Fairly OddParents!, actually plays main villain and Magnificent Bastard Chase Young in Xiaolin Showdown.
• Jodi Benson, who's usually known for playing young, spirited women, plays the silly and lovesick Patsy Smiles on Camp Lazlo.
• Those who know of Khary Payton best as Cyborg from Teen Titans would be surprised by his Young Justice roles: Aqualad (a stoic teenage soldier) and Black Manta (a Wicked Cultured Darth Vader Expy who's a member of the Light).
  • In Injustice: Gods Among Us, Payton not only reprises the role of Cyborg, but also voices the monstrous Doomsday.
  • He's also Charmcaster's Evil Uncle, Hex, in Ben 10.
  • Loonatics Unleashed cast him as Deuce, who's at first in line with his character types until his true colors are revealed.
• Lenore Zann, who usually voices spunky action girls like Rogue in X-Men: The Animated Series, Aisha Clanclan from Outlaw Star, and Roll.EXE in Megaman NT Warrior, voices the pessimistic Dottie in the animated film Tooth Fairy, Where Are You?
• Lara Jill Miller as the title role in The Life and Times of Juniper Lee, mostly because she's not usually known for playing more aggressive characters of that ilk in contrast to her sweeter roles.
  • A straighter example is Julie, an antagonist, in Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi .
• Brian Drummond usually plays badass and/or fearsome characters like Ryuk, Zechs and Vegeta (and is responsible for the original "It's over 9000!" meme), so it's pretty surprising to find out that he's also the voice behind Mr. Cake and Shivers the Squirrel.
• Continuing our Generator Rex theme, while John DiMaggio is no stranger for playing brawling adversaries in Hunter Cain, his first voice actor is someone who goes by the name of John Cena. Who's that? Oh...just a famous WWE wrestler who is pretty much Nice Character Nice Actor incarnate and an upstanding Face in the WWE.

  • Speaking of John Cena, in Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, he plays Baron Draxum, another villain, a main villain.

• Clarence Nash is famous for his many, many performances as Donald Duck. He also contributed to the vocal sounds of the bear from The Fox and the Hound.
• Mayor Dewey is a far cry from Joel Hodgson's best known persona, being a shrewd politician rather than the laid-back stoner characters he played on Mystery Science Theater 3000, on Freaks and Geeks, and in his stand-up act.
• Frank Welker in the adult animated film Once Upon a Girl (1976) features him voicing several character types he hasn't voiced before or since, including Jack from the Jack and the Beanstalk story as a Hormone-Addled Teenager, a Dirty Old Man, a perverted dwarf who sells pornography and flashes people, and a Camp Gay troll.
• Henry Winkler of Happy Days fame, in addition to his character Arthur Fonzarelli, usually voices suave characters whom everyone admires. However, in Sit Down, Shut Up, he voices the principal, Willard Deutschebog, who's a pathetic loser whom everyone mocks and abuses. He also plays the comedic fourth wall breaker Ambush Bug in the series finale of Batman: The Brave and the Bold. Puppy Dog Pals cast him as Santa Claus.
• J. K. Simmons is known for playing loud, choleric, borderline insane characters (J Jonah Jameson, Cave Johnson, to name a few). He also provides the voice of Tenzin, who's about as far from those kinds of characters as one can get... Most of the time.
• George Takei has played some seriously nasty characters as an animation voice actor, in contrast to his live-action type-casting as good guys. The biggest examples are creepy would-be rapist Ricardio in Adventure Time and a sadistic prison camp warden in Avatar: The Last Airbender. Elena of Avalor cast him as the wise and nice King Toshi.
• Britt McKillip tends to voice cutesy little girls or whiny teenagers. In My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic she voices Princess Cadance, who is a Cool Big Sis as well as Silk Hiding Steel. Of course within her first episode, she's also voicing an evil changeling impersonating Cadance. And she sings a duet between the real one and the impostor. McKillip's ultimate playing against type moment is her role in Ninjago, in which she plays the sociopathic Princess Harumi, the Big Bad of Season 8 and one of Ninjago's darkest villains ever. The role actually makes perfect sense for her, because the persona that Harumi pretends to be for most of the season is actually very similar to Princess Cadence's personality, making her an excellent Red Herring. Her true personality is closer to Cadence's imposter Chrysalis, but [McKillip] is able to pull a fast one by exploiting this trope to deceive the audience.
• Christopher Lloyd is best known for his comedic roles, but in Over the Garden Wall he takes on a tragic (and often a bit creepy) role as the woodsman. Also, following his role as Judge Doom, he also voiced Merlock in DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp and Rasputin in Anastasia.
• "Weird Al" Yankovic usually plays characters as wacky as his on-stage and music video persona. However, Batman vs. Robin had him as the Dollmaker, a serious and creepy serial killer, who is implied to retain the New 52 incarnation's habit of removing faces and Teen Titans Go! had him as Darkseid.
• Company examples:
  • Saban Brands is usually known for action-adventure shows like Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers. Hence it's completely unusual when they produced Julius Jr., a Slice of Life show.
  • Hanna-Barbera, famous for their Strictly Formula cartoon featuring talking animals, fantastic adventures and comedy, tried their hand at Slice of Life shows without anything magic/supernatural/anthropomorphic/etc.: Devlin (featuring three siblings working in a circus) and These are the Days (depicting the life of a widow, her three children and her father at the very start of the 20th century).
• The late Mary Kay Bergman's roles on South Park were this, as she was better known for her voice work in children's animation like the '90s Scooby-Doo DTV films and the pilot for The Fairly Oddparents. In fact, she had to be credited under the pseudonym of "Shannen Cassidy" to retain her squeaky-clean reputation. Once South Park became a roaring success, this was dropped and the female characters became among Bergman's most famous roles, even appearing on her tombstone.
• Trey Parker, the co-creator of South Park, plays the main antagonist in Despicable Me 3, his first appearance in a family-friendly role.
• Peter Cullen usually voices good guys who are "large and in charge" and you don't get any larger than Optimus Prime with the pseudo John Wayne voice. He has, however, voiced good guys who are more elder mentor than action guys. The perpetually worried father figure Coran, as well as the dignified kingly voice of King Alfor's ghost from that same series. But the most shocking role so far is his voice for Jake Kong Jr's overweight, clumsy, dorky, comic relief partner Eddie Spencer Jr. in Filmation's Ghostbusters. But, perhaps to make up for it, that show did have Mr. Cullen voice a memorable guest star, Jessica's ex-soldier uncle, John Guardian, who in addition to having a badass name, kicked some serious ass in the episode "The Looking Glass Warrior".
  • Cullen also voiced KARR in Knight Rider, a polar opposite from his heroic roles.
• When your filmography includes movies like American History X, Fight Club, and The Grand Budapest Hotel, the last thing anybody expects you (if you're Edward Norton) to do is include a film titled Sausage Party, where you do an impression of Woody Allen for a character named Sammy Bagel Jr., in that very same list!
• In the Nickelodeon version of Winx Club, Ariana Grande, who usually plays cheery Genki Girls, plays Diaspro. This ended up being an example where playing against type backfired, as Grande was criticized as being too soft spoken for the character and having a bad case of Dull Surprise. Partially due to the criticism, Grande was replaced in season 6.
• Fred Tatasciore in Mixels as the tiny and high-pitched Nixels, a far cry from his deep-voiced Big Guy roles.
• Jenny Slate who usually plays characters who are sarcastic, sassy, or crazy, like Harley Quinn and Pony Head. In Muppet Babies (2018), she voices Nanny, who's considerably sweeter and more down to earth.
• Vincent Martella's most famous role is Cheerful Child Phineas from Phineas and Ferb; now he works on its Spiritual Successor/sort-of Sequel Series, Milo Murphy's Law, as Bradley, a cynical Foil to the very Phineas-like Milo.
• Nathan Lane's most famous animated role is Timon from The Lion King, the sarcastic comic relief sidekick, and is generally known for being a comedy actor. In Titan A.E., however, he plays the role of Preed, a slimy, treacherous villain who, though he has his Faux Affably Evil moments, is played dead seriously. And Lane pulls it off better than you'd think, too.
• Marvel's Spider-Man has Scott Menville, Josh Keaton, and Ben Diskin, known for heroic/good natured characters like Robin, Spider-Man himself, and Numbuh 1 and Numbuh 2, as villains Doctor Octopus, Norman Osborn, and Spencer Smythe respectively.
• In terms of cartoon creators, Doug Langdale is known for making series that are very outlandish in plot and characters, such as the outer space lunacy of Earthworm Jim or medieval fantasy hijinks of Dave the Barbarian. His longest running series, however, is The Weekenders: a very grounded slice-of-life comedy about four friends hanging out on the weekends.
• Tom Scharpling was best known for being the cantankerous, put-upon host of The Best Show before being cast as Steven Universe's genial, optimistic father Greg.
• In-universe example: The Backyardigans frequently play roles that don't fit their personality.
  • In "Samurai Pie", the usually laid-back Tyrone plays an overly strict pie maker bordering on Designated Hero /Unintentionally Unsympathetic territory.
  • In "Front Page News", Pablo, the most overexcited, hyperactive Backyardigan of them all, plays a cranky news editor. And it is hilarious.
  • Similar to the Tyrone example above, in "A Giant Problem", the grumpy queen who seems to have a temper problem is played by Uniqua.
• In BoJack Horseman, this happens In-Universe when Mr. Peanutbutter, a beloved Nice Guy known for his light entertainment host and sitcom roles rather than for his acting ability, gets cast as a psychotic action hero ghost cop in the Show Within a Show Philbert. The role was written for a 'real bad boy', but after Flip and Princess Carolyn's first choice for the role ends up being a notorious bigot who is too bad, they decide to distance themselves by casting someone as likeable as possible. After seeing the show, Diane is surprised to find out that Mr. Peanutbutter actually is a good actor. However this trope is still very much applicable even in regards to the show itself, typically having comedic actors in serious roles and vice versa. For example Will Arnett is often known for playing sleazy comic relief side characters, and while BoJack has the sleazy part down his character is very heavy and serious. Meanwhile Aaron Paul, best known for his serious role as Jesse Pinkman in Breaking Bad, voices the plucky comic relief character Todd Chavez who is the polar opposite of Jesse characterwise.
• Lesser-known Canadian actor Markian Tarasiuk usually does live action film roles, often from Disney Channel. However, he also voiced Totobory in Noonbory and the Super 7 and Jerome in Kung Fu Dino Posse, which seem to be his only animation roles.
• Most of the characters that Tia Texada voices retain some type of edge, like Talon and Elena Validus. On Handy Manny, she voices Mrs. Alvarez, who's very sweet and down to earth.
• Jack McBrayer is generally cast as characters that are really nice, sensitive, and wouldn't hurt anybody, let alone doing a bad thing on purpose, such as Wander in Wander over Yonder. But there were times that he did those characters, like in Despicable Me, when he does a mean carnival guy, or in DuckTales (2017) when he is a jealous Ghost of Christmas Past in the Christmas episode. And then he played Badgey who is a psychotic holodeck character who tries to kill his own father, Rutherford.
• If religion is going to come up in a Warren Ellis work, expect God to be evil and his followers equally so. Castlevania (2017), surprisingly, goes for a more nuanced approach. It's implied that God Is Good, and while the top brass in the Church of Wallachia are hideously corrupt and bring about Dracula's wrath by burning his wife at the stake, the city of Gresit is saved in part by a random preacher who's good enough to be able to create massive amounts of holy water to use against Blue Fangs' army while the Bishop, who personally captured Dracula's wife and is using the entire situation as a power play to seize control of the entire church, is abandoned by God in disgust, allowing Blue Fangs to walk right into the cathedral he's hiding out in unharmed and kill him.
• Michael Ironside usually plays villains (hell, Darkseid, one of his best known roles, is a literal God of Evil), antiheroes, or morally-questionable at best mililtary figures. Transformers: Prime sees him as Ultra Magnus, an unquestionable hero whose biggest sin is just he needs to loosen up a little.
• Batman Beyond had several examples of this:
  • Bill Fagerbakke, best known for voicing lovable goofball Patrick Star, voiced the Knight Templar vigilante Payback.
  • John Ritter, best known for playing Nice Guys, voiced the thoroughly despicable corrupt child psychologist David Wheeler.
  • Seth Green, who usually plays the Plucky Comic Relief, as Jerk Jock Nelson Nash.
  • David Faustino popped up as a psychotic juvenile delinquent.
  • Ian Ziering guest starred in one episode as a pathetic drug addict who turned to crime to fuel his addiction.
• Kevin Conroy, best known for voicing Batman in many projects since Batman: The Animated Series, voices Prismal, the main villain on Welcome to the Wayne.
• In the Heavy Metal story, "Den," John Candy, well known as a dumpy comedian, played the title character, a boy transformed in the ideal Mr. Fanservice Trapped in Another World who revels in having women throw themselves at him, and is able to play it in an appealingly lighthearted tone in his narration.
• Adventure Time:
  • Henry Rollins voiced Lady Rainicorn’s father, who is far outside Rollins’ usual voice acting repertoire of hammy villains.
  • Sam Marin, best known for voicing the hammy Benson, Muscle Man, and Pops on Regular Show, voiced a philosophical ghost in “Ghost Princess”, a far more quiet and romantic role.
• Christian Potenza is more or less Canadian animation's go-to for laidback Surfer Dude-like characters such as Jude Lizowski from 6teen and Chris McLean from Total Drama. On Jimmy Two-Shoes however, he's the voice of Peep, a Cockney-accented street urchin.
• David Sobolov usually plays villains like or anti-heroes, including Depth Charge, Shockwave, Brawl, Blitzwing, Drax the Destroyer, Gorilla Grodd, and Lobo. In RoboCop: Alpha Commando, he voices Alex Murphy himself, which normally would make him an anti-hero — if not for the series softening Murphy, like the 1988 cartoon and RoboCop: The Series did, by making Murphy practice Thou Shalt Not Kill and avoid Police Brutality (and then some, making Murphy more comfortable interacting with others outside of his job than he was in even the '88 cartoon or The Series).
• Kathleen Barr is best-known for voicing female characters that are either energetic and hyperactive (Martha Monkey ^note  American/Canadian dub of "Make Way For Nodddy" only and Wheezie), female characters that are Jerk with a Heart of Gold (Trixie), or antagonistic with other characters (Marie Kanker). In the Llama Llama Netflix series, she provides the voice of Mama Gnu (Nelly Gnu's mother), Llama Llama's Grandmother, and Eleanor Elephant who are all kind-hearted and caring characters. Notably Mama Gnu where Barr uses her soft-speaking and indoor voice that's rarely heard in other projects she was involved in.
  • She also provided the voice of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer in the 1998 feature film, and 2001 unofficial sequel to the Rankin/Bass special.
  • In the original US/Canadian dub of Make Way For Noddy, she voiced Clockwork Mouse who is very timid and easily nervous.
• Big City Greens: Paul Scheer, known for playing goofy or comedic characters for his image, plays Chip Whistler.
• Richard Kind usually plays and voices optimistic, kind hearted characters, but in Big Mouth he voices Marty Glouberman, Andrew’s angry, abrasive, verbally abusive, foul mouthed father.
• Entergalactic: Slacker, stoner Jimmy is a far cry from the more serious young men Timothée Chalamet plays, as well as the public persona he projects. According to Kid Cudi, casting his real-life friend as someone so different was intentional.
  Kid Cudi: With Timothée, I was just like: 'Oh man, it would be funny if he was, like, my weed dealer. You know, like, with a Caesar [haircut]. Just changed his whole situation and make him a whole other dude.
• Face's Music Party: Cedric L. Williams, a guy most known for playing badass characters and Jerkasses, voices the considerably nicer Face.
• Late voice actress Russi Taylor is best-known for voicing sweet-natured and loveable female and male characters such as Minnie Mouse, Strawberry Shortcake, Lollychop the sheep, and Beehonie. One of her very few villanious roles she did during her lifetime was voicing Duchess the cat in the 1995 live-action film Babe, Weathermeister in Biker Mice from Mars, and Drizella Tremaine in Cinderella II: Dreams Come True, Cinderella III: A Twist in Time, and Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep.
• Debi Derryberry usually voices children who are good natured or arrogant but whose hearts are in the right place, but in F is for Family she voices Bridget Fitzsimmons a cruel, foul mouthed, psychopathic little girl.
• Jon Favreau is generally known for his comedic roles and generally playing good-natured, bumbling characters. In Star Wars: The Clone Wars he voices Pre Vizla, a xenophobic and ruthless terrorist and consummate Blood Knight played entirely seriously.

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