Star-Making Role



""Everyone said I was an overnight success, but it was ten years leading up to that.""

- Naomi Watts, in relation to her success with Mulholland Drive

Every A-List star starts somewhere. They do bit parts and walk-on roles, sometimes even becoming "that guy". They may be a lesser part of an Ensemble Cast who becomes an Ensemble Darkhorse. They may even wind up doing something they may not be proud of later. Either way, when their memoirs are written or they sit down with James Lipton, this will be the role that they point to and say "that's where it really started for me"—the rise from obscurity to getting first billing. The role may have been written for the specific purpose of making this specific person a star by showcasing their talents. More often than not, it's a case of taking the right part and running with it. This is the role they earn their name with. This isn't always a star's first role. It's not even their first film or series to be a major success. It's the first role where they stop being "that guy" and become known by their name alone.

See also Retroactive Recognition for reactions to roles the actor had before his SMR (think Harrison Ford as a bellhop in Dead Heat On A Merry Go Round, here). Contrast Star-Derailing Role for when the star goes in the opposite direction. Compare Breakthrough Hit (equivalent for creators).

Seiyuu

 * Jun Fukuyama and Ami Koshimizu in Code Geass
 * Megumi Hayashibara in Ranma ½
 * Aya Hirano, Daisuke Ono, Minori Chihara, Yūko Gotō and Tomokazu Sugita in The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
 * Aya Hisakawa and Kotono Mitsuishi in Sailor Moon
 * Ayako Kawasumi and Yui Horie in To Heart
 * Kikuko Inoue in Ah! My Goddess
 * Kanae Ito in Shugo Chara
 * Eri Kitamura in Blood+
 * Rie Kugimiya in Shakugan no Shana
 * Mamoru Miyano in Death Note
 * Nana Mizuki and Yukari Tamura in Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha
 * Mai Nakahara in My-HiME
 * Rina Sato in Negima
 * Rie Tanaka and Soichiro Hoshi in Gundam Seed
 * Aki Toyosaki, Yoko Hikasa, Minako Kotobuki, Satomi Sato and Ayana Taketatsu in K-On!!
 * Kana Ueda in Fate/stay night
 * Romi Park in Fullmetal Alchemist
 * Masakazu Morita in Bleach
 * Katsuyuki Konishi, Tetsuya Kakihara, Marina Inoue and Yukari Fukui in Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
 * Toshiyuki Morikawa and Takehito Koyasu in Tekkaman Blade
 * Hikaru Midorikawa, Toshihiko Seki and Ryotaro Okiayu in Gundam Wing
 * Tomokazu Seki in G Gundam
 * Megumi Ogata and Nobuyuki Hiyama in Yu Yu Hakusho
 * Norio Wakamoto and Kazuki Yao in Dancougar
 * Show Hayami in Super Dimension Fortress Macross
 * Nobutoshi Canna in Macross 7
 * Megumi Nakajima and May Nakabayashi and Aya Endo in Macross Frontier
 * Omi Minami and Houko Kuwashima in Martian Successor Nadesico
 * Akira Ishida in Neon Genesis Evangelion
 * Tohru Furuya and Shuichi Ikeda in Mobile Suit Gundam
 * Nozomu Sasaki in Akira
 * Atsuko Tanaka in Ghost in the Shell
 * Kaori Shimizu in Serial Experiments Lain
 * Hiroshi Kamiya and Yuuichi Nakamura in Mobile Suit Gundam 00
 * Junko Takeuchi in Naruto.
 * Emiri Katou in Lucky Star
 * Atsushi Abe and Nobuhiko Okamoto in A Certain Magical Index
 * Satomi Arai in the spinoff, A Certain Scientific Railgun
 * Aoi Yuuki in Puella Magi Madoka Magica
 * Nao Tōyama in The World God Only Knows
 * Kana Hanazawa in Bakemonogatari
 * Haruka Tomatsu in Kannagi
 * Shizuka Itou in Hayate the Combat Butler
 * Tomoko Kawakami in Revolutionary Girl Utena
 * Maaya Sakamoto in Vision of Escaflowne
 * KENN in Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters GX
 * Ai Kayano in Ano Hana
 * Hisako Kanemoto in Squid Girl
 * Kana Asumi in Hidamari Sketch

Dub Voices

 * Steve Blum and Wendee Lee in Cowboy Bebop
 * Matt Hill and Samuel Vincent in Gundam Seed
 * Johnny Yong Bosch in Bleach
 * Before this, Bosch was known for his roles as Adam Park and Vash. It wasn't until he got the role of Ichigo Kurosaki that his popularity began to soar.
 * Also Kyle Hebert in the same show, which is also compounded with his role in Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.
 * Christine Maria Cabanos in K-On!
 * Crispin Freeman in Hellsing
 * Veronica Taylor and Eric Stuart in Pokémon.
 * Vic Mignogna in Fullmetal Alchemist
 * Lisa Ortiz in Slayers
 * The show also featured the debuts of Veronica Taylor, Eric Stuart, and Crispin Freeman, but Ortiz received the most notoriety for being the lead, and had fewer successes later in her career compared to the other three.
 * Mary Elizabeth McGlynn in Ghost in the Shell
 * Sean Schemmel and Christopher Sabat in FUNimation's dub of Dragonball Z
 * Yuri Lowenthal, Stephanie Sheh, Liam O'Brien, and Kate Higgins from Naruto, among others.
 * Neil Ross ("Keith") and Michael Bell ("Lance") in Voltron: Defender Of The Universe (specifically, the GoLion half)
 * Billie Lou Watt in Astro Boy
 * Dan Green in Yu-Gi-Oh!
 * Greg Ayres in Saiyuki
 * Spike Spencer in Neon Genesis Evangelion
 * Chris Patton and Luci Christian in Full Metal Panic!
 * Kira Vincent-Davis and Jessica Boone in Azumanga Daioh
 * Hilary Haag in Chrono Crusade
 * Brittney Karbowski, Melissa Davis and Maggie Flecknoe in Pani Poni Dash!
 * Laura Bailey in Fruits Basket
 * Maryke Hendrikse in Black Lagoon.
 * Richard Ian Cox, Kirby Morrow and Kelly Sheridan in Inuyasha
 * Tabitha St. Germain in Shakugan no Shana
 * Brad Swaile in Death Note

Film - Live Action

 * Amy Adams in Enchanted
 * Ben Affleck in Armageddon. He became That Guy in Mallrats and Shakespeare in Love in his own right after Good Will Hunting but it was Michael Bay's Summer Blockbuster that provided his SMR.
 * This seems to be one of Judd Apatow's specialties:
 * Steve Carell in The 40-Year-Old Virgin.
 * Seth Rogen in Knocked Up.
 * Jason Segel and Kristen Bell in Forgetting Sarah Marshall (although many would argue that a) it did more for Mila Kunis and b) Kristen had already made her name in another role).
 * Jennifer Lopez in Selena. This was before her singing career began, by the way.
 * Christian Bale and Cillian Murphy in Batman Begins
 * Gerard Butler in 300
 * Bruce Campbell in The Evil Dead
 * Jim Carrey in Ace Ventura
 * Also in The Mask, which also revealed Cameron Diaz (who might share the Star Making Role with There's Something About Mary).
 * Rumble in The Bronx made Jackie Chan an international star, while Rush Hour made Jackie Chan a US movie star. He'd been huge in Asia for years.
 * Sean Connery in James Bond
 * Later followed by Roger Moore (though he had also done The Saint), Timothy Dalton and Daniel Craig (but not Pierce Brosnan; see Live-Action TV)
 * Russell Crowe in Gladiator
 * Tom Cruise in Risky Business
 * Matt Damon in Good Will Hunting
 * Though Edward Scissorhands made Johnny Depp a bit of a cult/indie film favourite, it wasn't until Pirates of the Caribbean that he really became a big Hollywood 'star'.
 * Edward James Olmos in Blade Runner.
 * Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet in Titanic
 * Chow Yun-fat in A Better Tomorrow.
 * Harrison Ford in Raiders of the Lost Ark, although Star Wars is also a good candidate.
 * Michael J. Fox in Back to The Future
 * The Hangover: Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, and Zach Galifianakis.
 * Mel Gibson in Mad Max.
 * Danny Glover in Lethal Weapon.
 * Kirsten Dunst in Interview with the Vampire as a child star. She later established her adult career with Spider Man.
 * Bring It On bridges the gap in her teen years.
 * Paul Giamatti in Sideways.
 * Anne Hathaway in The Princess Diaries
 * Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday
 * Dustin Hoffman in The Graduate
 * Tom Hardy in Inception.
 * Olivia Wilde in Tron: Legacy (although some may argue that her role in House helped her quite a bit as well).
 * Jennifer Love Hewitt I Know What You Did Last Summer
 * Hugh Jackman in X-Men 1
 * Angelina Jolie in Girl, Interrupted.
 * Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson in The Scorpion King.
 * Milla Jovovich in The Fifth Element
 * Bruce Lee in Enter the Dragon, the last film which would be fully completed before his untimely death.
 * His son, Brandon, died filming his own SMR in The Crow.
 * Marilyn Monroe in Niagara
 * Rick Moranis in Honey, I Shrunk the Kids
 * Arguably, Spaceballs.
 * Eddie Murphy in 48 Hrs.
 * Elliot Page in Juno.
 * Bill Murray and Harold Ramis in Ghostbusters. Dan Aykroyd as well, as Blues Brothers hasn't been nearly as long-lasting in popularity.
 * Claude Rains in The Invisible Man—despite the fact that his face appears in only the last scene, in which he is a corpse.
 * Sandra Bullock in Speed
 * Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman
 * Joseph Gordon-Levitt in 500DaysOfSummer.
 * Adam Sandler in Billy Madison
 * Sylvester Stallone in Rocky
 * Meryl Streep in Kramer vs. Kramer.
 * Hilary Swank in Boys Don't Cry
 * Charlize Theron in 2 Days in the Valley
 * John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever
 * Ken Watanabe's Hollywood career in The Last Samurai
 * Naomi Watts in Mulholland Drive.
 * Sigourney Weaver in Alien.
 * Bruce Willis and Alan Rickman in Die Hard.
 * Vin Diesel in Pitch Black and The Fast and the Furious.
 * Salma Hayek, whose striking turn as the vampire stripper in From Dusk till Dawn - and her striking bikini - instantly catapulted her to stardom.
 * Al Pacino in The Godfather
 * Robert De Niro in The Godfather Part II.
 * Robert Redford in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
 * Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins.
 * Humphrey Bogart in The Maltese Falcon.
 * Lauren Bacall in To Have And Have Not.
 * Arnold Schwarzenegger in Conan the Barbarian.
 * Gene Hackman in The French Connection.
 * Brad Pitt in Legends of the Fall.
 * John Wayne in Stagecoach.
 * Kevin Costner in The Untouchables.
 * Clint Eastwood in A Fistful of Dollars.
 * Although Eastwood was already known as a TV star (Rawhide) when he started his film career.
 * Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson (and pretty much all the child actors) in Harry Potter.
 * Peter Sellers in The Pink Panther.
 * Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction.
 * Heath Ledger in Brokeback Mountain, although you could make an argument for The Dark Knight.
 * Viggo Mortensen and Orlando Bloom in The Lord of the Rings
 * Zoe Saldana in Avatar
 * The 2009 Star Trek reboot didn't hurt her career either.
 * Jennifer Lawrence in Winter's Bone
 * The Hunger Games is probably a better consideration.
 * You shouldn't forget about X Men First Class.
 * William Holden in Sunset Boulevard.
 * Matthew Broderick in Ferris Buellers Day Off
 * Michael Caine in the original Alfie
 * Cate Blanchett in Elizabeth
 * Anthony Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs
 * Catherine Zeta Jones in The Mask of Zorro
 * Edward Furlong in Terminator 2: Judgment Day as John Connor.
 * Morgan Freeman in 'Driving Miss Daisy.
 * Tom Hanks in Splash
 * Bela Lugosi in Dracula.
 * Boris Karloff in Frankenstein.
 * Amanda Seyfried in Mamma Mia!.
 * Hugo Weaving, The Matrix. He's now one of the highest-grossing actors of all time thanks to three blockbuster trilogies plus Captain America: The First Avenger.
 * Abbott and Costello in Buck Privates.
 * Tom Hiddleston in Thor.
 * Shirley Temple in Little Miss Marker

Film - Animation

 * Jodi Benson in The Little Mermaid.
 * Tony Jay in The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
 * Kevin Michael Richardson in Lilo and Stitch.

Live Action TV

 * The 2004 Battlestar Galactica provided quite a few of these: Katee Sackhoff, Jamie Bamber, Grace Park, Tricia Helfer, Tahmoh Penikett, Aaron Douglas and James Callis.
 * Jessica Alba in Dark Angel
 * Richard Dean Anderson in MacGyver
 * Pamela Anderson, Carmen Electra and David Hasselhoff in Baywatch
 * The Hoff's SMR could arguably be Knight Rider and Baywatch considered a Career Resurrection.
 * Jennifer Aniston in Friends
 * Christina Applegate in Married... with Children.
 * Rowan Atkinson in Blackadder
 * In the UK Blackadder had Star Making Roles for Atkinson, Hugh Laurie, Tony Robinson, Stephen Fry and Miranda Richardson. In the U.S., Laurie didn't become a star until the debut of House after Mr. Bean made Atkinson a star there.
 * Nathan Fillion and Summer Glau in Firefly.
 * Christina Hendricks and Jon Hamm in Mad Men.
 * Neil Patrick Harris in Doogie Howser, M.D. as a child star, and in How I Met Your Mother as an adult.
 * Jason Segel in How I Met Your Mother as well, for his TV career
 * Claire Danes in My So-Called Life.
 * Sean Bean in Sharpe
 * Pierce Brosnan in Remington Steele
 * David Caruso had been on NYPD Blue for only the first season and was labeled the next big thing, but a series of box office bombs shifted him to back burner status. Then CSI: Miami comes around, and the rest...is history.
 * Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaah...!
 * George Clooney in ER
 * Stephen Colbert on The Daily Show, which eventually led to him getting his own series.
 * Katie Couric from The Today Show
 * Ted Danson on Cheers
 * Which spawned Frasier, which provided SMR's for Kelsey Grammer and later David Hyde Pierce.
 * Tony Danza and Alyssa Milano in Who's The Boss?
 * Teri Hatcher and Dean Cain in Lois and Clark
 * David Tennant and Matt Smith in Doctor Who.
 * Christopher Eccleston (to an extent), John Barrowman and Billie Piper.
 * This goes for most of the Doctor's and their companions, particularly William Hartnell and Tom Baker.
 * Eva Longoria in Desperate Housewives
 * Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis in That '70s Show.
 * Charlie Murphy on Chappelle's Show, following the C: True Hollywood Stories skits in the second season.
 * The Olsen twins, Mary-Kate and Ashley, on Full House. They started much younger than most examples.
 * Hayden Panettiere and Zachary Quinto in Heroes.
 * Ty Pennington from Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
 * Jeri Ryan in Star Trek: Voyager
 * Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman from MythBusters.
 * William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy from Star Trek
 * Will Smith in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
 * Amanda Tapping in Stargate SG-1.
 * Bob Vila from This Old House
 * Robin Williams in Mork and Mindy
 * Taxi produced a few: Andy Kaufman, Judd Hirsch, Danny DeVito and Christopher Lloyd
 * Buffy the Vampire Slayer provided several: Sarah Michelle Gellar, Alyson Hannigan, David Boreanaz, and to a lesser degree, Michelle Trachtenberg.
 * It would take a while to name all of the big-time sportscasters who became famous after anchoring Sports Center, however some of the most notable are:
 * Chris Berman
 * Dan Patrick
 * Keith Olbermann
 * Rich Eisen
 * Mike Greenberg
 * Stuart Scott
 * Robin Roberts
 * Saturday Night Live has generated many, many stars over its long run. Most of those people have DVD sets dedicated to their best performances on the show. To name a few (regular cast members only, not guest hosts):
 * Jimmy Fallon
 * Tina Fey
 * Chris Farley
 * Will Ferrell
 * Phil Hartman
 * Adam Sandler
 * Rob Schneider
 * Chevy Chase
 * Dan Aykroyd
 * Julia Louis Dreyfus
 * Eddie Murphy
 * Exception to the above: Steve Martin was never a member of the regular cast, but hosted often enough to be quite close.
 * SCTV made stars out of John Candy, Eugene Levy, Rick Moranis, and Catherine O'Hara, to name a few.
 * Some reporters and the news stories that made them famous:
 * Wolf Blitzer rose to prominence by covering the Gulf War.
 * Geraldo Rivera shot to fame by reporting on treatment of the mentally retarded, but it was the Al Capone's Vault thing that really skyrocketed him.
 * David Mitchell and Robert Webb on Peep Show. Mitchell has claimed that they would have kept doing radio and perhaps a television sketch show as a Double Act, but this was what made them household names.
 * Breaking Bad for Bryan Cranston. Cranston had become "Hey, It's That Guy!" because of his roles on Seinfeld, Malcolm in the Middle and various bit parts in other shows and movies. While Malcolm had a cult following, it's Breaking Bad that has made Cranston a star winning him three consecutive "Best Actor" Emmys and making him an in-demand actor for supporting roles in films starting in 2010.
 * Ricky Gervais in The Office.
 * Tetsuo Kurata in Kamen Rider Black.
 * Glee catapulted both Darren Criss and Chris Colfer into the national spotlight.
 * Er, Lea Michele? It didn't do Jane Lynch any harm either.
 * Gossip Girl did this for Blake Lively.
 * Nao Nagasawa in Ninpuu Sentai Hurricaneger
 * Dee Bradley Baker in Legends of the Hidden Temple
 * Peter Dinklage in Game of Thrones
 * Takeru Sato in Kamen Rider Den-O

Literature
Many writers have early works mired in obscurity before they publish the story or collection of work that makes them a star.
 * Cervantes was regarded as a very mediocre playwright and author of a mildly successful pastoral romance before he published Don Quixote. The rest is history.
 * Stephen King sold many short stories to various magazines and periodicals before he found success with Carrie.
 * It wasn't really until the publication of Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire that J. K. Rowling's little wizard really became the international multi-media juggernaut it is known as today.
 * JRR Tolkien was a very well-regarded English Literature professor at Oxford; however, had he not written the Lord of the Rings trilogy he likely would have remained unknown outside of academia.

Professional Wrestling
While many pro wrestlers find a successful character (if they're lucky) and play it for the duration of their career (if they're not Mick Foley) there is such a phenomenon as a star making match. A sub-trope, but probably not enough of one for its own page.
 * Hulk Hogan was a big time wrestling star before his legendary Wrestlemania 3 bout with Andre the Giant, but that match catapulted him, and pro wrestling in general, to international stardom.
 * Also from Wrestlemania 3: Ricky Steamboat and the late Randy Savage's Intercontinental Title match was a landmark for showcasing that smaller wrestlers with tight work could steal the show and carry a crowd. It's frequently cited as one of the greatest matches of all time, and some aficionados say it's better than Hogan/Andre.
 * Stone Cold Steve Austin first got over with his King of the Ring win in 1996, but it was his submission match at Wrestlemania 13 with Bret Hart that solidified his standing.
 * Mick Foley's Hell In A Cell match with The Undertaker at King of the Ring 1998, possibly for all the wrong reasons.
 * Though it was Mr. Socko that helped solidify Mankind as the Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass we know and Foley himself to superstardom.
 * Shawn Michaels' Wrestlemania X effort in a Ladder Match against Razor Ramon (Scott Hall), who sadly could never quite capitalize on his own momentum, largely due to personal problems, or this might be a double-sided SMR.
 * Speaking of double-sided Star Making Matches and ladders, The Hardy Boyz and Edge and Christian broke out over a series of Ladder Matches against one another, started by an outstanding effort at No Mercy 1999. The whole Hardyz/E&C feud is a Crowning Moment of Awesome for all four men.
 * The Dudley Boyz became stars by making it a Melee a Trois with the above and adding tables as the first letter in TLC.
 * Though a regional and territorial star for years, Ric Flair's breakout match on the national stage was the legendary "I Quit" match against Terry Funk at WCW's Clash of the Champions IX. Because fans hadn't evolved to the "smark" stage yet and weren't entirely in on the choreographed nature of the sport, Funk didn't come out of this match looking as good as Flair did with the fans. However, it got him over with other wrestlers and many cite this as one of their favorite matches.
 * Jeff Hardy became more of a legitimate Single Eventer after his praised ladder match with The Undertaker. Later in 2008, his feud with Triple H cemented his new found Main Event Status.
 * While John Morrison was always fairly popular, he wasn't really taken seriously as an actual contender in the Main Event until his match with Sheamus at TLC 2010.
 * Triple H escaped his past as Shawn Michaels' sidekick after his feud and retiring of Mick Foley.
 * CM Punk had been an indy darling for years but stagnated in WWE. Towards the end of a six year contract, facing an uncertain future, Punk grabbed a microphone and dropped a legendary worked shoot promo three weeks before Money in the Bank 2011. He went on to win the WWE title from John Cena at the event and solidified himself as a major star. (He probably would have left the company for real had he not cut that promo.) Nearly a year later, after several high-profile matches with some of WWE's top stars, a lengthy WWE title reign, a stellar program with the legendary Chris Jericho, and a Wrestlemania main event match one could argue he is the biggest star in the business.
 * While Daniel Bryan has always been an internet favorite, the moment that helped his popularity skyrocket was...

Theatre

 * Ethel Merman in Anything Goes, the first musical to feature her as much as a comic actress as a singer.

Video Games (Voice Acting)

 * Nolan North as Nathan Drake from Uncharted
 * David Hayter as Snake in Metal Gear Solid
 * Takahiro Sakurai in The Compilation of Final Fantasy VII (specifically, Advent Children).
 * Most of the Idols in The Idolmaster, who were doing mostly Visual Novel games before debuting in Idolmaster, some went off to do video games and others expanded to anime. The ones recently most known from that: Asami Imai, Chiaki Takahashi and Hiromi Hirata.
 * BlazBlue on the other hand elevated both Imai and Takahashi from mostly game voice actors into more mainstream anime actors. In America, this also was a big role for Cristina Valenzuela (the voice of Noel Vermilion).
 * Adam Howden as Anders in Dragon Age II.
 * Reuben Langdon as Dante in Devil May Cry 3 (he was mostly a Motion Capture actor before DMC3).
 * Roger Craig Smith and D. C. Douglas as Chris and Wesker in Resident Evil 5.
 * Charles Martinet as Mario in the Super Mario Bros. series.
 * Kouki Uchiyama as Roxas in Kingdom Hearts II
 * Similarly, Jesse McCartney also voicing Roxas. While he was already a star, this gave him recognition as a voice actor.
 * Yuuki Kaji as Hope Estheim in Final Fantasy XIII.
 * Ali Hillis as Lightning in the English version (This, also combined with Liara T'soni of Mass Effect)
 * James Arnold Taylor as Tidus in Final Fantasy X.
 * Gideon Emery as Balthier in Final Fantasy XII.
 * The Tokimeki Memorial series were this for:
 * Mami Kingetsu (voice actress of Shiori Fujisaki, the central heroine of Tokimeki Memorial 1)
 * Kazusa Murai (voice actress of Kaori Yae, an extremely popular heroine of Tokimeki Memorial 2).
 * Troy Baker in Tales of Vesperia. Arguably, Persona 4 also helps out (as it was released around the same time)

Western Animation

 * Kevin Conroy in Batman: The Animated Series
 * Keith David in Gargoyles
 * E.G.Daily, Kath Soucie and Christine Cavanaugh in Rugrats.
 * Maurice LaMarche in Pinky and The Brain
 * John Dimaggio in Futurama
 * Rob Paulsen and Jess Harnell in Animaniacs
 * Dan Castellaneta, Nancy Cartwright, and Hank Azaria in The Simpsons
 * Frank Welker in Scooby Doo Where Are You
 * Peter Cullen in The Transformers
 * Jim Cummings in Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers
 * Casey Kasem in Scooby Doo and radio's American Top 40
 * Grey DeLisle in The Fairly OddParents.
 * Ventriloquist Paul Winchell in Wacky Races
 * Radio Announcer Gary Owens in Space Ghost and Dino Boy
 * Arguably Laugh-in made his name more than his cartoons.
 * Billy West in The Ren and Stimpy Show.
 * Clancy Brown in Superman: The Animated Series
 * Cree Summer in Inspector Gadget and Atlantis: The Lost Empire.
 * Will Friedle in Batman Beyond.
 * Charlie Adler in either Jem, My Little Pony (the original 1980s series), or Tiny Toon Adventures.
 * Tress MacNeille in Tiny Toon Adventures.
 * Richard Steven Horvitz in Invader Zim.
 * Tom Kenny in SpongeBob SquarePants
 * Mae Whitman and Dante Basco in Avatar: The Last Airbender.
 * Tara Strong in The Powerpuff Girls (And arguably, 101 Dalmatians: The Series)
 * Pamela Segal-Aldon in King of the Hill
 * April Winchell in Goof Troop
 * Jeff Bennett in Johnny Bravo.
 * Hynden Walch, Khary Payton and Greg Cipes in Teen Titans.
 * Josh Keaton in The Spectacular Spider-Man
 * Matthew Mercer in the ThunderCats reboot. Sure, people on the Net knew who he was before he started playing Tygra, but that was his big breakout.