Celebrity Voice Actor: Difference between revisions

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
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For some reason, celebrities do a lot of voice-acting in big-budget animated movies. Maybe the producers figure more people will see movies with "big-name stars" in them. Maybe John Q. Public just loves his celebrities. Regardless, regular voice actors often get cast aside in favor of someone more famous when a big, important animated movie is made for public consumption.
For some reason, celebrities do a lot of voice-acting in big-budget animated movies. Maybe the producers figure more people will see movies with "big-name stars" in them. Maybe John Q. Public just loves his celebrities. Regardless, regular voice actors often get cast aside in favor of someone more famous when a big, important animated movie is made for public consumption.


Sometimes this results in the more [[Genre Savvy]] of viewers not only becoming aware of just who's voicing the characters, but mentally referring to the characters by the actors' names--especially if it's been a while since they've last seen the movie.
Sometimes this results in the more [[Genre Savvy]] of viewers not only becoming aware of just who's voicing the characters, but mentally referring to the characters by the actors' names—especially if it's been a while since they've last seen the movie.


As it turns out, voice actors are not exactly pleased that their jobs are being poached by actors from other disciplines ('''Especially''' [[Billy West]]). Which makes sense, as it implies that the performing skills are interchangeable.
As it turns out, voice actors are not exactly pleased that their jobs are being poached by actors from other disciplines ('''Especially''' [[Billy West]]). Which makes sense, as it implies that the performing skills are interchangeable.
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** ''[[Skyrim]]'' has quite the list of these. See the [[The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim/Trivia|Trivia]] page for the full list. Notably, Esbern (the narrator of the trailer) is voiced by [[Max Von Sydow]]. Unfortunately some of Esbern's lines were voiced by another actor who tried and failed to imitate von Sydow.
** ''[[Skyrim]]'' has quite the list of these. See the [[The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim/Trivia|Trivia]] page for the full list. Notably, Esbern (the narrator of the trailer) is voiced by [[Max Von Sydow]]. Unfortunately some of Esbern's lines were voiced by another actor who tried and failed to imitate von Sydow.
* ''[[The Critic]]'' and ''[[Duckman]]'' both were star-vehicle toons, for Jon Lovitz and Jason Alexander respectively.
* ''[[The Critic]]'' and ''[[Duckman]]'' both were star-vehicle toons, for Jon Lovitz and Jason Alexander respectively.
* Speaking about doing the voice of Optimus Prime in the live-action ''[[Transformers (film)|Transformers]]'' movies, Peter Cullen remarked that it was great to be working with "the old crew" again (a couple of the voices for the live-action movie were done by the [[The Transformers (animation)|G1]] voice actors), but pointedly made the comment that he "wished he could have worked with [[Frank Welker]] again." A subtle [[Take That]] over the fact that Megatron was voiced by [[The Matrix|Hugo Weaving]] for the live-action movies, given that Frank Welker voiced Soundwave, Ravage, and Devastator in ''Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen'' (whom Optimus never meets, for different reasons<ref>Namely, Soundwave never goes to Earth and {{spoiler|Optimus dies; by the time he's revived, Ravage and Devastator were both killed gruesomely}}</ref>.). Nevertheless, [[Transformers Prime|Cullen got his wish granted]].
* Speaking about doing the voice of Optimus Prime in the live-action ''[[Transformers (film)|Transformers]]'' movies, Peter Cullen remarked that it was great to be working with "the old crew" again (a couple of the voices for the live-action movie were done by the [[The Transformers (animation)|G1]] voice actors), but pointedly made the comment that he "wished he could have worked with [[Frank Welker]] again." A subtle [[Take That]] over the fact that Megatron was voiced by [[The Matrix|Hugo Weaving]] for the live-action movies, given that Frank Welker voiced Soundwave, Ravage, and Devastator in ''Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen'' (whom Optimus never meets, for different reasons.<ref>Namely, Soundwave never goes to Earth and {{spoiler|Optimus dies; by the time he's revived, Ravage and Devastator were both killed gruesomely}}</ref>). Nevertheless, [[Transformers Prime|Cullen got his wish granted]].
*** ''Dark of the Moon'' adds another example: [[Leonard Nimoy]] as Sentinel Prime.
*** ''Dark of the Moon'' adds another example: [[Leonard Nimoy]] as Sentinel Prime.
** Long before that, ''[[Transformers: The Movie]]''. Hoo boy. The movie practically advertised itself by actors alone: [[The Breakfast Club|Judd Nelson]] as Hot Rod, [[Monty Python|Eric Idle]] as Wreck-Gar, Leonard Nimoy as Galvatron, [[Airplane!|Robert Stack]] as Ultra Magnus, and '''[[Orson Welles]] as Unicron'''. [[The Other Darrin|All of them ended up replaced in the TV episodes following the movie]]. The TV show and movie did, however, have the late Scatman Crothers as the voice of Jazz, plus John Moschitta as Blurr.
** Long before that, ''[[Transformers: The Movie]]''. Hoo boy. The movie practically advertised itself by actors alone: [[The Breakfast Club|Judd Nelson]] as Hot Rod, [[Monty Python|Eric Idle]] as Wreck-Gar, Leonard Nimoy as Galvatron, [[Airplane!|Robert Stack]] as Ultra Magnus, and '''[[Orson Welles]] as Unicron'''. [[The Other Darrin|All of them ended up replaced in the TV episodes following the movie]]. The TV show and movie did, however, have the late Scatman Crothers as the voice of Jazz, plus John Moschitta as Blurr.

Revision as of 22:42, 23 February 2015

For some reason, celebrities do a lot of voice-acting in big-budget animated movies. Maybe the producers figure more people will see movies with "big-name stars" in them. Maybe John Q. Public just loves his celebrities. Regardless, regular voice actors often get cast aside in favor of someone more famous when a big, important animated movie is made for public consumption.

Sometimes this results in the more Genre Savvy of viewers not only becoming aware of just who's voicing the characters, but mentally referring to the characters by the actors' names—especially if it's been a while since they've last seen the movie.

As it turns out, voice actors are not exactly pleased that their jobs are being poached by actors from other disciplines (Especially Billy West). Which makes sense, as it implies that the performing skills are interchangeable.

It's important to note that some celebrities are very talented at voice acting and would likely be among the most prolific at the profession if they did it exclusively. And there is a solid selection of performers who have managed strong careers in both fields and would not qualify for this trope, although becoming equally famous in both would be pretty rare.

Often turn out to be examples of Ink Suit Actors. See also Pop Star Composer for the musical equivalent.

Examples of Celebrity Voice Actor include:
  1. Namely, Soundwave never goes to Earth and Optimus dies; by the time he's revived, Ravage and Devastator were both killed gruesomely