# Actors who do better voice overs than act? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 16, 2006, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-do-better-voice-overs-than-act/376637 "2006-10-16T15:53:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2014, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-do-better-voice-overs-than-act/376637/41 "2014-04-29T22:22:15Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > I never saw it, but if you’re right, that’s just another case of an unsuccessful project where he played a good guy. It is not unsuccessful. It was picked up for a second season and I believe did quite well in the first season. His character was written to be killed off in the pilot but has been around for multiple flashbacks. I’m sure his time on the show isn’t done. > [@cochrane](#): > > Yeardley Smith and Hank Azaria co-starred on [Herman’s Head](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herman%27s_Head) which ran for 72 episodes on Fox from 1991-1994. Most of the voice actors from the Simpsons were mined from live action Fox shows of the time. Tracy Ullman (where it started) and Herman’s Head mostly. Comedian Lewis Black has done several live action roles but most of his acting work has been on cartoons. ---
**Author:** ![Sister\_Vigilante](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Sister\_Vigilante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sister_Vigilante)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2014, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-do-better-voice-overs-than-act/376637/42 "2014-04-30T19:13:14Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Interesting thing about Hamill – he was doing voice work _years_ before he was Luke Skywalker – he’d done voices for _The New Scooby Doo Movies_ in 1973, and had the lead male role in the animated series _Jeannie_ the same year, then was on _Fred Flintstone and Friends_ in 1977. In doing the Joker, the Hobgoblin, and his many other voices, he was arguably returning to his roots. Cool, didn’t know that. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2014, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-do-better-voice-overs-than-act/376637/43 "2014-04-30T21:05:41Z")
> [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](#): > > Not really familiar with the name Clancy Brown, but I recognized his face immediately. I probably know him most from The Shawshank Redemption. The thing that gets me about Clancy Brown - as least as far as his “image” as a bad guy vs real life - is this: In 1999, he spearheaded a charity campaign to raise funds for J. Madison Wright, the young girl who played his screen daughter in the television series Earth 2 (1994). Madison, then aged 15, had developed cardiomyopathy and was in dire need of a heart transplant, a very costly operation which exceeded her family’s lifetime health insurance policy. Clancy offered to assist the Wrights in their plight. He also bought young Madison a laptop computer for Christmas in 1999. Tragically, Madison died seven years later, in July 2006, of a heart attack. My own contribution to this thread has to be [Tara Strong](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tara_Strong). I’ve only seen her in one live-action role, but her voice-over work in cartoons and video games is almost unparalleled. ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2014, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-do-better-voice-overs-than-act/376637/44 "2014-04-30T23:50:58Z")
Will Ferrell - he was awesome in Megamind. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2014, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-do-better-voice-overs-than-act/376637/45 "2014-04-30T23:57:14Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Most of the voice actors from the Simpsons were mined from live action Fox shows of the time. Tracy Ullman (where it started) and Herman’s Head mostly. Yes, but when Herman’s head debuted in 1991, The Simpsons already had been on the air for a couple of seasons. Smith and Azaria were already known as Simpsons actors. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2014, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-do-better-voice-overs-than-act/376637/46 "2014-05-01T16:08:50Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > Kristen Schaal is ok on The Daily Show and her stand up is alright, but her best role is Louise on Bob’s Burgers and her voice is in a massive amount of those things. Don’t forget Mabel from **Gravity Falls.** https://www.youtube.com/embed/LLpCOX8Puqg?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2014, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-do-better-voice-overs-than-act/376637/47 "2014-05-01T17:31:32Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Interesting thing about Hamill – he was doing voice work _years_ before he was Luke Skywalker – he’d done voices for _The New Scooby Doo Movies_ in 1973, and had the lead male role in the animated series _Jeannie_ the same year, then was on _Fred Flintstone and Friends_ in 1977. In doing the Joker, the Hobgoblin, and his many other voices, he was arguably returning to his roots. Tim Matheson was another actor who did voice work as a child (he was the voice of Jonny Quest and Jace on _Space Ghost_) and then did live action work as an adult (probably best known as Otter on _Animal House_ or Vice President John Hoynes on _The West Wing_). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-do-better-voice-overs-than-act/376637.md?page=2)