# Actors whose natural voices sound totally different than you'd expect **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 5, 2019, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-whose-natural-voices-sound-totally-different-than-youd-expect/828990 "2019-02-05T03:25:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2019, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-whose-natural-voices-sound-totally-different-than-youd-expect/828990/41 "2019-02-12T17:27:09Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Gilbert Gottfried’s screeching voice is not, in fact, his real voice, but he remains in character so consistently that most people have never heard his real voice. > > If you hear his real voice, he sounds normal. If you know it’s him you can hear where the screechy voice comes from, but if you heard his voice and didn’t know it was him, you might not guess who it was. He just sounds like a guy from New York. I can’t think of anyone with a more perfect voice for reading aloud from ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ . On youtube. When I desperately need a laugh, I watch that and it’s like magic. If he only actually read the whole book, I would so buy that! ---
**Author:** ![TCMF-2L](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tcmf-2l/32/16553_2.png) [@TCMF-2L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TCMF-2L)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2019, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-whose-natural-voices-sound-totally-different-than-youd-expect/828990/42 "2019-02-12T17:57:43Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > …I don’t think that Arnold really tries to hide (nor ramp up) his Austrian accent, though I do think it’s considerably less pronounced than it was back when he first became a star in the 1980s… Big Arnie has claimed in interviews he can speak American English without any accent but he deliberately adds some because his fans expect it. I don’t exactly follow his career closely but I cannot recall ever hearing him speak without some. However there is a certain irony that apparently when he speaks in German these days that now has an American inflection. TCMF-2L ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2019, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-whose-natural-voices-sound-totally-different-than-youd-expect/828990/43 "2019-02-12T18:14:47Z")
That actor with the swoopy eyebrows. I just saw him in the latest **Black Mirror** episode Bandersnatch and thought “his British accent is pretty good!” He is British - I’d only heard his American accent. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2019, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-whose-natural-voices-sound-totally-different-than-youd-expect/828990/44 "2019-02-12T18:22:43Z")
Fran Drescher sounds the same as _The Nanny_ and as herself, so I expected Megan Mulallay to sound the same as her Karen character from _Will & Grace_ but nope, she sounds normal. You do get a sense of the Karen voice [from her speaking](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwIFnoahxcs) but she’s doing a big voice for the show. Same as the aforementioned Melissa Rauch. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2019, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-whose-natural-voices-sound-totally-different-than-youd-expect/828990/45 "2019-02-12T19:15:45Z")
> [@TCMF-2L](#): > > Big Arnie has claimed in interviews he can speak American English without any accent but he deliberately adds some because his fans expect it. I don’t exactly follow his career closely but I cannot recall ever hearing him speak without some. > > However there is a certain irony that apparently when he speaks in German these days that now has an American inflection. > > TCMF-2L I find that hard to believe since back when he was still governor there was a joke that he was the only California governor who couldn’t pronounce California. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2019, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-whose-natural-voices-sound-totally-different-than-youd-expect/828990/46 "2019-02-12T19:17:04Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > I find that hard to believe since back when he was still governor there was a joke that he was the only California governor who couldn’t pronounce California. “Cully-phone-ya.” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2019, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-whose-natural-voices-sound-totally-different-than-youd-expect/828990/47 "2019-02-12T20:18:56Z")
I had no idea of Joan Plowright’s origin when she played Tracey Ullman’s Yugoslavian mother in _I Love You to Death._ I thought she was a genuine South Slavic, but she’s British. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2019, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-whose-natural-voices-sound-totally-different-than-youd-expect/828990/48 "2019-02-12T23:19:46Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Gillian Anderson, who was born in the U.S., but spent a good portion of her childhood living in England, sometimes appears in interviews speaking with an English accent – the first time I heard her with it, I was very surprised. As far as I can tell, she moves back and forth between American and English accents, and I have no idea which is her “natural” accent. I believe it depends largely on where she is living at the time. When she’s in the States, her American accent comes out, and when she’s in England, her English accent is prominent. John Barrowman is the same way; he was born in Glasgow but moved to the US when he was a child. I’ve seen him on American talk shows speaking with a typical American accent, but when he’s in Britain the Scottish really comes out. My first exposure to both Dominic West and Idris Elba was from _The Wire_. I was quite surprised the first time I heard both of them using their natural voices. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2019, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-whose-natural-voices-sound-totally-different-than-youd-expect/828990/49 "2019-02-12T23:30:09Z")
> [@Suburban\_Plankton](#): > > My first exposure to both Dominic West and Idris Elba was from _The Wire_. I was quite surprised the first time I heard both of them using their natural voices. Me too, ditto Aidan Gillen. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2019, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-whose-natural-voices-sound-totally-different-than-youd-expect/828990/50 "2019-02-13T15:04:05Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > Fran Drescher sounds the same as _The Nanny_ and as herself, so I expected Megan Mulallay to sound the same as her Karen character from _Will & Grace_ but nope, she sounds normal. You do get a sense of the Karen voice [from her speaking](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwIFnoahxcs) but she’s doing a big voice for the show. Same as the aforementioned Melissa Rauch. When asked if that’s her real voice, Fran Drescher’s standard reply is “Please. Who would make this up?” She does know how to speak in a “normal” voice. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2019, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-whose-natural-voices-sound-totally-different-than-youd-expect/828990/51 "2019-02-13T15:43:50Z")
The person I think of is actor Paul Sorvino. His typical roles include authority figures on both sides of the law and even his comic roles (I loved him as Bill’s father in the sitcom Still Standing, which is one of my all time fav shows) tend to be gruff, authoritarian guys. The first time I heard him interviewed I was surprised and a little delighted, because he came off as really suave, sophisticated and cultured, kind of the polar opposite of the cop/gangster role is was known for. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2019, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-whose-natural-voices-sound-totally-different-than-youd-expect/828990/52 "2019-02-13T16:05:55Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > I find that hard to believe since back when he was still governor there was a joke that he was the only California governor who couldn’t pronounce California. Semi-related: it seems that one easy way to spot a guy for whom English is not their first language is to ask them to say “squirrel”. [Apparently it’s really hard for Germans.](https://youtu.be/0FRD4uq1mVw) ---
**Author:** ![caligulathegod](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caligulathegod/32/9685_2.png) [@caligulathegod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caligulathegod)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2019, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-whose-natural-voices-sound-totally-different-than-youd-expect/828990/53 "2019-02-13T16:35:56Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > I had seen Melanie Lynskey in a bunch of stuff (_Ever After_, _Two and a Half Men_, Togetherness\*) before I heard her speak in her native New Zealand accent. > [@ftg](#): > > Wait, what? She’s a kiwi? Okay, time to look for some interview videos. > > (BTW: she and Jason Ritter just had a baby girl. Granddaughter of John, great-granddaughter of Tex and has other ancestral actors. No pressure to be an actor, kid.) Check out Peter Jackson’s Heavenly Creatures. ---
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2019, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-whose-natural-voices-sound-totally-different-than-youd-expect/828990/54 "2019-02-13T17:38:32Z")
Do play-by-play baseball announcers count as actors? No? Well, if they did, I’d nominate Howie Rose, who does mostly radio for the New York Mets. I heard him on a morning radio show one day after a game, and had no idea who he was before being told. His voice was an octave lower (okay, not that much, but still) and much slower. He definitely amps it up on game day. ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2019, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-whose-natural-voices-sound-totally-different-than-youd-expect/828990/55 "2019-02-13T18:34:30Z")
When I heard James McAvoy interviewed on the Graham Norton Show I almost needed subtitles to understand his Scottish accent. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2019, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-whose-natural-voices-sound-totally-different-than-youd-expect/828990/56 "2019-02-13T19:11:11Z")
Mike Tyson (Was in “The Hangover”, so qualifies.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-whose-natural-voices-sound-totally-different-than-youd-expect/828990.md?page=2)