# Animated characters voiced by someone of the opposite gender **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** cartoons-animation\ **Created:** [January 9, 2021, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animated-characters-voiced-by-someone-of-the-opposite-gender/930140 "2021-01-09T21:09:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**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:** [January 11, 2021, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animated-characters-voiced-by-someone-of-the-opposite-gender/930140/41 "2021-01-11T03:31:40Z")
It’s a cartoon. They weren’t making a nature documentary. They were trying to get across the idea of Woody as a crazy, zany character. I doubt Blanc was asked to accurately mimic an acorn woodpecker, but was asked to help create a memorable character. It’s been documented by multiple sources, including Blanc himself, that he recycled Happy Rabbit’s laugh into Woody Woodpecker’s. Blanc even sued Lantz for $500,000 because Lantz continued to use Blanc’s laugh in the cartoons after Blanc had signed an exclusive contract with Warner Bros. Lantz prevailed because Blanc never copyrighted his voice, but when Blanc appealed, Lantz settled with him out of court. > [@](#): > > Mel Blanc sued Lantz for half a million dollars, claiming that Lantz had used his voice in later cartoons without permission. The judge, however, ruled for Lantz, saying that Blanc had failed to copyright his voice or his contributions. Though Lantz won the case, he paid Blanc in an out-of-court settlement when Blanc filed an appeal, and Lantz went in search for a new voice for Woody Woodpecker. > **[Walter Lantz](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Lantz)** > > Walter Benjamin Lantz (April 27, 1899 – March 22, 1994) was an American cartoonist, animator, producer and director best known for founding Walter Lantz Productions and creating Woody Woodpecker. > Lantz was born in New Rochelle, New York, to Italian immigrant parents Francesco Paolo Lantz (formerly Lanza) from Castiglione, Cosentino, Italy and Maria Gervasi (changed to Jarvis to avoid prejudice) from Calitri. Walter's father ran a grocery. His mother, Maria, died while giving birth to Walter's ... ---
**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:** [January 11, 2021, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animated-characters-voiced-by-someone-of-the-opposite-gender/930140/42 "2021-01-11T03:34:26Z")
The aforementioned baby Ike on Southpark is voiced by a girl. [Trey Parker’s daughter.](https://youtu.be/pR5EpnsvV58) I was just watching the movie _Soul_ and there’s a character named Jerry who is supposed to be genderless but sounds and looks to me like a man but is voiced by a woman. As for kids voicing kids - the young male lead characters in both “Adventure Time” and “Stephen Universe” were played by teenage boys. ---
**Author:** ![bmoak1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f4b2a3/32.png) [@bmoak1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bmoak1)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2021, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animated-characters-voiced-by-someone-of-the-opposite-gender/930140/43 "2021-01-11T03:40:13Z")
Brad Bird voicing Edna Mode in The Incredibles is another pretty well-known example. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2021, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animated-characters-voiced-by-someone-of-the-opposite-gender/930140/44 "2021-01-11T21:01:54Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > My wild guess is that it is, just because it seems more likely that a woman could convincingly sound like a young boy, The big one is that if they cast a boy to voice a cartoon, he’s going to sound more and more like a man, even before puberty hits. And afterward, he WILL sound like a man. Cast a woman as the voice of a boy, and her voice won’t change. Think Nancy Cartwright in the Simpsons. Bart Simpson would be what… 38 today? But he sounds the same as he did the day the Simpsons was first broadcast. Meanwhile, I’ve seen a few cartoons lately that were clearly voiced by boys that have had to be recast at some point, probably due to changing voices as the actors age. ---
**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:** [January 11, 2021, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animated-characters-voiced-by-someone-of-the-opposite-gender/930140/45 "2021-01-11T22:19:24Z")
I thought this one was funny: Ed Asner was the voice of Granny Goodness on **Justice League Unlimited**. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2021, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animated-characters-voiced-by-someone-of-the-opposite-gender/930140/46 "2021-01-11T22:50:04Z")
Rocky J. Squirrel was voiced by June Foray until her death in 2017. In the remake he was voiced by Tara Strong (as mentioned upthread). Peppermint Patty was voiced by Christopher DeFaria in _A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving_. D.W., the younger sister from _Arthur_, has always been voiced by a boy - eight different boys over the years, according to Wikipedia. Jimmy Neutron was voiced by Debi Derryberry. Bob Peterson voiced the female slug, Roz, in _Monsters, Inc._ He’s an animator but occasionally does voices for side characters (he also voiced Mr. Ray in _Finding Nemo_). ~Max ---
**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:** [January 12, 2021, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animated-characters-voiced-by-someone-of-the-opposite-gender/930140/47 "2021-01-12T19:28:25Z")
I never really noticed it in _Gravity Falls_. But after finding out that Jason Ritter did the voice of Dipper Pines it now sounds like a 30 year old trying unsuccessfully to sound like a 10 year old boy. ---
**Author:** ![Esprise\_Me](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/esprise_me/32/2947_2.png) [@Esprise\_Me](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esprise_Me)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2021, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animated-characters-voiced-by-someone-of-the-opposite-gender/930140/48 "2021-01-13T04:05:53Z")
Also on King of the Hill, young Joseph Gribble was voiced by Brittany Murphy (who also did Luanne.) When he hit puberty, though, they switched his voice actor to Breckin Meyer. ---
**Author:** ![Pavelb1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/439d5e/32.png) [@Pavelb1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pavelb1)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2021, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animated-characters-voiced-by-someone-of-the-opposite-gender/930140/49 "2021-01-13T04:11:47Z")
Mel Blanc voices Mrs. Gruesome Gorilla in Gorilla my Dreams [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animated-characters-voiced-by-someone-of-the-opposite-gender/930140.md?page=2)