# Voice actors whose characters are their real voices **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 1, 2009, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voice-actors-whose-characters-are-their-real-voices/491599 "2009-04-01T18:12:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**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:** [April 3, 2009, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voice-actors-whose-characters-are-their-real-voices/491599/41 "2009-04-03T12:30:09Z")
Patrick Stewart did a live reading of Dickens’s A Christmas Carol where he voiced the narrative in his own voice and did all the character voices differently. It was so good it was released on CD. Definately worth a listen. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2009, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voice-actors-whose-characters-are-their-real-voices/491599/42 "2009-04-03T13:56:16Z")
> [@Darryl\_Lict](#): > > Katey Sagal as Leela on Futurama sounds a lot like her character on _Married with Children_, but I’m not sure that that is her real voice. More or less, yeah. She has a very distinctive, sonorous voice - she’s a professional singer as well as actress - so, like Patrick Stewart, it works as is. Actually, she did Leela pretty much with her speaking voice. On Married With Children, she changed her voice a little, deliberately making it a bit screechy with just a tiny hint of Chicagoan. [QUOTE=Johnathan Chance] Sarah Vowell, who voiced Violet Parr in The Incredibles, didn’t seem to change much at all from her ‘on air’ voice for NPR. Frankly, no adult female should have a voice like that. None. [/QUOTE] I was amazed to find out that Sarah Vowell was an adult. I mean, that’s an okay voice, if you’re 13. ---
**Author:** ![Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harvey_The_Heavy)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2009, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voice-actors-whose-characters-are-their-real-voices/491599/43 "2009-04-03T14:01:02Z")
> [@ProfessorX](#): > > Seth McFarlane is a picture of this since Brian is pretty much his regular voice. Slightly OT: Is it just me, or does anyone else think that song “88 Lines About 44 Women” sounds like Brian Griffin is singing it? I can’t help but picture him when it comes on the radio. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2009, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voice-actors-whose-characters-are-their-real-voices/491599/44 "2009-04-03T14:16:48Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Patrick Stewart did a live reading of Dickens’s A Christmas Carol where he voiced the narrative in his own voice and did all the character voices differently. It was so good it was released on CD. Definately worth a listen. I’ve heard it, and he impressed me. Sarah Vowell’s voice isn’t exactly music to the ears, but I’ve read a few of her books and it’s perfect for her persona. ---
**Author:** ![MichaelQReilly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@MichaelQReilly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelQReilly)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2009, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voice-actors-whose-characters-are-their-real-voices/491599/45 "2009-04-03T15:07:38Z")
> [@ProfessorX](#): > > Seth McFarlane is a picture of this since Brian is pretty much his regular voice. It doesn’t sound exactly the same, but when you hear him in real life, his voice is close enough to Peter’s that you automatically know it’s him who does it. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2009, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voice-actors-whose-characters-are-their-real-voices/491599/46 "2009-04-03T15:40:32Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Which raises another question. Are there examples of a “star” (as opposed to a professional voice actor) doing a voice role and changing their voice from their regular speaking voice? The only one I can think of offhand is George Clooney doing the “voice” of Sparky on _South Park_. In “Toy Story 2,” Kelsey Grammer provided the voice of Stinky Pete, the Western prospector. In most scenes, Pete didn’t sound much like Kelsey! And in “Ratatouille,” Janeane Garolfalo put on a French accent, and sounded nothing at all like her usual self. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2009, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voice-actors-whose-characters-are-their-real-voices/491599/47 "2009-04-03T15:53:44Z")
If you’ve seen the music video that accompanies the (I think) DVD of _The Little Mermaid_ you know that Jodi Benson, who voices and sings the part of Ariel, talks exactly like Ariel in the movie. Exactly. Just like a young girl. And this is a grown woman (with my birthdate, I find out just now reading IMdb. Me, Jodi and Ed Wood :D) She also hawks some Disney product in the same DVD or video, so she’s talking normally. I just couldn’t get over that it wasn’t someone doing a voice. That’s how she actually talks. And I had no idea about Sarah Vowells. I’ve read _The Partly Cloudy Patriot_ and I can totally hear the Violet voice! ---
**Author:** ![johnspartan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a183cd/32.png) [@johnspartan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnspartan)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2009, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voice-actors-whose-characters-are-their-real-voices/491599/48 "2009-04-03T16:05:22Z")
I’m amazed by how much Frank Welker and Peter Cullen DON’T regularly sound like Megatron and Optimus Prime. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4tNz\_3dGBA](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4tNz_3dGBA) ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2009, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voice-actors-whose-characters-are-their-real-voices/491599/49 "2009-04-03T16:05:26Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > I saw Dan Castellaneta on Married…with CHildren and somehow I knew he was the voice of Homer Simpson. It’s not the voice that’s the same, but the inclination. > > He played a guy whose husband was dating Peg. Very good too. Probably the funniest episode ever of that show. Al: Let me get this straight, pardon the expression. …and… Al: Look, man. You’ve got a great guy at home who loves you. Why do you want to spend time with Peg? -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2009, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voice-actors-whose-characters-are-their-real-voices/491599/50 "2009-04-03T16:24:39Z")
> [@ProfessorX](#): > > Seth McFarlane is a picture of this since Brian is pretty much his regular voice. [Cite](http://www.hulu.com/watch/62807/hulu-tv-ads-seths-giggity-goo). ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2009, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voice-actors-whose-characters-are-their-real-voices/491599/51 "2009-04-03T16:30:01Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > If you bring Patrick Stewart into your recording studio, you want The Patrick Stewart Voice. Although it would be pretty hilarious to advertise that Patrick Stewart is guest-starring on your animated show and then have him voice a shrill little geek. Patrick Stewart had a bit role in the animated film “[The Plague Dogs](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084509/fullcredits#cast)” in which he sounds like Patrick Stewart. This was in the early 80’s before he was a US-known star. I suppose that, given the context of the film, he wouldn’t have had any reason to use a different voice though. ---
**Author:** ![choie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/choie/32/7829_2.png) [@choie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choie)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2009, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voice-actors-whose-characters-are-their-real-voices/491599/52 "2009-04-03T17:07:10Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Which raises another question. Are there examples of a “star” (as opposed to a professional voice actor) doing a voice role and changing their voice from their regular speaking voice? The only one I can think of offhand is George Clooney doing the “voice” of Sparky on _South Park_. Probably comes as no surprise, considering her abilities, but Meryl Streep was almost unrecognizable as Jessica Lovejoy on _The Simpsons_. Glenn Close also did a different voice as Mona Simpson, although it’s still recognizable. ---
**Author:** ![C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C.Montgomery_Burns)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2009, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voice-actors-whose-characters-are-their-real-voices/491599/53 "2009-04-04T00:17:59Z")
Sylvester was Mel Blanc’s real voice with the slobber effect added. A side note: Mel Blanc had his own radio show in the late 40’s where he played “Mel Blanc”. “Mel Blanc” was not Mel’s natural voice, but a more gentle sounding, higher pitched voice to fit his younger character’s persona. Mel Blanc was in his 40s, “Mel Blanc” was a young man probably meant to be in his mid 20s. The man of a thousand voices, indeed. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2009, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voice-actors-whose-characters-are-their-real-voices/491599/54 "2009-04-04T00:28:29Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Which raises another question. Are there examples of a “star” (as opposed to a professional voice actor) doing a voice role and changing their voice from their regular speaking voice? The only one I can think of offhand is George Clooney doing the “voice” of Sparky on _South Park_. In Bolt (yeah yeah, shaddup I like Children’s movies) I didn’t know until the credits that the female, well, not LEAD but “main supporting character from the B plot” was voiced by Miley Cyrus. It sounds nothing like her (or what I’ve heard of her speaking while flipping past the Disney Channel now and again). I both commend Disney for not making a giant deal of her voice being in it (I mean, it was on the poster, but they didn’t really obsess over it on the commercials) AND Miley for an excellent job doing the voice and making it sound unique to the character. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2009, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voice-actors-whose-characters-are-their-real-voices/491599/55 "2009-04-10T18:50:29Z")
Got to say, when I saw that David Bowie was going to do the guest voice in a Spongebob Squarepants episode, I looked forward to it with great anticipation. Silly me, thinking he would sound the slightest bit like Jareth. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voice-actors-whose-characters-are-their-real-voices/491599.md?page=2)