Posted
on September 2, 2015
What
does Professor Coldheart from the Care Bears and the Supreme
Intelligence in the Marvel universe have in common?
They
were both voiced by voice actor Len Carlson.
Voice
actors are used to help bring to life many different kinds of
entertainment, including animated movies and television shows,
commercials, radio dramas, video games, amusement park rides,
documentaries, audiobooks, and even puppet shows.
Voice
actors often provide voices to fictional characters. Most of these
characters are animated, but of course Darth Vader was acted by David
Prowse but famously voiced by James Earl Jones!
Voice
actors also provide narration, translation, and announcements.
A
lot of voice actors are also live actors or other sorts of famous
entertainers / celebrities. Here is a short list of famous actors /
comedians / musicians / entertainers who have done voices for
animated movies, commercials, or documentaries.
Ellen
DeGeneres – Finding Nemo
Robin
Williams – Aladdin
Angelina
Jolie – Shark Tale
George
Clooney – AT&T commercials
Queen
Latifah – Pizza Hut commercials
Morgan
Freeman – March of the Penguins
Beatle
Ringo Starr – Thomas the Tank Engine
“Weird
Al” Yankovic – Transformers
But
a lot of voice actors are not live actors. I once worked with a man
who could do hundreds of – maybe even a thousand – different
voices. He easily and quickly read a script using five different (and
fun!) voices, always remembering which fictional animal character had
which fictional voice. I was so impressed!
Unfortunately,
professional voice actors who aren't otherwise celebrities – people
whose names and faces we DON'T know – are used less and less often
by big-time entertainment giants like Disney and Pixar. I think
that's too bad – it just takes one more way of “making it” out
of the mix, and it loads into the baskets of the rich-and-famous more
plums than they could ever possibly want (because they already have
so many plums!).
So
today I salute dearly departed Len Carlson in the hope that the trend
reverses a bit!
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ahead:
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