We all know famous voice actors who have lent their voices to beloved cartoon characters for many years.
Mel Blanc, for example, has been the voice of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Ducks, and many more Looney Tunes characters. You have certainly also heard of Nancy Cartwright, the voice of Bart Simpson, as well as many other Simpsons characters.
But do you know some famous voiceover artists?
Perhaps you didn’t even know that voice acting and voiceover acting were not the same thing. While voice actors lend their voices to cartoons, animated movies, and video game characters, voiceover actors act as narrators.
This means they can be hired to narrate movie trailers, commercials, and educative videos, to name a few. They can also be tasked with dubbing different videos or work for voiceover services.
That being said, here are nine famous voiceover artists you might have heard of.
1. Don LaFontaine
In a world where most movie trailers had a narrator, the booming voice of Don LaFontaine was heard by all cinema lovers around the globe.
This iconic voiceover artist has been working for over 40 years, during which he has narrated at least 5,000 movie trailers and countless TV and radio ads. With his deep and epic voice, he was considered “the movie trailer guy,” and he set a standard for other voiceover actors.
2. Morgan Freeman
Although Morgan Freeman is mostly known as an actor, he is also famous for his work as a voiceover actor.
With his calm and deep voice, he has narrated many documentary projects, including Our Universe, The Story of God with Morgan Freeman, March of the Penguins, and The Long Way Home.
He has also been a voice actor for different movies and TV shows.
3. Jane Barbe
Jane Barbe was a singer and voiceover actress known as “the Time Lady.”
She started as a copywriter, but when she read the first commercial she had written to her boss, he insisted she narrate it.
She then recorded messages for different phone and communication companies, which were used around the world. Her voice can also be heard in elevators and hotel wake-up calls.
4. James Earl Jones
James Earl Jones is an actor, but he is mostly known for lending his deep voice to the character of Darth Vader in the Star Wars movies.
On top of being famous as a voice actor, he has recorded voiceovers for various TV and radio commercials. He has narrated documentaries, and his voice can be heard saying, “This is CNN,” when you tune into the CNN.
5. Billy West
Billy West is known as a musician, a radio personality, and a voice actor. Over the years, he has voiced famous characters such as Bugs Bunny, Popeye, Woody Woodpecker, Doug and Stimpy. He has done many celebrity impressions as well.
But he also recorded voiceovers as the Screen Gems Network announcer, an afternoon television program that aired different series.
6. Melissa Disney
Melissa Disney is a singer, songwriter, and voice actress. However, she is famous for being one of the few women who record voiceovers for movie trailers. She is seen as the first female voice in movie trailers and has won an award for her work in the trailer of Gone in 60 Seconds.
She has also recorded voiceovers for many commercial campaigns, including the voice of the Oscars, the MTV Movie Awards, and many other award shows.
7. Tim Curry
Tim Curry is an actor mostly known for playing Dr. Frank-N-Furter in the Rocky Horror Picture Show.
He has also worked as a voice actor in many animated series, in which he mostly played villains. As a voiceover artist, he has recorded audiobooks, lending his voice to commercials for companies such as Smirnoff or the Paramount Network.
8. Tom Kenny
Tom Kenny is a comedian, an actor, and a voice artist. And, of course, he will forever be known as the voice of Spongebob SquarePants.
Although he has mostly voiced cartoon characters, he has also done voiceover work as the Narrator in The Powerpuff Girls and the French Narrator in Spongebob SquarePants.
9. Charlie Pellett
The last famous voiceover artist on our list is Charlie Pellett. If you have ever taken the subway in New York City, you have heard his voice saying, “Stand clear of the closing doors, please.”
But besides being one of the voices of the NYC subway system, he is a veteran news anchor for Bloomberg Radio.
So, next time you take the subway or watch a commercial or a movie trailer, pay attention to the voice you hear. It belongs to a talented voiceover artist.
