Vin Diesel as The Iron Giant
Don’t kick yourselves for not spotting this one, the Iron Giant himself only has a handful of lines throughout the movie despite being the lead role. Wait a second, broad build? Slap head? They sort of look alike now that I think about it… Just don’t say that to Vin’s face. Anyway, sparse dialogue might just be Vin Diesel’s style, he also recently provided all the “Groot”s for Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, when he voiced, well, Groot.
Uncle Phil from The Fresh Prince of Bel Air as Shredder from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
WIIIILLLL! For most of us now in our 20s, The Simpsons followed by The Fresh Prince of Bel Air on BBC2 thoroughly defined our early evening telly watching on a weekday evening. Yet I’d be willing to bet that very few of us realise that Will’s antagonistic authority figure from the show played by James Avery, also voiced the main baddie on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Shredder, from ‘87 to ‘93.
Mark Hamill is The Joker
There are a long number of alleged reasons why Mark Hamill’s portrayal of Luke Skywalker didn’t pave the way for a long line of leading roles in huge films after Star Wars, but regardless, he’s still a massive star and a permanent household name. Where Hamill DID shine post-Star Wars was vocally! He’s been the voice of not only The Joker in a range of Batman films, shows and video games, he’s a voice actor of considerable talent and range, appearing in the likes of Ben 10, Adventure Time, The Boondocks, The Cleveland Show, Afro Samurai, Spongebob Squarepants and many, many more. He hasn’t put his feet up then...
Eeyore = Optimus Prime?
Peter Cullen might just be the least recognisable name on here but his voices are so iconic, they’ll take you back to your childhood in a heartbeat. As the voice of two massively influential characters, he really deserves a spot on this list - just watch this short clip when he drops both voices on a convention panel audience. It’s poor audio quality but hearing Eeyore and Optimus one after the other, straight from the source is a real kick.
Michael Jackson in The Simpsons
What’s that? It’s cheating using The Simpsons? Everyone’s been in it? Yeah, yeah, maybe so, but we still thought it was worth talking about this one just because MJ was probably the biggest star Matt Groening ever got in the recording studio for The Simpsons and likely ever will. Strangely though, he was not voicing a slightly yellower version of himself (as most celebs do for the show) MJ instead provided voice-over for Leon Kompowsky in the episode Stark Raving Dad from season 3. A cracking episode, this is the one that gave birth to the song “Happy Birthday Lisa.” We still get that stuck in our heads sometimes...
Tim Curry as Nigel Thornberry
This may not be as surprising as some of the others on this list as Tim Curry is already rightly known for his vocal talent and versatility. He voices the ginger, mustachioed father during the show, the face of whom has become a bit of an internet phenomenon recently somehow. The Wild Thornberrys is actually incredibly vocally star-studded, with the likes of Lacey Chabert (Gretchen Wieners from Mean Girls) as Eliza and even Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers as Donnie. Smashing!
Michael J. Fox as Stuart Little
Say Michael J. Fox to anybody and they’ll say Marty McFly, one of the most iconic characters from one of the most iconic series of the ‘80s. If anyone says Stuart Little, call them a liar and stop associating with them. Don’t get us wrong - we love the little guy (Stuart is fine too) but it’s not exactly common knowledge is it? Unfortunately Fox was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in ‘91 so since 2001 he’s been dedicating his time mainly to voice-over. We’re super glad he’s still lending his vocal talent to the industry so listen closely next time Stuart Little is on!
Fergie as Sally Brown from Peanuts
Before she ever picked up a mic with the Black Eyed Peas, Stacy ‘Fergie’ Ferguson was a child actor who also voiced Charlie Brown’s little sister on the Peanuts animated TV specials way back in the 80’s. Who could have predicted that career path?!
J.K. Simmons as the yellow M&M
Yup, that dopey, 3D, yellow guy from the M&M’s adverts is voiced by an Oscar-winning actor! When he’s not being delicious, J.K. Simmons is known for his portrayal of J. Jonah Jameson in the Sam Raimi Spider-Man trilogy, Fletcher from Whiplash (for which he won an Oscar for best supporting role in 2015!) and from where most of you lot might know him best: the voice of Mayor Lionheart in Zootropolis (Zootopia).
The voice of Lilo from Lilo & Stitch is the girl from The Ring
What?! This couldn’t be further apart in tone. Daveigh Chase provided both the vocal talent for Lilo in the Disney movie and played the pant-wettingly creepy little girl from the cursed tape in The Ring. She’s also the voice of Chihiro from the English release of Studio Ghibli’s Spirited Away, arguably the most influential anime to break the west (After Akira maybe…).
That’s about all we have space for and we get it, we watch too much TV - but can we get away with calling it reference work? Not buying that? Let’s just agree to disagree… We’ll be back next week, but until then, it would be swell if you’d hit us with some of your favourite celebrity voice-overs on Twitter @fudgeanimation