The best voice actors have fabulous qualities that make their work unforgettable.
Their skill, versatility, and ability to bring even the craziest video or cartoon characters to life make them stand out.
And while there are several heavy hitters in the US voice over industry today, we thought we’d pay homage to those who paved the path or continue to prove today why they’re the best in the business.
You can’t talk about voice artists without mentioning Mel Blanc.
Best known for his work on Looney Tunes, iconic characters he voiced include Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd, Tweety Bird, and Foghorn Leghorn.
The Warner Bros. franchise wasn’t the only animation company on his six-decades-long resume, though.
Blanc was also the voice of Barney Rubble on Hanna-Barbera’s The Flintstones and originated the iconic laugh and voice of Woody Woodpecker for Universal Pictures.
With over 400 character’s voices to his credit, chances are that even if you never knew his name, you grew up listening regularly to the great Mel Blanc.
Check out this Loony Tunes favorite featuring three of his most famous characters:
I’ll eat my shorts if you haven’t heard of Nancy Cartwright.
After all, for 30 years she was the voice of the most famous 10-year-old boy of all time – the ever-irreverent Bart Simpson.
She may have made her name with Bart on Fox television’s The Simpsons, receiving a Primetime Emmy Award for her efforts, Cartwrights talents didn’t end there.
She’s voiced a slew of other celebrated cartoon characters from Rufus on Kim Possible to Chuckie on Rugrats.
3. Don La Fontaine
In a world where movie trailer VOs are often more memorable than the movies themselves, one man’s voice stands out… that of the late, great Don LaFontaine.
Image courtesy of Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_LaFontaine
With the deep tones of a man you wouldn’t want to meet on a dark night, it was LaFontaine, a.k.a. ‘The Voice of God”, who supposedly originated that iconic trailer catchphrase “In a world where…”, though he later said he never used it!
Still, in a career that spanned 5,000 movie trailers and 350,000 commercials, we can forgive him for not remembering every line he uttered – even if it is one of the most famous sentences to never appear in a movie!
Gamers get it–Laura Bailey is THE queen! Of anime and video games, anyway.
She made her debut as Kid Trunks in the anime Dragon Ball Z and never looked back.
From playing several characters in Naruto, one of the most popular Manga series of all time, she also side-stepped into video game territory. Here, she’s notched up over 500 character voices.
Notable mentions in this genre go to Mass Effect badass, Commander Shepard, Chun-Li from Street Fighter, Jaina Proudmoore in World of Warcraft, and the VO that scooped her a BAFTA for Best Performer in a Leading Role, Abby Anderson in the 2020 video game, The Last of Us Part II.
Anyone who has lived on Planet Earth these last three decades knows at least one of the characters that American voice actor Dan Castellaneta has voiced.
He’s had roles on Futurama, Justice League, The Adventures of Dynamo Duck, and Hey Arnold! to name but a few.
But did we forget his most famous role? Doh! I guess that has to be TV’s much-loved dimwit dad, Homer Simpson.
And yet, the wonder of Castellaneta’s talent is that alongside this unforgettable character, the Emmy Award-winning actor has voiced dozens of other Simpson favorites including Krusty the Clown, Groundskeeper Willie, Mayor Quimby, Barney Gumble, and Grampa Simpson.
6. Mae Questel
It’s true we love Minnie and Daisy, but not all our favorite animated female characters are animals.
Two of the most popular cartoon gals just happened to have come from the voice of 1930s vaudeville actress Mae Questel.
Those characters? None other than doe-eyed flapper, Betty Boop and Popeye the Sailor’s sweetheart, Olive Oyl.
Both Betty’s squeaky singing sound and Olive’s high-pitch chatter are an integral part of these cultural TV icons’ characters and the reason why Questel is in our list of the top 15 American voice over artists.
Chck out Betty Boop doing her do courtesy of Questel in this 1936 cartoon:
If you were ever a fan of “cool teens doin’ ninja things”, then you had the privilege of hearing the incredible work of American voice actor, Rob Paulsen.
His work on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was so good, he did it twice, both in the original 1987 series and the 2012 reboot.
But these were only two VO outings in his extensive career.
Others include Dick Dastardly of Wacky Races fame, Carl Wheezer in Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, and the role with which the versatile voice artist is most closely associated, Pinky, from the multi-Emmy Award-winning Pinky and the Brain.
8. Tara Strong
From the sweet, and strong to sullen and moody, Tara Strong has been the American voice actress behind some of the most iconic characters that teens fan-girled over in the early 2000s.
Without her, we wouldn’t have had peppy Twilight Sparkle from the My Little Pony franchise, soft-hearted Bubbles from the Powerpuff Girls, or brooding Ravan in Teen Titans (whom she still voices).
Of course, she’s been a noted voice on hundreds of other shows too including Rugrats, Family Guy, Batgirl, Batgirl, Ben 10, and Spirited Away.
But she claims the above-mentioned three characters are among her favorites.
Once you create a character they live in your head. And that’s the hardest part emotionally – letting go of a character that you really helped bring to life and to the world.”
9 & 10. Wayne Allwine and Russi Taylor
If Tara Strong will forever be the voice of Teen Titan, Raven, then the voices behind animation’s most famous mice, Mickey and Minnie, will forever be associated with Wayne Allwine and Russi Taylor.
We’re including both artists in the same paragraph because, like PB & J or RuPaul and Drag, you just can’t have Mickey without Minnie.
Interestingly, Allwine and Taylor were both the third actors to take on the iconic roles, though they ended up voicing their characters the longest.
Allwine was the voice of the bubbly rodent for 32 years while Taylor held on one year longer, voicing Mickey’s cute companion for 33 years in total.
Equally interesting is the fact that Allwine and Taylor didn’t just play lovebirds behind the mic – they were married in real life too. Oh boy!
The School of Rock comic actor may not immediately make you think of voice acting.
But mention animation film titles such as Ice Age, Shark Tale, and, of course, Kung Fu Panda, and you’ll likely see where we’re going with this.
In fact, Black has a surprisingly successful career as a voice actor taking on impressive VO duties in several video games too including Broken Age and Brütal Legend.
But it’s perhaps his role as the scary, if soft-centered, Bowser in the 2023 Super Mario Bros. Movie, that has helped land him in our top 15 American voice actors.
12. Julie Foray
Starting work at the age of 12 might conjure up images of kids down the coalmines, but this was, in fact, when multi-talented Julie Foray stepped into her first drama role in radio.
It was 1929 and radio was all the rave. By 15, she was working full-time, honing her craft on regular radio shows over the next few years.
However, it was in 1950 when she bagged the role of Lucifer the Cat in Disney’s Cinderella, that her star as a leading American voice actor really started to rise.
From there, she went on to voice for hundreds of cartoons, commercials, radio shows, and TV animated specials.
While she’s best known for voicing Rocky the Flying Squirrel on the Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, other significant cartoons she worked on included The Jetsons, The Flintstones, Scooby Doo, Where Are You, The Garfield Show, and The Smurfs.
Fabulously, she also provided the spoken words for Mattel’s original pull-string Chatty Cathy doll in 1959.
In a 2012 interview with Animation World Magazine, famous Warner Bros. animator, Chuck Jones, stated:
June Foray is not the female Mel Blanc. Mel Blanc was the male June Foray.”
To a certain generation, Mark Hamill will always be Star Wars’ Luke Skywalker.
But to another younger generation, he’s the Joker, the terrifying nemesis of Batman who appeared in various DC Comics projects.
Hamill first took on the supervillain’s role in Batman: The Animated Series in 1992. He was an instant hit.
However, it was playing the character in 2001’s Batman: Vengeance and the mega-popular Batman: Arkham Asylum video games that really rocketed him to fame as the archenemy of Gotham City’s protector.
14. Kevin Conroy
While Mark Hamill gave us a disturbing new version of the Joker, no one defined his partner-in-crime, Batman, quite like Kevin Conroy.
Conroy embraced his inner bat at the same time Hamill starred as Joker on Batman: The Animated Series.
He continued to play the Dark Knight from then until his death in November 2022, featuring in 15 films, 15 animated series, and over 24 video games.
15. Kath Soucie
From animated films and TV series to video games and commercials, Kath Soucie has done it all, and then some.
Among the thousands of roles she’s known for, she’s voiced Lola Bunny in the Loony Tunes franchise, the younger Nick Wilde in Zootopia, and Jek Lawquane in Stars Wars: The Bad Batch.
She’s also clocked in a tonne of voice work on video games such as Full Throttle, Fall Out, Starcraft II, and World of Final Fantasy.
Looking for YOUR BEST American voice actor of all time?
These are our top 15 American voice actors of all time, but truth be told, there are thousands more doing a fantastic job each and every day.
You only have to look at our recent selection of the 10 top American voice actors working today to see the high cailber of talent.
So, if you’re searching for an American VO artist for your current project check out these fine artists, or take a deeper dive into the many great professionals you’ll find on the Voice Crafters website.
You can also post your project on our online platform. Make sure you request custom auditions based on your script (it’s free!) to really hone in on the voice that’s right for your brand and message.
Additionally, if you need help casting the right talent for you, drop us a line and we’ll be happy to help!
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