I wonder if there is a sense of irony in the casting of voices on some cartoons. While a lot of voice talent probably only has the looks to be starring behind drawings, some shows would do quite well to have their stars' images on screen.
It's not unusual for shows to borrow from the actors' looks for their character models. And when you have actors like these, why not?
Archer has Judy Greer, playing the warped secretary Cheryl, (a character that borrows from Greer's previous role on Arrested Development).
Also on Archer is Aisha Tyler, playing the super-sexy spy Lana.
King of the Hill had three beautiful female actors.
Brittany Murphy, who sadly passed away in 2009, who played LuAnn
Veteran voice actor Lauren Tom (also on Futurama as Amy) plays Min and Connie.
Pamela Adlon is the voice of Bobby Hill.
Knowing what these two gorgeous actresses look like adds an interesting subtext to the episodes where Bobby and Connie develop romantic feelings for each other. Maybe that's just me.
Ironically, Meg is described on the show as being homely. Probably the animation equivalent of the TV tradition of having "ugly" characters played by attractive actors with heavy makeup.
UPDATE: to appease fellow blogger Pro Libertate, I have added the following picture of professional voice artist Kath Soucie, who has far too many credits to list here. She is most famous for her work on Captain Planet and Rugrats, in addition to doing the voice for Cubert Farnsworth on Futurama. As should be obvious from the picture to the right, she also fits in with the theme of this post.
Another UPDATE:
JW pointed out that I omitted Tara Strong, who has done a lot of voice work, most notable Timmy Turner on the Fairly OddParents. In my defense, I've never seen it, or most of her other shows.








3 comments:
About voice actors: I prefer the days when professional voice actors, not actors/celebrities du jour, voiced animated characters. Much better, as it is a skill often separate from emoting on screen.
Tom does a few different characters over a couple shows, and they have different voices. Murphy's speaking voice was very different from Luann's, as is Adlon's.
I think Judy Greer was brought to Archer because she plays a very similar character to the one she played on Arrested Development, as does Jessica Walter.
Mila Kunis doesn't seem to do much with her voice for Meg, but if I had a chance to work with Mila Kunis, I don't know how critical I'd be.
Uh, gais, Tara Strong?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/minglemediatv/6826564159/
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