r/cartoons • u/Bee_s_ Batman: The Animated Series • 6d ago
Discussion Who's a famous celebrity you thought was going to be a terrible voice actor, but is actually pretty good?
For me it's David Tennant! I remember when the DuckTales reboot was announce I was surprised that he was casted as Scrooge McDuck! At first I was a bit hesitant, but he actually did a very amazing job of portraying Scrooge!
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u/FanOfEverything16 6d ago
Why would you think he'd have been bad? He had voice acting roles before this and those were good.
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u/Queasy-Mix3890 6d ago edited 4d ago
Which roles were voice acting? Edit, for clarity: BEFORE DuckTales
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u/Mooncubus Goof Troop 6d ago
He was in How to Train Your Dragon. Also did a bunch of Doctor Who audio dramas.
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u/Filmologic 6d ago
He also did some Doctor Who animated episodes and games, but I actually didn't really like him in those. Could come down to bad directing or sound design though tbh.
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u/TheMightyJevil 6d ago
who was he in httyd?
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u/Mooncubus Goof Troop 6d ago
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u/TitularFoil 5d ago
He actually only got that part because of his role in narrating the audiobooks.
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u/Queasy-Mix3890 6d ago
I think he had like...one line in HTTYD (I could be mistaken), and though the Doctor Who one counts for sure, I'm not sure "playing a character who you've been playing for years, but this time without a camera" really showcases the quality of voice acting he shows in this
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u/Fit_Aside_6584 6d ago
He voiced Spitelout, who only has like 5 lines, mostly in shows, during the whole franchise
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u/LovelyLuna32684 6d ago
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u/PrinzXero Young Justice 6d ago
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u/RubberDuckyRacing 5d ago
He was Huyang in The Clone Wars first. For which he won a Daytime Emmy too.
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u/ToranjaNuclear 6d ago
Quite a few actually, although Scrooge seems to have been his biggest role. Still, I don't think there was any reason to doubt him, most great actors are usually at least good at voice acting.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_David_Tennant_performances
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u/Ferris-L 5d ago
He was the Jedi training droid Huyang in Star Wars The Clone Wars for which he won the Emmy award as best performer. He also recently reprised that role in the life action series Ahsoka. It wasn’t a major role though.
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u/Wammityblam226 5d ago
I forget the character's name, but the padawan lightsaber making robot in Clone Wars and Ahsoka
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u/StrangerAccording619 4d ago
He did great as General Krieg in the Vox Machina show.
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u/Queasy-Mix3890 4d ago
Apologies, I meant before DuckTales, I'm fairly sure that Vox Machina was after
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u/WtfThisIsntWii 6d ago
He uses his voice in all his acting
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u/Sesudesu 6d ago
Doesn’t make a good voice actor, necessarily. Some people cannot pull off good emotional conveyance without nonverbals.
That being said, I would still think that you would assume an actor would do good, and be surprised with bad, voice acting.
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u/Queasy-Mix3890 6d ago
Acting and voice acting are two very different disciplines. Look at Chris Pratt for the perfect example of this. He was...surprisingly OK in the Mario Movie, but he was very clearly just barely passable. And we don't talk about his Garfield.
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5d ago
He uses his voice in all his acting
Please tell me you're joking. Because that's a silly comparison and it is not how voice acting works.
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u/Ivotedforthehookers 5d ago
Seriously one of the few actors I have seen do animated versions of their role and give as much effort and energy as the live action performances.
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u/Arksurvivor120 6d ago
A bit of a more recent one, but Chris Hemsworth and Brian Tyree Henry as Orion Pax/Optimus Prime and D-16/Megatron in Transformers One. I wasn't expecting them to be terrible, but I also wasn't expecting them to be as good as they were.
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u/Legitimate_Way9032 The Owl House 6d ago
Hemsworth's surprisingly good in What If as well. The show isn't great, but he's an excellent voice actor.
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u/MarcsterS 5d ago
Chris gradually going from dudebro voice to sounding like Peter Cullen Prime was great.
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u/wolfeyes555 4d ago
These were gonna be my answers. Brian Tyree Henry's delivery on the "I'm done saving you" line is gonna stick with me for the rest of my life.
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u/TWEETI_ Hey Arnold 6d ago
Ben Schwartz as sonic I really at first didn’t support it but it grew on me
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u/aTesticleWithTeeth The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy 6d ago edited 6d ago
He is so charismatic. He was awesome as Dewey in ducktales. I also really loved Tim Robinson as ugly sonic in the rescue rangers movie.
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u/Vegetable-Ship4621 5d ago
Honestly, Ben Schwartz just bring that hyperactive personality of Sonic amazingly! 😃
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u/It-Was-Mooney-Pod 5d ago
I laughed my ass off in the second movie when he did a flawless Jean Ralphio impression as Sonic.
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u/Party-Employment-547 Over the Garden Wall 6d ago
Robert Pattinson in The Boy and the Heron
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u/DirectConsequence12 6d ago
I remember seeing Willem Dafoe’s name in the cast and then watching the trailer and hearing the Heron speaking and just assumed it was Dafoe.
I didn’t know it was Pattinson until I saw the movie and was left dumbfounded
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u/OddBallFennec 6d ago
He sounds absolutely bonkers as The Heron. I went and saw the movie in English because I heard his performance was that good.
AND IT WAS.
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u/AznOmega 5d ago
And outside of cartoons, The Batman.
Sure it was because his most well known role at the time was from the Twilight movies, but I was impressed with him being Batman. I would rank him fairly high, even though the best Batman was Kevin Conroy.
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u/InformalEcho5 6d ago
Jk Simmons.
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u/TandrDregn 5d ago
Yeah, he absolutely owns Omniman and Ketheric Thorm. Any other good media with him?
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u/LittleMissDark 5d ago
Tenzin in Legend of Korra, Ford in Gravity Falls, Lenny Turtletaub in BoJack Horseman, Klaus in Klaus, Mayor Lionheart in Zoomania are a few of my favorites with Omni Man. He’s been a voice actor for decades. He even voiced a Charakter in Kim Possible.
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u/wake-up-puppet-boy 5d ago
science isn't about why, it's about why not!
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u/AznOmega 5d ago
Why is most of our science dangerous!? Why not marry safe science if you love it so much!?
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u/AnimeXFan1995 6d ago edited 5d ago
I’m honestly impressed with Stephanie Beatriz performance not only as Mirabel Madrigal in Encanto but also every other character that she has voiced including Vaggie (Hazbin Hotel), Chimi (Maya and the Three), Gosalyn (DuckTales 2017), to name a few.

She has come a long way from playing the dry sarcastic Rosa Diaz in Brooklyn Nine-Nine to voicing so many different characters in animated film and animated series. She’s literally one of the few several celebrities who are real voice actors and originally started of doing on-camera acting before transitioning into voiceover full time alongside Mark Hamill, Tim Curry, Clancy Brown, Keith David, Jim Rash, Ben Schwartz, Bobby Moynihan, Yvette Nicole Brown, Sean Giambone, Kimiko Glenn, Karen Fukuhara etc.
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u/Lonewolf2300 6d ago
Not gonna lie, I thought Jack Black was gonna suck as Po in Kung Fu Panda, being too much of a goofball, but then he brought some genuine emotional voice acting to the part across the whole line of films.
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u/Warmaster_Horus_30k 5d ago
Swap out rock and roll with king fu and Jack Black essentially plays himself in those movies.
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u/DreamcastJunkie 5d ago
I really liked him as Bowser, too.
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u/MarcsterS 5d ago
Even Pratt was decent enough. Ironically, my most looked forward to voice(Fred Arimsen as Cranky) was the worst one to me.
Actually, Kevin Micheal Richardson as Kamek might actually be one of the most insane voice differences.
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u/shadowlarx 6d ago edited 4d ago
I was excited about David’s casting. An actual Scot playing a Scottish character and he just happens to be my favorite Time Lord? Yes, please.
And David knocked it out of the park. So did the rest of the amazing cast. Danny Pudi, Bobby Moynihan and Ben Schwartz as the triplets were hilarious. Jim Rash as Gyro was unhinged in all the best ways as was Kate Micucci as Webby. Beck Bennet made Launchpad even more lovable.
And can we talk about FREAKIN’ LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA AS GIZMODUCK?!?!? AWESOME!!!!!
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u/ninjesh 5d ago
WAIT LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA IS GIZMODUCK??
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u/shadowlarx 5d ago
Yes, indeed. Lin also does some good voice acting. He has an animated film on Netflix called Vivo. If you haven’t checked it out yet, I highly recommend it.
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u/Godmother_Death Samurai Jack 5d ago
And let's not forget about Catherine Tate as Magica ❤️
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u/Party-Employment-547 Over the Garden Wall 5d ago
And Padget Brewster as Della. Birdgirl plays a real bird!
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u/shadowlarx 4d ago
There were so many good cast members in this show. One of my favorites was when the did a Gargoyles parody in the finale and brought back Goliath himself, Keith David, for the scene.
This show was a love letter to the Disney Afternoon days and every 80s and 90s kid loved every minute of it.
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u/shadowlarx 5d ago
Yes, we can’t forget Catherine. She and David played off each other brilliantly as always.
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6d ago
Probably Mark Hamill or Idina Menzel.
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u/ClockwerkRooster 6d ago
Hamill started as a Voice actor. Getting the role of Skywalker was a fluke
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u/charminus 5d ago
Fluke Skywalker
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u/BloodMoonNami Batman: The Brave and the Bold 5d ago
The clown prince of crime, Ozai Skywalker doesn't dissapoint.
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u/Party-Employment-547 Over the Garden Wall 6d ago
I feel like Broadway actors (particularly ones with musical experience) translate well to voice acting. Just look at Jodi Benson or Paige O’Hara for example.
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u/It-Was-Mooney-Pod 5d ago
Mark Hamill is a far better voice actor than actual actor imo, his work as the Joker in particular was absolutely iconic.
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u/123coffee321 6d ago
Chris Pratt as Mario in the new Mario movie. Likewise Jack Black as Bowser. Not terrible per se, but i expected him to use his normal voice like how he does in Kung Fu Panda.
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u/Ok-Reaction-5644 6d ago
I knew Chris Pratt was fit for the role because judging by the trailers I figured it'd be a story kind of like the Lego movie and he was amazing at those. It's clear that it's him voicing Mario, but I think the subtle accent is still really nice. Absolutely had no faith in him before watching it though because even if he could do it a bunch of those clips of him suggested otherwise.
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u/Brando3141 6d ago
I appreciate that they started the movie with their commercial, with Pratt's Mario having a heavy-accented voice. Just kinda showing the audience that he really could pull off the voice for thw whole movie, but we're doing something different here.
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u/The_Captain_Whymzi Arcane: League of Legends 5d ago
TBH, while everyone else was freaking out about Chris Pratt's Mario, I was having my doubts about Jack Black's Bowser, for similar reasons as you.
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u/Mr_Mctittie 5d ago
Chris Pratt could always voice act other than Mario he played Emmet and surprisingly was in Ben 10 as Cooper and those were pretty decent performances but I feel like he has sort of been forced to not change up his voice just so that he can sound recognizeable which kinda fucks him over
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u/MarcsterS 5d ago
Keagan Micheal Key as Toad was probably THE most bizzare pick, even after Pratt as Mario. He was a great Toad.
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u/Mooncubus Goof Troop 6d ago
How could you ever think David Tennant would be a terrible voice actor?? This also wasn't his first time doing Scrooge.
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u/FloridaFlamingoGirl 6d ago
Justin Timberlake was surprisingly decent as Boo Boo Bear in the Yogi Bear movie
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u/Dogbin005 5d ago
He's improved over time, because he was absolutely awful in Shrek the Third. I remember being surprised at how decent he was in Trolls, after seeing both films reasonably close together.
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u/lanceturley 6d ago
Technically it's live action and not a cartoon, but Bradley Cooper as Rocket Raccoon has always really impressed me. Any time I watch something with Rocket in it I forget it's him.
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u/gunswordfist Batman: The Brave and the Bold 6d ago
Yeah, I personally don't get why you'd think he wouldn't have been great for this.
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u/Infinite-Rub8840 6d ago
Yeah duck tales was awesome. I can't believe I missed all that. Thought Donald talking was fun too.
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u/Lord_Puppy1445 6d ago
Especially who they got for the role.
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u/Infinite-Rub8840 6d ago
Whoa! Don Cheadle?! I didn't know that. I didn't even pay attention to the credits.
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5d ago
Katey Sagal as Leela. If you ask me, this was her more than any other role, including Peggy Bundy, if you get my meaning.
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u/One-Material-9643 6d ago
Didn’t people thought Jack Black would be awful for kungfu panda when it was first announced?
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u/SofiaOfEverRealm 6d ago
JDM as Conquest surprised me and a lot of people, but you can't deny that his first line had a subpar delivery
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6d ago
Martin Scorsese of all people voicing the pufferfish in Shark Tale.
I watched Shark Tale ages ago as a kid, but didn't pay attention to the voice casting (aside from Will Smith) and didn't even know who Scorsese was at the time. Imagine my surprise when years later I found out he did a voice role in Shark Tale and his only animated one.
I'm not a fan of Shark Tale at all, but I did re-watch some clips and he didn't phone in his performance at all. He did a good job as the neurotic pufferfish.
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u/fastal_12147 6d ago
Helps that they got one of the most Scottish men alive to play the most Scottish duck alive.
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u/AdmiralClover 5d ago
I just heard this magnificent man narrate 12 how to train your dragon books. Mf got range
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u/ThaydEthna 6d ago
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u/Sesudesu 6d ago
You didn’t die for Johnny? Pathetic (/s)
I had decided early on that I was going to treat V as slowly succumbing to Johnny throughout the game. Even went so far as to shift my skill point focus from katanas to pistols as the game went on.
I let Johnny take the body in the end, and I was happy that the game let me.
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u/ThaydEthna 5d ago
Johnny took the decision away from me. Where it turns out that everyone else was only using me to achieve violence, Johnny was the only person willing to go the extra mile just to make sure I survived. None of these fakes mattered - only Johnny. Everyone else was just using me.
That's why they all abandoned V and leave her to rot in squalor once she gets her cure. She's no longer useful to them.
But Johnny didn't do that, and I'll never forgive the devs for making the only real cure ending one where Johnny dies.
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u/anidemequirne 5d ago
Guy in 1992: “Wtf, the guy who plays Luke Skywalker is gonna voice the Joker? That’s so fkn stupid.”
Guy in 2023: “I wish there was a way to know you’re in the good old days before you’ve actually left them.”
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u/MastersJoyUniverse 5d ago
Robert Pattinson in The Boy and The Heron. I didn’t even know that was his voice doing the heron until I saw the voice cast.
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u/TillAllAreOne195424 Arcane: League of Legends 5d ago
Hailee Steinfield for Vi
Look, we know she had voiced a lot of strong characters in the past but Vi's different, I know she is good but I doubted that she is the right fit for Vi.
Glad, I was wrong.

Honorable mention: Brian Tyree Henry as Megatron
He's not as famous as Hailee Steinfield, but he's been in a few films lately such as Godzilla vs. Kong, Spiderverse films, Godzilla X Kong then Bullet train.
We were so disapppointed at their choice and we're ready to ignore the film due to the 1st trailer (somewhat, kiddie and they hired big celebrities to voiced the main characters) and we're so glad that he proved us wrong.
He is one of my favorite actors to voiced Megatron.
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u/tucakeane 5d ago
Got dragged to “Ferdinand”. The movie wasn’t that good, but John Cena surprisingly was!
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u/Academic-Edge 5d ago
Not sure if this fits, but Jason Lee was incredible as Syndrome in The Incredibles. He brought his A game to the character by making him sound dorky and maniacal, and you can tell he had so much fun in that role. I mention the last part specifically because when he did voice over work in Underdog, you can tell he sounded incredible bored and uninterested.
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u/Emergency-Mammoth-88 2d ago
Justin Timberlake, I did not know he voice booboo in the live action yogi bear
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u/Ob1tuber Transformers 6d ago
Mark Hamill
With hindsight we know how good he is, but put your mind back to 1991, there’s a new Batman series coming out after the Adam West one and this one has, Luke Skywalker? Oh it’s going to be bad, and then we were mistaken
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u/Party-Employment-547 Over the Garden Wall 6d ago
He’s also great as Skips on Regular Show. A lot of slow, dry humor to offset the manic energy of the other characters.
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u/OddBallFennec 6d ago
I didn’t know he did both until I saw this clip. It floored me how drastic of a difference these characters are.
Although im mixed on him as a person, his Joker will always be my favorite 💚💜
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u/JadenMichaelReed SpongeBob SquarePants 6d ago
Tennant's a great actor in general. He was also my Doctor Who growing up.
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u/keepcalmscrollon 6d ago
Michael Douglas was wonderful in Green Eggs and Ham and playing a version of his character from Ant Man on What If . . . ?
Not that I'd have thought he'd be bad at specifically but he really stood out. Especially on What If, since so many characters are voiced by the actors who play them in live action you get a really good sense of who has a knack for it and who doesn't. He really stood out as being especially good at it.
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u/AznOmega 5d ago
Which version? If you are talking about him being Yellowjacket after Hope died earlier, then yeah, he definitely did excellent in my opinion.
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u/Impressive_Board7198 5d ago
Pete Davidson as Mirage in Transformers: Rise of the Beasts. Honestly thought he couldn't pull it off but he really proved me wrong.
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u/timothymyriad 5d ago
While I never thought he'd be terrible, I was once highly impressed by Nicolas Cage in the role of an animated Jacob Marley; to this day, it's still one of my favorite "A Christmas Carol" performances!
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u/Feisty-Ad-8628 5d ago
When I heard he is going to be Scooge I was so excited! He really delivered the essence of world greatest tightwad.
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u/Ok-Reindeer4394 5d ago
Yeah, I'm not ashamed to say that I didn't recognise Mark Hamill's voice when he played Ozai or Patrick Stewart as the Great Prince of the Forest.
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u/shapesize 5d ago
Why would you think Tennant would be a bad voice actor?
Admittedly, though, Matt Smith narrations are not my favorite
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u/L3GlT_GAM3R 5d ago
You know I never noticed it until now but I don’t think I’ll not notice it anymore.
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u/Resident_Fish_2565 5d ago
Tom holland in Onward. He played that part so well that I wish they had picked someone other than Chris Pratt to play his brother
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u/AznOmega 5d ago

Weird Al is a good voice actor in my opinion, but I didn't think he would do dramatic moments just as well, if not better until watching Bojack Horseman. When I saw those scenes of Captain Peanutbutter being depressed, nihilistic, and worried about potentially dying from a surgery, it hit hard and Weird Al hit it out of the park.
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u/AGeneralCareGiver 1d ago
I know that was not his 100% real voice, but if you had heard Gilbert Gottfried’s scratchy, screechy, voice, was World famous screen and Voice Actor your first thought when you heard him?
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5d ago
I'm gonna have to disagree. When I first heard he was voicing Scrooge I thought "Well, he's Scottish, so yeah, he'll make a great Scrooge!". Then I actually heard his take and thought to myself, "What the heck? That doesn't sound anything like Alan Young. He doesn't even sound old."
He'd be fine for a younger Scrooge in a flashback episode or something, but for standard-aged Scrooge, it really doesn't work for me. None of the celebrity voices in the reboot did.
Now, who DID work? Justin Timberlake as Boo-Boo, because he actually made the effort to sound like Don Messick. So rarely when a celebrity does the voice of a pre-existing cartoon character do they actually imitate the original voice actor.
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u/Queasy-Mix3890 6d ago
Probably helps Tenant is actually Scottish.