15 Voice Actors That Slipped By In Live-Action Roles (And Vice-Versa)

You can't hide behind a cartoon forever.
15 Voice Actors That Slipped By In Live-Action Roles (And Vice-Versa)

A lot of the time, successful voice-over actors are cartoon lifers (or “Toonz 4 Life” as one tattoo taught me). Once you figure out how to sound like 90 different people, of different ages, of different alien species, your precious vocal cords matter a lot more than your pretty face. I mean, it's really cool that you can show up to a studio in comfy clothes, sip tea, and then be a dinosaur-headed alien warlord from a dying planet for a few hours.

That isn't to say that voice actors don't get their face seen on your TV. Voice actors do manage to make it to live-action once in a while, much like how several live-action TV and film actors sometimes get their start in the world of cartoons before they catch their big break IRL. Here are a few times some extremely recognizable voices and/or faces successfully crossed between toons and the non-animated world: 

Uncle Joey was a babbling baby. CRACKED cO Before he was the subject of a spiteful Alanis Morissette ballad (and also Uncle Joey on Full House), David Coulier played the nearly- monosylabic Animal in Muppet Babies, often closing out the episode by staring down the camera and announcing go bye-bye! in
Mayor Quimby: horror icon. Before he voiced Mayor Quimby, Brain, Mr. Freeze, and a ton more of your favorite characters, Maurice LaMarche got his start as an impression comedian. That helped him land the role of a Vincent Price knockoff on a Halloween episode of The Facts of Life.
Rocko is a cop. CRACKEDcO Carlos Alazraqui voiced America's favorite (only known?) the titular, jacking-enthusiast Rocko, on Rocko's Modern Life. It's a jarring juxtaposition when compared with his portrayal of racist a *hole Deputy James Garcia on Reno 911!
Timmy Turner helped Sabrina drown a merman. Tara Strong has almost exclusively done VO work, playing slam dunk fan favorites like Timmy Turner and Harley Quinn. Some of her live-action work has been as an unseen voice, but she has a major role as Sabrina's weird English friend who
John Travolta shot Hermes Conrad. CRACKED CO Despite his 5 seasons on MadTV, Phil LaMarr's biggest role was probably Marvin, the dude John Travolta accidentally shoots in the back of the car in Pulp Fiction. He'd already voiced the titular Mister T in the cartoon series, and would go on to
Daphney maybe hooked up with Fez. CRACKED CON Grey DeLisle is probably best known for voicing Daphne on Scooby Doo, and has also voiced Catwoman and The Fairly Odd Parents' Vicky. But she also had a turn as a high school teacher in That 70's Show where it's kind of implied
SpongeBob was in a Smashing Pumpkins video. Tom Kenny, the inimitable voice of SpongeBob himself (and the Ice King, and the Mayor of Townsville, and lots more) showed up IRL in shows like Tim and Eric and Just Shoot Me. Most notably, he was heavily featured in the video
Moe Szyslak dated Phoebe. Hank Azaria tried to get an IRL acting career off the ground while he was already voicing a ton of characters on The Simpsons. He auditioned to play Joey on Friends, but ended up with a 5-episode arc as Phoebe's boyfriend instead.
Amy Wong dated Ross. CRACKED COM You've heard Lauren Tom most often as Minh and Connie on King of the Hill, and/or Amy on Futurama. But she's had a pretty prolific ive-action career, including a 7-episode stint as Ross' girlfriend on Friends.
The time Raphael shot a porno... CRACKED COM Rob Paulsen has had a voice in everything from G.. Joe to Snorks, but probably most notably as the original Raphael in TMNT. One of his few on-screen roles was as a porn shoot camera guy in Body Double, where he asks about
Inspector Gadget's niece was in a Cosby sequel. CRACKED CON Cree Summer started voicing Penny on Inspector Gadget when she was just 14, and went on to play an obscene amount of cartoon characters. On screen, she had a 5-season stint on the Cosby Show spinoff A Different World.

Nancy Cartwright

Bart Simpson has roots in the real world. CRACKEDCO Nancy Cartwright's most notable role by far is Bart Simpson. But a few years earlier, she got a tiny little part in 1983's Twilight Zone: The Movie, where she's very appropriately banished to a cartoon universe.
Harley Quinn manifested herself. CRACKED.COM Arleen Sorkin's turn as a mischievous jester in a bizarre episode of Days of Our LivES directly inspired Paul Dini to create Harley Quinn. Sorkin voiced the clownette in Batman: The Animated Series, and in lots of subsequent cartoons and video games.
Michael Cera is just a widdle teddy bear. 3 D CRACKEDcO The famously mild-mannered everydweeb started his career something appropriately mild-mannered: voicing Brother Bear in ThE Berenstain Bears.
Tim Curry is a monster. CRACKED cO Famous for playing slimy, smarmy characters on film, his all-time slimiest character was probably the oil-fuelled polution monster Hexxus in Ferngully.
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