The Faces Behind Your Favorite Animated Characters

Thousands of characters; about 12 people.
The Faces Behind Your Favorite Animated Characters

Voice acting is often taken for granted. With so much celebrity stunt casting done today, sometimes it is easy to forget about all the trained voice actors out there, giving life to some of our favorite characters. We're not just talking about famous ones like Mark Hamill and his famously diabolical, non-Luke Skywalkeresque Joker laugh. We're talking about those who were sometimes better friends with us on Saturday morning over a balanced breakfast of Chocolate Frosted Flakes than our supposed “friends” on the school playground during the week. We're talking about the non-celeb day players behind Pixar's greatest hits. 

These faces may not be tabloid fodder, and they probably like it that way. But damnit, we're super duperfans here at Cracked—especially of animation— and feel like these ultra-talented geniuses deserve their day in the sun.

We wanted to highlight a few of today's best voice actors you might not know you love:

H. JON BENJAMIN HAS THE VOICE YOU WISH YOUR DAD HAD. coo Benjamin's deep voice adds the perfect amount of weight to his often sarcastic and subtly goo
JIM CUMMINGS DOES YOUR FAVORITE SOFT VOICES. Cummings has brought over a thousand characters to life, but you might know him best as Pooh Bear and Tig
CHRIS PARNELL DOES HIS NORMAL VOIce, AND THAT'S OK. He might not be the man of a thousand voices, but the voice he can do is perfect for the type of c
CCH POUNDER IS THE DEFINITIVE AMANDA WALLER. While there have been many who have voiced Amanda Waller, none do so with as much gravitas and command as
BILLY WEST TALKS TO HIMSELF A LOT. Not only did West voice Ren & Stimpy, he was also a good chunk of Futurama, the red M&M, and even Bugs Bunny.
TARA STRONG VOICES A STABLE OF POWERFUL WOMEN. AND TIMMY TURNER. Strong's epic voice acting career has seen her cast as heroes and villains, children
TOM KENNY HAS A VERY UNIQUE VOICE. While his voice might be instantly recognizable, he is able to make his characters all stand out on their own.
JOHN DIMAGGIO HAS A GOOFY VOICE THAT ALWAYS GETS A LAUGH. BAND OF WEIRDOS His gravelly tone can easily demonstrate strength, wisdom, sarcasm, or even
GREY GRIFFIN VOICED ONE OF THE GREATEST ANIMATED VILLAINS OF ALL TIME. Griffin's voice could puncture the hull of an empire-class Fire Nation battlesh
DEE BRADLEY BAKER IS THE KING OF ANIMALS AND MONSTERS. When someone needs weird sounds, Baker is the man they call. But he does plenty of human voices
JUSTIN ROILAND HAS THAT PERFECTLY DISTURBED VOICE. Through all the burping, vomiting, and screaming, Roiland has carved himself out a neat little nich
DIEDRICH BADER IS THE VERSATILE VOICE ACTOR YOU DIDN'T KNOW YOU KNEW. MIDNIGHT Yep, Drew Carey's friend and the guy who talks about boobs in Office S

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Let us know in the comments if you have a favorite voice actor, or who we so glaringly failed to acknowledge. Here's a list to get you started: Mark Hamill, Maurice LaMarche, Tress MacNeille, Rob Paulsen...

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