The first dubbed cartoons began in 1950, and since then the dubbing field has been filled with talented actors. A good voice actor can add more to their character than personality and life, a good voice actor can play more than one character and still make each one entirely distinct.
Often, that’s exactly what voice actors need to do – add distinction to a limited voice pool. Dubbing is a very fast-paced industry where one person can star in dozens of projects a year, which makes it very different from live-action work, which might see an actor on a single project for years at a time. But who are the most common, prolific and famous voice actors?
ten Tara Strong – 1,331 roles
Tara Strong is a leading comedienne who has worked in the animation industry for over two decades. After his early debut in the 1997 series The New Adventures of Batman as Barbara Gordon, she found a home for herself working in animation. She began working largely with Cartoon Network soon after.
Strong is best known for her vocal flexibility, voicing many cute and bubbly characters, as well as darker, raspier-voiced ones. His most iconic roles are Bubbles from The PowerPuff Girls and Raven from the original Teen Titans series. With over 1,000 voice roles behind her, she continues to shine in television, film and video game roles.
9 Rob Paulsen – 1,332 roles
Like Yakko’s voice in the Animaniacs, Rob Paulson began a lifelong role that continues to provide him with a steady paycheck. That said, Rob isn’t resting on his laurels, continuing to provide voices for over 1,000 characters.
Paulson’s career spans over 40 years, allowing him to build a truly impressive record of characters and roles. From Pinky and the Brainis pink to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtleis Donatello and Raphael (in different series), Paulson is one of the most prolific voice actors today.
8 Seth Green – 1,354 roles
While many fans might recognize Seth Green more easily for his role as Oz in buffy the vampire slayer or Scott Evil in the Austin Powers series, he spent much of his adult career building a solid repertoire of voice acting roles. His biggest role to date is that of Howard the Duck in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and What if…?.
Outside of this major role, Seth Green has nurtured a love of geekdom via Robot Chicken, which he co-created and plays with friends Matthew Senreich and Mike Fasolo. Many of his recurring voice roles come from this sketch-and-bit-based show, but Green has also been a longtime voice actor on american dad with another famous Seth: Mcfarlane.
7 Fred Tatasciore – 1,602 roles
Fred Tatasciore is unique for being a voice actor who voices video game characters more frequently than animated films and TV shows. Tatasciore’s tendency for explosive, masculine voices has landed him many roles in the video game industry, but perhaps most notable is that he voices Soldier 72 in Monitoring.
Beyond that, Tatasciore is a favorite of someone at Warner Brothers, having voiced many looney tunes characters over the years. In the most recent Looney Tunes Cartoons series, he voiced Yosemite Sam, Taz the Tasmanian Devil, Sam the Sheepdog, and other iconic characters.
6 Gray DeLisle/Griffin – 1,925 roles
Gray Delisle, who is sometimes credited as Gray Griffin, is a very distinctive voice actress that many fans of Avatar: The Last Airbender and Fairly Odd Parents would call recognizing. However, her range of voices and roles spans from the late 90s to today, and she has many roles that show off her incredible skills.
Since 2001, Delisle has been the main voice of Daphne Blake in most animated films. scooby-doo movies and TV shows. Additionally, she is one of the few voice actors to voice both DC and Marvel characters, being a frequent voice behind Catwoman and Captain Marvel in numerous films and video games.
5 Frank Welker – 2,048 roles
Frank Welker has shaped a career throughout his life and, at the age of 76, has created one of the greatest repertoires of voices and roles in existence.
Frank was one of the most recognizable voices in the scooby-doo franchise from the very beginning as Fred Jones, ceding the role to another only twice: in the 1988 series A puppy named Scooby-Doo in which the character was a child, and in the 2020 film Scoob! in which the studio opted for famous voice actors. That said, he’s voiced the titular Great Dane since 2002, including in the 2020 film. Outside of that role, he’s also very notable for his frequent appearances as Megatron in various Transformers animated series.
4 Tom Kenny – 2,078 roles
Tom Kenny’s voices are as iconic as the characters attached to them. As the voice of the titular character in Sponge Bob SquarePants, Tom Kenny provided an immense amount of personality and comedy to an already well-written and well-created show. Kenny has voiced the sponge in every film, television, and video game appearance.
But beyond his iconic portrayal of Spongebob, Tom Kenny has also voiced a number of other well-known characters, ranging from the Ice King to adventure time to the heroic dragon of spyro series. His recognizable nasal voices are just as well done as his deeper voices.
3 Jeff Bennett – 2,096 roles
Jeff Bennett is one of the most chameleon voice actors, adapting many different inspirations to his vocal repertoire. From his longstanding representation as a leader of Johnny Bravo to the man in the yellow hat in the animated film Curious George movies and shows, Bennett’s voice is as flexible as the medium itself.
With over 2,000 roles behind him, Bennett has had a busy career. His first role was in the james bond jr animated series in 1991, and it exploded onto the scene afterwards. Unlike other voice actors, he hasn’t had as many long term stints with particular studios, bouncing from Disney, Cartoon Network and others.
2 Trey Parker – 2,131 roles
Trey Parker is uniquely positioned in the voice acting realm with his personal control over his own roles. As co-creator of South Park, Trey was originally responsible for providing most of the voice acting for the series. It may be surprising to consider now, but the low-budget series didn’t have much behind it, initially.
But since 1997, Trey has built his unthinkable number of voice roles, and he’s imitated, created, and satirized voices of all kinds through it. But that’s not the only source of his voiced roles – Parker has also produced and/or starred in a number of animated films, including his most notable role as the villainous Balthazar Bratt in Despicable Me 3.
1 Dee Bradley Baker – 2,296 roles
Perhaps the most diverse and prolific voice actor of all time, Dee Bradley Baker has racked up over 2,200 roles over his 30-year career. His very first experience was storytelling for the show Legends of the Hidden Templeas well as the voice of the rock god Olmec.
Since then, Baker has provided voices for star-studded productions and small animated shows. His hosting career began with Cow and Chickenvoicing the titular character’s father, but he quickly rose to voice actor stardom when he voiced Daffy Duck and Taz in the first space jam movie. Today, it is most often heard as the voice of animal characters, such as Eagle the eagle in Peacemaker or the Hammond hamster in Monitoring.
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