Cartoon Voices That Look Much Different Than You'd Expect
Your favorite animated series is deceiving you. Behind all of those charming characters and ridiculous plotlines is a dedicated crew of boring adults, slaving away to bring everything to life. No, Friendship is Magic didn't spring forth from the loins of an enchanted centaur; those episodes that you love most are the product of the gnarled hands of a 40-something dude at his computer and a team of pale, hunched animators. And to make things worse, the real people who voice the cartoons you love aren't so pretty either. Sorry to shatter the illusion, but here are some of the real faces behind your favorite fictional characters.
H. Jon Benjamin As Archer
Archer's titular super-spy is twice as handsome as James Bond, but the man behind the mask isn't quite as debonair, unless you're really into tired-looking dads. You might recognize H. Jon Benjamin's face from Aziz Ansari's Master of None, though he generally spends more time behind the microphone than appearing on screen. While the actor's features aren't quite as traditionally handsome as the spy he voices, it's that voice that brings in the bucks. Even though H. Jon Benjamin's vocal range begins and ends at playing variations of H. Jon Benjamin, it's landed him regular roles on Bob's Burgers, Dr. Katz, and Venture Bros. However, no role is quite as physically divergent as Archer.
Seth MacFarlane As Peter Griffin
Seth MacFarlane got his start in animation writing episodes of Dexter's Lab before moving on to producing and voicing his own shorts, one of which eventually evolved into the extremely popular Family Guy. By all accounts, MacFarlane is a handsome devil with a voice like silk, so the fact that he effectively voices an obese moron like Peter Griffin is a bit of a shock, only amplified by the fact that he also voices Family Guy's Stewie, Brian, and Quagmire, as well as American Dad's Stan Smith and Roger the Alien, and a host of other vocally and visually diverse characters. The man's face is a gift to humanity, but that voice is something else.
Jess Harnell As Wakko Warner
Kids from the '90s remember Animaniacs fondly, and the highlight for many was Wakko Warner, a character that sounded a whole lot like Ringo Starr, even if that reference went far over the heads of the audience. The man behind the voice, Jess Harnell, is perhaps the weirdest voice actor working today. Harnell looks more like he belongs in Guns N' Roses than a cartoon, and lives in a crazy sci-fi house, making him even stranger than many of the characters he portrays. You've probably heard his voices in everything from Rick and Morty to Drawn Together, but not many of his characters resemble the flamboyant rock god.
Doc Hammer As Billy Quizboy And Henchman 21
Venture Bros. is Cartoon Network's runaway cult favorite series, mixing Jonny Quest with comic books and your quarter-life crisis, and it's completely full of lovable freaks. The show's co-creator, a guy by the name of Doc Hammer, looks like the gaunt ringleader of a coven of hipster vampires, but he also voices many of the show's more notable weirdos, like the nerdy Henchman 21, the gruff Doctor Girlfriend, and the diminutive, hydrocephalic genius Billy Quizboy. It's a collection of goofy cartoon voices that you'd never expect to come out of such an aggressively cool guy, but once you see it, it's impossible to un-see.
Brendon Small As Nathan Explosion
After watching Home Movies for four seasons, you start to a form a pretty accurate impression of what Brendon Small might look like, since he's voicing an eight-year-old version of himself. Even even when he lends his kinda-nerdy voice to other projects, there's really no disconnect between him and the dorks on screen...but when he starts belting out raspy, guttural death metal songs as Nathan Explosion in Metalocalypse, all bets are off. Small is an insanely talented musician, so he knows his way around a guitar and vocals with the best of them, but voicing a 300-pound stack of angry muscle is a surprising change of pace.
Townsend Coleman As The Tick And Michelangelo
It's hard to imagine what a guy who voices a deep-voiced, arachnid-themed superhero would look like, but that image is nothing like Townsend Coleman. It's equally difficult to picture how the man behind the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' resident party dude might appear, but it's the same guy. Completely unassuming, Coleman probably wouldn't stand out in a crowd as his incredibly bizarre characters would, but you'd recognize those voices anywhere. It's probably safe to say that most of your favorite cartoons are played by middle-aged white guys anyhow.
Kevin Conroy As Batman
Batman: The Animated Series was a genre-redefining cartoon that combined traditional Saturday-morning action with adult themes and minimalist design, and topped it all off with amazing voice acting to completely capture viewers' imaginations. Mark Hamill created an iconic Joker like no other, but even more unexpected than the Jedi hero's turn as a villain was the voice of Kevin Conroy as Batman, able to switch between enraged anti-hero and bright socialite in an instant. You'd never suspect that the curly-haired Conroy could have made a career as playing Gotham City's most eligible bachelor just by looking at him, but it's hard to imagine anyone else in the role now.
Frank Welker As Everything
If you've ever heard an animal in a cartoon, it was probably Frank Welker. With 753 credits on his IMDB page, Welker's voice has appeared in nearly every cartoon you can name. Most astounding of all, Welker has been playing Scooby Doo's Fred Jones since 1969, and even after 45 years, he still sounds exactly the same. You may also recognize Welker from Futurama, The Real Ghostbusters, Transformers, or about 700 more roles...none of which require him to play a man in his seventies, which he is. Welker's voice hasn't aged a day in decades, and reading his credits is like taking a trip through cartoon history. Try it out.