Just Some Thoughts On…The Fading of the Professional Voice Artist

I’ve complained about this a lot and it’s bothering me more as the years go by: Celebrities doing voice work. Not that I’m 100% against it. Some actors can do service to the character. There are performers out there that know how to perform solely with their voice in a way that adds to the animation. Nick Offerman jumps out as an actor who does voice work and does it quite well. But Chris Pine and Ken Jeong? What special aspects do they bring to anything? Other than their name that is? 

Celebrities in animated features or TV shows are not a new thing. There’s the occasional bit of stunt casting that I believe goes all the way back at least to The Flintstones if not further. But if there was somebody that did it regularly or did it in a feature film it was probably a lower-tier celebrity and not a readily recognizable face. Hans Conried worked in film and television while also dabbling in voicework.

Often a rando famous person cannot perform as well as somebody like a Frank Welker, Jim Cummings, Peter Cullen, or Charlie Adler. These are people who know how to convey the depth of a character with their voice alone. It’s a skill that not everyone has. That doesn’t mean somebody’s a bad actor. It just means somebody’s a bad voice actor.

The argument often used is that a celebrity name gets seats filled but you are just hearing a voice. Should you really be thinking of a specific actor when you’re watching an animated movie or series? The point of ANY acting is to get you to believe for thirty minutes or two hours is that Robert Downey Jr. is Tony Stark. Or Christopher Reeve is Clark Kent. If you think of the actor while you’re watching something, then they’re not doing their job. What’s the end goal since most animation is for kids? Sometimes though a voice actor becomes a celebrity.

Kevin Conroy was a working actor nobody knew who he really was before he voiced Batman. He did Batman: TAS and his name got on the map. The same can be said of Frank Welker (eventually). He was the voice of a few generations of children. In my mind as an adult the celebrity kills the magic.

Or maybe I am getting fatigued of turning something on seeing and encountering the same couple of people over and over.  I want to lose myself in the animation and the fictional world that I am delving into. 

Oversaturation is a problem. Not everybody can be Swoosie Kurtz and show up all the time (at least for a period) and not become an irritant. In a day and age when celebrities have their own blogs and podcasts just hearing their voice so to irritating you. We all need a break from friends and family. Not because we hate them but because there is more out there than just them. We need to interact with other people. Your spouse or significant other may be your world, and you may spend the majority of your time but your best friend or the cashier or that employee you see at a place you frequent all the time is a nice helps. Mix things up. 

Then they were the genuine artist who are getting crowded out. Much like the podcasters and streamers to who were nobodies until they started doing their particular thing the genuine artist or the creatives who you don’t know from anywhere else are getting replaced by the people you see from elsewhere. That variety you could get is going away. 

I’m just tired of celebrities giving mid-tier performances when there are people out there who could do far better. Give me the artists.

Thanks for reading my rant.