Poll: Who do you respect most as a voice actor?

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

Tara Strong got my vote. Highly underrated voice actress. I mean, just look at the range in her roles!

Spoiler: Tara Strong roles

Bubbles in "Powerpuff Girls"

Harley Quinn in "Batman: Arkham City" and the upcoming "Injustice: Gods Among Us"

Raven in "Teen Titans" and the upcoming "Injustice: Gods Among Us"

Twilight Sparkle in "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic"

Timmy Turner in "Fairly Oddparents"

Sari Sumdac and Slipstream in "Transformers Animated"

Princess Clara and Toot in "Drawn Together"

I'm not sure if there is any role she couldn't do, short of adult males.

 

[Garyn Dakari]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Andy Serkis, I'd give it to Him or Mark Hammill.

Took the words right out of my keyboard. Serkis is just one hell of an actor, live action, voice, or mo-capped. Hammil's also great, definitely the definitive version of the Joker for me - Though I'm hesitant to call him my favorite voice actor because the Joker is really the only voice role of his I'm familiar with(I know he's been in other things, but I haven't seen/played them).

Lets see, who else...These two are obvious, but Nolan North and Jennifer Hale are both great. Though Nolan North is in way too many games, it's actually pretty funny at this point.

But yeah, I'm going to have to say Andy Serkis is my favorite voice actor. One of my favorite actors in general.

 

[Darken12]

Cam Clarke, but I don't really want to get into why. I don't really want to get mobbed for not having the "right" reasons to admire a voice actor.

 

[King of Asgaard]

I notice a lack of Tony Jay and Simon Templeman. Why is that, Escapist?
My vote is for them, because they defined Legacy of Kain, as well as other series.

Here's Simon Templeman:

Spoiler

Here's Tony Jay (he's the eye on the wall):

Spoiler

He's quite the singer, too:

Spoiler

Here's him and Simon having a laugh in the recording studio

Spoiler

Shout outs to Mark Hamill's Joker

Spoiler

and Steve Blum's Spike Spiegel.

Spoiler: spoilers for Cowboy Bebop

Steve Blum's voice is like cigarette smoke dancing tentatively across a silken scarf

That it is, Daystar, that it is... *drools*

 

[JaceArveduin]

That's a rather tough question...

Can I pick most of the va's mentioned in the above posts?

 

[Tanis]

Tara Strong I respect as a person, given all the work she does outside her work.
She's also a pretty strong voice actor.

 

[HellbirdIV]

Jim Cummings and Grey DeLisle.

Why these two? Because you never even know it's them until you double-check the credits.

As much as I love, for example, Jennifer Hale and Mark Hamill for their performances, you almost always hear, at some level, the actor doing the voice.

 

[joshuaayt]

It's a toss up between Michelle Ruff, Yuri Lowenthal and Tracey Rooney. Tracey has given me my favourite game performance as Chie Satonaka's original VA, in Persona 4.

Michelle and Yuri are two similarly prevalent VAs, and every game they're in is better for their inclusion.

I dunno, I wanna pick all three. So, I shall.

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

Cam Clarke, but I don't really want to get into why. I don't really want to get mobbed for not having the "right" reasons to admire a voice actor.

He played Sky in Jade Empire, Leonardo in the original TMNT series, and Liquid Snake. That is enough reason to admire him.

 

[ShadowKatt]

Tara Strong. I sometimes think that she is the ONLY female voice actor because she's in EVERYTHING. Her resume is bigger than small books.

EDIT: Oh, and Steve Blum. If Strong is like the only female voice actor, then Blum would be the only male one. Between the two of them, I think that's pretty much half the voice acting ever.

 

[jklinders]

Mel Blanc was the wizard who started it all.

I love Jim Cummings, Jennifer Hale and the late Tony Jay as well. I can't really give a vote to Mark Hamill seeing as well as he did with the Joker I cannot think of any other voice work he has done. The four in my list in many ways define what a great career voice over actor does. Many different characters in many different types of stories.

 

[Guitarmasterx7]

I mean anyone who's good has my respect, but especially people who have to do an unnatural character voice and make it sound human. David Hayter with solid snake is a great example. If someone does a solid snake impression you can immediately tell they're doing a solid snake impression because the character has unnaturally distinct and unique qualities to his voice. Doing a solid snake impression is still a talent but it's not like "whoa that's amazing." Making solid snake talk about cooking eggs and having it not sound out of place, THAT is amazing.

 

[leonfei]

As a rabid Mass Effect fan, I've got to say Jennifer Hale. She is Commander Shepard. I've played through all 3 games multiple times as both male and female Shepard, and while Mark Meer is good, it just doesn't beat the kick-ass-ness of some the lines Jennifer Hale delivers.

 

[Xarathox]

Cam Clarke, but I don't really want to get into why. I don't really want to get mobbed for not having the "right" reasons to admire a voice actor.

Y'know, I completely forgot about Liquid when I posted earlier. I shall stab myself with a rusty spoon for doing so. Cam really is a good VA.

 

[GodzillaGuy92]

One thousand heartfelt apologies to Tara Strong, but Mark Hamill manages to edge her out for me. There's a reason the poll doesn't refer to him as "the Joker," but "THE Joker."

 

[COMaestro]

It's really impossible for me to say, there are so many good ones out there. Though highly overused overall, I do like Nolan North and Steven Blum, but they are usually very distinctive so I don't know if they have much range or not. Same for David Hayter, Mark Hammil and Kevin Conroy, very impressive but somewhat one-note. I also really like Gideon Emery (voice of Balthier in FF12) and always enjoy hearing him pop up in a game, usually as a minor character.

Always impressed by the abilities of Mel Blanc, Tara Strong, and Billy West. They manage to pull out a lot of different voices and each one is distinct and usually can't tell it is the same person. DiMaggio and Phil LaMarr as well. My jaw dropped when I realized LaMarr did the voice of Vulgrim in Darksiders when I was so used to hearing him as Hermes Conrad from Futurama.

 

[Dfskelleton]

If we're talking about being able to do different voices then someone like Jon St. John takes the cake. Would you believe the same man that voiced the iconic Duke Nukem was also the voice of Big The Cat from Sonic Adventure?

But honestly, I can't say that I respect one voice actor over the rest, because so many them are very talented.

Cop out answer I know, but still.

Agreed; I love John St. John.
I mean come on, name one other voice actor who has a website that is nothing but them reading every single one of the textedit menus.
http://tatatataa.cn/

Oh, and let's not forget this:

 

[Abomination]

Gilbert Gottfried.

He was the parrot on Aladdin, you know?

But Mark Hamill OWNS The Joker, nobody else can come close.

While I can admire voice actors for their range it is the actors who can really inspire an emotional response from me that I rank as the greatest.

 

[Shadow-Phoenix]

Big props to Mark for his amazing role at playing the Joker all these years.

Steve Blum because he's got a huge roster of voice acting roles and has massive talent.

Frank Welker since he's not only played Megatron in most Transformers media he's also supplied sound effects as well as various other roles.

Crispin freeman because of Alucard from Hellsing.

Nolan North because Deadpool and Dr Richtofen from COD: World at War/BLOPS.

There are so many more actors out there that I find just as great as those I've listed but I'd be here all night till morning writing the entire list down and reasons why.

PS: Tara strong because bubbles <3.

 

[CrazyGirl17]

Tough call, seeing as I have so many...

Mark Hamill- for voicing so many great villains
Tara Strong- for her impressive vocal range
Keith David- for his deliciously velvet voice
Cree Summer- for a great speaking and singing voice
Jennifer Hale- for voicing so many kickass femal characters
Johnny Yong Bosch- for doing some awesome characters
Steve Blum- for his variety of roles