Recently, my wife dreamt she was at a party where she met NewsRadio actor Dave Foley, and she said to him, "Dave, why are you taking work away from my husband?" I guess recently she had been thinking a lot about the subject since we have been seriously contemplating ending my bid for a voice acting career in the face of such stiff celebrity competition.

Robin William's sheer exuberance as the Genie in Aladdin created a memorable and entertaining character. Courtesy Walt Disney Company.

One of the current trends in the American animation industry is to cast major movie stars to voice animated characters. From Robin Williams in Aladdin, Tom Hanks in Toy Story, Dave Foley in A Bug's Life, Eddie Murphy in Mulan, and even Woody Allen in Antz, animated films have become starry-eyed. The trend has even moved to television where many new animated cartoon shows feature stars in the lead roles. Eddie Murphy now stars in The PJs. David Spade will star in Sammy next season. Dilbert features sitcom favorites such as Kathy Griffin, Larry Miller and Chris Elliott. For instance, one voice actor who asked to remain anonymous suggests, "If they were casting some of the classics of my youth for the first time today, they'd get Joe Pesci to play Bugs Bunny, Dan Ackroyd for Yogi Bear, and Whoopi Goldberg for Felix the Cat."

As animation has hit the big time, stars are taking work away from the core group of voice actors. While it seems unfair to give voice work to already working sitcom actors and motion picture stars, it is an understandable philosophy in view of today's fierce competition and need to draw a wide audience. It is a time of change, where voice actors are disgruntled, casting agents are dismayed and animation producers feel remorse, but also understand the business challenges ahead of them. Let's discover the many varied viewpoints from all of these parties on this too hot to handle topic.

A Need for Publicity
Animation producer Fred Seibert (Oh Yeah! Cartoons!) explains, "Disney started the recent fixation on celebrities with their re-launch of their feature animation division. They properly recognized that you couldn't send an animated character out there to Entertainment Tonight to promote your movie."

But voice actor Bob Bergen counters, "If you look at Disney's history, they've always used the celebrities of the day for their cartoons. Many were from radio, but well known voices to the audience. So this isn't a new trend. I think it feels like a new trend because of the amount of animation projects out there. No [other] time in film has there been so much animation being produced."

While in the past Disney used an occasional celebrity (Phil Harris in The Jungle Book, Bob Newhart in The Rescuers), today all their major characters are portrayed by celebrities, leaving those who make a living at voice acting to fight over a handful of supporting roles and crowd scenes. Moreover, the trend has spread to television with such shows as Disney's Hercules, an outgrowth of their 1997 animated feature film. The Hercules voice cast includes the film's Tate Donovan, James Woods, Matt Frewer, and Bobcat Goldthwait, as well as guest appearances by the likes of Diedrich Bader, Jason Alexander, Jennifer Aniston, Eric Idle, Merv Griffin, Regis Philbin, Harvey Korman, Lisa Kudrow, Heather Locklear, Wayne Newton, David Hyde Pierce, Carl Reiner, William Shatner and Betty White. (One must wonder what "acting ability" Merv Griffin and Wayne Newton bring to the show.)

Eric Idle, David Hyde Pierce and Bobcat Goldthwait are three of the 160+ voice actors on Disney's Hercules TV series. Courtesy Walt Disney Company.