Voice acting is a more varied field than some people think. Much of the work is in commercials or audiobooks. The work fans think of the most is in animation. Whether it's in anime dubbing or American cartoon voice-over, the most famous voice actors are in these two categories.
There isn't a lot of overlap between these two, though. Many voice actors for American cartoons find that those gigs pay better than those for anime dubbing. Additionally, many voice actors are based out of Texas due to Funimation and Sentai Filmworks' studios being based there rather than in Los Angeles. Still, there are a few voice actors that have been in both anime and American cartoons.
10 Zeno Robinson Started Young
Zeno Robinson began his acting career in his teens as Alan Albright in Ben 10 Alien Force. He resurfaced in the voice-over world about 10 years later as a character in One Punch Man. Since then, he's played Goh in Pokémon and Hawks in My Hero Academia.
In addition to anime, he's also been in American cartoons since his initial role. He was Remy in Big City Greens, the Green Poncho in Craig of the Creek, and several characters in Young Justice. He even has a lead role in the English dub for the Chinese donghua Link Click.
9 Debi Derryberry Had A Brain Blast
Debi Derryberry had her first role in Hey Vern, It's Ernest, a Saturday morning spin-off of the Ernest films starring Jim Varney. Since then, she has had voice roles in many cartoons. These roles were usually either young boys or tomboyish girls, such as Wednesday Addams in The Addams Family or Nergal Jr in The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy.
Her most famous role is arguably as Jimmy Neutron of The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron Boy Genius. What isn't well known is that she starred in a few anime series. She was Zatch in Zatch Bell as well as a few characters in Tenchi Muyo.
8 Hynden Walch Is Princess Of Multiple Kingdoms
Hynden Walch has had many roles throughout the years, though mostly voice roles. Outside of voice roles, she's been on shows such as Charmed and The Drew Carey Show. In the voice-over world, she was Penny in ChalkZone, Starfire in Teen Titans, and Princess Bubblegum in Adventure Time.
Though she's mostly known as either Starfire or Princess Bubblegum, Walch has been in a few anime dubs as well. Her most notable role in anime was as Nia in Gurren Lagann. She's also been in Lucky Star, Oban Star Racers, and The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.
7 Yuri Lowenthal Has A Protagonist Voice
Yuri Lowenthal took a voice-over course alongside his wife Tara Platt to supplement his on-camera work. Little did he know the amount of work he would get as a voice actor. He spent a lot of the 2000s voicing main characters like in Rave Master, Noein, and Saiyuki Reload. He would make his biggest mark in anime as Sasuke Uchiha in the Naruto franchise.
Alongside anime roles, he also did a lot of American cartoons starting in the late 2000s. Most notably, he was Ben Tennyson in Ben 10 Alien Force, Ben 10 Ultimate Alien, and Ben 10 Omniverse. He's also made appearances in Spider-Man and Arcane.
6 Phil Hartman Was A Stand-Up Guy
Phil Hartman was a regular on Saturday Night Live in the late 80s and early 90s, as well as on News Radio. He was also fondly remembered as both Troy McClure and Lionel Hutz on The Simpsons. He was mostly in American television, with one exception.
Prior to his death in 1998, Hartman recorded for the role of Jiji the Cat in the Studio Ghibli film Kiki's Delivery Service. It was one of his posthumous credits, and it was a fun performance. Whether it was his time on SNL or as Troy McClure, Hartman remains a dearly missed comedian that was gone too soon.
5 Cristina Valenzuela Is A Transforming Hero
Cristina Valenzuela, also known as Cristina Vee, has been in dubbing since the 2000s, when she voiced such characters Louise in The Familiar of Zero and Nanoha from Magical Lyrical Girl Nanoha. She was inspired by Sailor Moon to pursue voice-over. She would later earn the role of Sailor Mars in the Viz Media dub of the series.
While she's mostly done anime roles, she's been in a few Western cartoons. These credits have included Xochi in the Cartoon Network show Victor & Valentino and a young Donald Duck in Ducktales. Another notable credit is Marinette in Miraculous; Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir.
4 Kari Wahlgren Has A Ton Of Range
Kari Wahlgren moved to Los Angeles from Kansas City, Missouri around 2000 to pursue acting. She has a ton of credits in the animation world. She spent the early 2000s dubbing roles in such shows as Witch Hunter Robin, Last Exile, and Samurai Champloo.
Wahlgren gained numerous credits in American cartoons as well. In fact, that's what she mainly does these days. Her roles in Western shows include Chloe in season 10 of The Fairly Oddparents and Jeremy's sister Suzy in Phineas and Ferb.
3 Ben Diskin Has Been Goofballs And Serious Heroes
Ben Diskin has been acting since his youth as he was part of the Arnold Schwarzenegger film Kindergarten Cop. From there, he voiced in such cartoons as Hey Arnold and Codename Kids Next Door. He even won a Daytime Emmy years later as the voice of Gonzo in Muppet Babies.
He auditioned for Blood + in the late 2000s and wound up getting the role despite his lack of dubbing experience. Since then, he has been in several anime, including Sailor Moon, Seven Deadly Sins, and JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. His voice for Joseph Joestar is even reminiscent of Numbuh 1 from Kids Next Door.
2 Tara Strong Is A Veteran In The Business
Tara Strong started as a child actress and appeared in such cartoons as Hello Kitty and Babar. She did various minor roles throughout the 90s before being cast as Batgirl in Batman the Animated Series and soon after Bubbles in The Powerpuff Girls.
She's gained fame for her portrayal of such characters as Raven (Teen Titans), Timmy Turner (Fairly Oddparents), and Ben Tennyson (Ben 10). What some fans may not know is that Strong has been in some Studio Ghibli films. She gained roles in both Spirited Away and Only Yesterday. Her lack of appearances in anime is understandable when considering that domestic voice-over typically pays more than dubbing.
1 Steve Blum Has A Cool Voice
Steve Blum is known as the guy in dubbing with that really cool-sounding voice. From Spike in Cowboy Bebop to Roger in Big O to Toonami's TOM, his voice is almost iconic for anime fans. He's done other voices for dubs, though, including Orochimaru in Naruto and JP in Digimon Frontier.
Blum has done his fair share of American cartoon roles as well. He was Vilgax in Ben 10 (and even some of Ben's alien forms), Jamie in Megas XLR, and was even Prometheus in the "Prometheus & Bob" shorts on KaBlam. Perhaps most notably, he has been the go-to voice of Wolverine of X-Men fame for a long time now.