Top 10 Easiest Celebrities to Imitate

As a performer who is both a member of the French Legion and the EGOT club, Liza Minelli’s accomplishments are hard to match. But you don’t have to be as talented as her or Kristen Wiig to do a great Liza Minelli impression. According to impressionist and “Britain's Got Talent” finalist Jess Robinson, imitating her can be done in just five steps. Her tutorial recommends putting your voice at the back of your throat and making it hard to tell if you’re about to laugh or cry. Once you’ve mastered these steps, you can test out your impression while trying to turn off a lamp in front of a friend.

One of the greatest actors of all time has given us plenty of material to copy. His distinctive voice and facial expressions make him very fun to imitate. Over the years, we’ve seen countless celebrities take a stab at imitating him. Before Nicholson delivered his legendary speech in “A Few Good Men”, Cruise’s character treated us to a great impression. He showed that some of the keys to imitating the icon are scrunching up your face and adjusting the tempo of your voice. These important factors also helped Robin Williams blow us away with his impression in “Aladdin”. Watching actors have fun with their Nicholson imitations is enough to make us want to take a stab at the “Here’s Johnny” scene for ourselves.

Whether he’s demanding more cowbell or comparing himself to a mouse that churned cream into butter, Christopher Walken is one of the most recognizable celebrity voices in Hollywood. Walken’s voice and speech pattern is so distinct it almost feels like he's doing an impersonation of himself. While he isn’t, a whole lot of people sure are. Everyone from Howard Wolowitz to Bradley Cooper has given us their best Walken. What really helps is that you don’t need to have the voice down pat. As long as you get the speech pattern and intonations down, you’ll be recognizable to pretty much everyone.

The great Sean Connery won a BAFTA for playing Indiana Jones’s father and took home an Oscar for his supporting role in “The Untouchables.” But as we all know, he was the first and one of the greatest James Bond actors. We’ve all tried to imitate his legendary introduction. All you really need to do is put on your best Scottish accent and drop your voice a couple of octaves. Even if it’s not perfect, it won’t be hard for people to catch on quickly. If you’re really dedicated, you can order yourself a martini, shaken not stirred. You now have a license to kill it at your next dinner party!

Although our heart goes on and on for Celine Dion, we also love those who can rock an awesome impersonation of the world famous French-Canadian Megastar. It takes a French-Canadian accent, Dion’s signature chest smack and requires you to extend your words. But the true masters of this easy impersonation show off their singing talents too. Ariana Grande is well known for fantastic impression. At a moment’s notice, she can capture all of Dion’s eccentricities and nuances whether she’s singing or talking. It’s an impressive ode to the legendary singer.

If you could turn back time would you take that opportunity to work on your Cher impression? Well you don’t need to borrow a time machine because it won’t take that long to learn. According to Jack McFarland, all you need to do is an exaggerated hair toss and add a wide-mouthed “hoooooo” after everything you say. Since Cher herself said that she hasn’t heard an impersonation that really blew her away, you’ll probably never impress her. But there is a chance you can at least make Gordon Ramsay laugh.

Legendary onscreen and vocal performer Mark Hamill once recommended that a young Arnold Schwarzenegger try to lose his signature accent. Obviously, the action star didn’t take the advice. His dedication to being himself gave impressionists everywhere one of the greatest gifts of all time. The thick Austrian accent is pretty easy to try out because it’s so unlike most hollywood stars. You don’t even need to use it in tandem with one of his classic lines for everyone to get it right away. But throw in lines like “I’ll be Back,” or “get to the choppa” and your job is done—or should we say terminated.

Marilyn Monroe is one of the most recognizable pop culture icons in Hollywood history. Fortunately, getting her mannerisms and voice down just requires a little study. Before going for her bleach blond hair and tousled curls, make sure you practice speaking from your throat. An avid impersonator should simultaneously try to make their voice as soft and sweet as possible. This unlikely combo of vocal elements should put anyone within the ideal Monroe imitation range. If you want to put the cherry on top of this impersonation sundae, you could stand over a subway grate in a white dress or sing a sultry rendition of “Happy Birthday” to the president.

During the King of Pop’s reign over music, he became known for a few characteristics. He had a soft voice that could hit a high pitch, great interjections and amazing dance moves. The first two vocal components shouldn’t present much of a challenge for the average Joe. So, if you want to take your MJ impression to the next level, you’ll need some pretty decent dance moves. Master your moonwalk and high kicks so people know who you’re trying to imitate without saying a word. And when you do speak, using MJ’s voice and throwing in a “shamone” every once and a while should give you an impression so good that no one can beat it. Sorry, we just couldn’t resist that pun.

The city of Las Vegas alone is a veritable sea of Elvis impersonators. Countless performers have adopted his southern drawl, confident baritone and signature lip curl. He also has plenty of looks to choose from to get performers into character. Whether they imitate the old school Ed Sullivan show version or the way he looked late in the career, the voice will instantly turn heads. The singer’s tones alone have inspired other pop culture icons like Johnny Bravo. He sounds exactly like Elvis while rocking the pompadour and sideburns. In real life, impersonating the singer takes extremely little effort. There’s no reason not to slap on a bedazzled onesie and try to sound like the king of rock and roll.