Top 10 Teenage Heartthrobs Who Voiced Animated Characters

Young Johnny Depp! That’s it, that’s the entry. Alright, alright, just kidding. But, seriously, Depp was one of–if not, the biggest Hollywood heartthrob in the late 80s and early 90s. With great hair and cheekbones chiseled by the gods themselves, Johnny stole the hearts of teens and young adults alike. His breakthrough roles in “A Nightmare on Elm Street” and “21 Jump Street” saw him cementing his talent in the film industry and gaining recognition at a rather young age. Later on, Depp would establish himself in the realm of voice acting through characters like Victor Van Dort in Tim Burton’s “Corpse Bride” and “Rango” in the 2011 film of the same name.

If you were in a boyband, that pretty much automatically makes you a heartthrob! As the youngest member of NSYNC, Timberlake was a teenager himself when he became the object of infatuation of what was likely millions of teenage girls. We’ve since watched that young man steadily develop both his music and acting careers, winning a plethora of awards and climbing all the charts. In 2010, Timberlake voiced young Boo-Boo Bear in the CGI “Yogi Bear” movie. He was also Artie Pendragon in “Shrek the Third” and currently plays the overly-cautious Branch in the “Trolls” franchise.

Jonathan Taylor Thomas was the teen idol of the 90s. Sitcom fans will remember him as the mischievous Randy Taylor on “Home Improvement” and Greg Brady’s son in “The Brady Bunch’s” spin-off show. Girls at the time totally fawned over the child star, especially as he went from a cute kid to an even cuter teenager. Thomas would eventually step out of the limelight, which is why we don’t hear much about him today. If one thing’s for sure, though, we’ll always remember him as the voice of young Simba in Disney’s beloved classic “The Lion King”.

If you were a fan of “Boy Meets World” growing up, we’re willing to bet you had a massive crush on Cory Matthews’ best friend, Shawn Hunter. We’re not sure if it’s the hair, the smile, or Shawn Hunter’s whole vibe, but there was just something about Rider Strong that had us absolutely swooning. And, honestly? He still looks amazing. A whole new generation got to experience him as Tom Lucitor in Disney Channel’s “Star vs. the Forces of Evil”. And, if you’re between both generations, you might recognize him as the voice of Brick Flagg in “Kim Possible”.

What time is it? Time to rave over Zac Efron, of course! From the moment the first installment of “High School Musical” aired on Disney Channel, pre-teens everywhere fell head over heels for Troy Bolton. He used to have that iconic shaggy hairstyle in the early 2000s which we absolutely loved. (Seriously, were you even a teen guy in the 2000s if you didn’t have that hair?) Of course, he’s since moved on to more modern ‘dos, and remained the exact kind of hottie we have heart eyes for. A few years after the height of the HSM franchise, we got to hear Efron as the protagonist, Ted, in “The Lorax”. Which, let’s be honest, is why most of us watched it in the first place.

What kind of Top 10s YouTube channel would we be if we left the 2021 World’s Sexiest Man off our list? Paul Rudd truly ages like fine wine, which means generations of adolescents have found themselves idolizing him. Before his Marvel days, Rudd was a celebrity crush for so many of us who spent our teen years watching “Clueless”, “Friends”, and “Sisters”. His voice is a little difficult to pick out in animation right away, but once you know it’s him, you can’t unhear it. That’s the case for a few of his roles including the horse, Jericho, on “Bob’s Burgers” and Mr. Prince in the beautifully animated 2016 fantasy adventure drama “The Little Prince”. As with everything he’s part of, Rudd totally aces the whole voice acting thing!

As far as animated sci-fi dystopian series go, “gen:LOCK” is where it’s at! The characters are full of depth, the visuals are stunning, and it features an all-star cast with none other than Michael B. Jordan in the role of the main protagonist, Julian Chase. Jordan is also an executive producer on the series. With a plethora of credits under his belt, including soap operas, superhero films, and now, animation, Jordan’s range really knows no bounds. He was everything we wanted when we were young and, unsurprisingly, he still checks off all our boxes. Anyone know if Killmonger needs a partner in the upcoming “Black Panther” sequel? We volunteer!

Although Tom Holland had a few notable acting accolades in his roster, it felt like he became an overnight sensation after the premiere of “Spider-Man: Homecoming”. Since then, the world has gone weak in the knees for this new generation’s Peter Parker. If Zendaya’s got a crush on him, we have a crush on him. Holland is fantastic in absolutely everything he does, including his dabbling in the voice acting world. He first came on the scene in the UK English dubbing of “The Secret World of Arrietty” as Sho or Shawn, and has since moved on to bigger roles such as Walter Beckett alongside Will Smith in “Spies in Disguise” and Ian Lightfoot opposite Chris Pratt in “Onward”.

Does stop motion count? We sure hope so, because we would be hard-pressed to leave George Clooney out of any list with the word “heartthrob” in it. Mr. Fox, more like a silver fox, are we right or are we right? We could go on to name some of his biggest hits, but it’s sort of pointless considering just how many there are. What we will say is that young George Clooney in “The Facts of Life” is muah, chefs kiss, unmatched baby! The mullet really works for him and it alone makes us want to bring back the ‘80s!

Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.

John Travolta as Bolt, “Bolt” (2008)
Danny Zuko Took the World by Storm in ‘78

Chris Pine as Jack Frost, “Rise of the Guardians” (2012)
Chris Pine… Is Fine!

Ryan Reynolds as Guy, “The Croods” franchise (2013-)
A Sense of Humor Is Always Attractive, but It Helps When You Look Like Ryan Reynolds

Michael J. Fox as Stuart Little, “Stuart Little” franchise (1999-2005)
Who Didn't Have a Crush on Him in “Back to the Future”?

Brad Pitt as Sinbad & Metro Man, "Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas" (2003) & "Megamind" (2010)
Young Brad Pitt–That’s All We Gotta Say

Is Chris Evans the most famous heartthrob on our list? Probably not. But is he our personal fav? You might say that… From “Cellular”, “The Nanny Diaries”, and “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World”, to “Captain America”, “Gifted” and “Knives Out”, Chris Evans has been stealing our hearts for something like two decades now. He’s had a few voice-acting roles such as Casey Jones in the 2007 movie adaptation of “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”, but Buzz Lightyear is without a doubt the most notable of his animated characters. If Evans’ work as Captain America is anything to go by, we could have picked no one better to play the Buzz Lightyear!