Top 20 Actresses Who Have a Distinct Voice

If you know Susie Carmichael, you know Cree Summer. But “Rugrats” isn’t the only notable children’s show Summer has appeared on. The voice actress has leant her throaty chops to the likes of “Danny Phantom,” “Codename: Kids Next Door,” and “Inspector Gadget.” You probably remember her best as Susie though, or maybe as Elmyra Duff in “Tiny Toon Adventures.” Summer has a signature rasp to her voice that sits interestingly in her higher register instead of her lower, making her more recognizable to the ear. Our favorite part of her voice? Her laugh, which is a unique, crackling delight.

If the character was essentially instability personified, you could bet that Carol Channing was playing her. The comedic actress had a penchant for playing expressive, ardent characters, usually with a bit of an oddball streak. In addition to her physical chops, she used her bawdy, raspy voice to great effect. In movies like “Thoroughly Modern Millie” and “Skidoo,” she would waltz in and steal the show with her low, growling tones. And when she sang, the effect was only made stronger. Hollywood obviously loved this quirky lady’s vocals; she was nominated for Academy Awards, Tonys, and all other sorts of awards – and won a fair few of them too!

Some people can contort their bodies. But Whoopi Goldberg? She can contort her vocal chords! Goldberg’s normal speaking voice is interesting enough, all low and scratchy. However, she has the ability to take that low rasp wherever she wants. She can be low and sultry, high and wheezing, and everything in between. In most of her best performances, this voice is almost weaponized to make us laugh. She’s not a one-trick pony, though. In movies like “Ghost,” she shows off not just her skills for comedic delivery, but her flair for drama as well.

As soon as she starts speaking, there’s only one name we can think of. There is perhaps no TV actress who is more associated with a role than Megan Mullaly is with Karen Walker on “Will & Grace.” She can do so much with her snide, haughty little squeak, and during her time on the show, she really married Karen to that vocal performance. Even in her other films and TV series, Mullaly is able to contort her voice just enough to remind us that she’s not just Karen. Whether it’s movies like “Speaking of Sex,” or the sitcom “Parks and Recreation,” she always manages to make the characters all her own.

When you’re a wildly famous movie star, it behooves you for people to be able to recognize you before they even see you. In the 1980s and ‘90s, Demi Moore had that very specific quality about her since her voice is a good bit lower than most female movie stars. That low, drawling quality made her an excellent fit for erotic thrillers and fed into her sex symbol persona. But her voice also has gravitas, which lends itself well to roles where she holds a certain amount of authority. Whether it be “Indecent Proposal” or “A Few Good Men,” we could listen to Demi Moore all day long.

Even decades after her tragic death, Marilyn Monroe has a voice that has stayed with us. Whether she was talking or singing, the musical, lilting quality of her tone was mesmerizing to audiences. As far as singing goes, she knew how to wield her voice, using her breath and high tones to almost entrance listeners. Monroe was also able to use her seemingly ditzy voice to great comedic effect, which made her perfect to play characters who acted the part of the dumb blonde while secretly letting the audience in on her true wit.

The voice that might have never been. When she was just breaking into show business, a young Katharine Hepburn was often criticized for the shrill quality of her voice. She subsequently worked with a coach, and one of the most recognizable tones in Hollywood history was born. Her patrician accent gave off a sense of high society, but also an intellect that emphasized her steadfastness. Katherine Hepburn wouldn’t have been Katherine Hepburn if she hadn’t cultivated the way she spoke in the manner she did. It helped make her a Hollywood icon, for sure.

Two decades after its premiere, “NCIS” is still ongoing. But, one of its most recognizable voices left the show in 2018. For 15 years, Pauley Perrette played Abby Sciuto, the team’s forensic scientist. Perrette has a beautiful, distinctive look that’s only made more interesting by her thrilling raspy voice. Her low, dulcet tones can hold so much emotion inside them. That ability to portray a deep level of sensitivity using just her voice helped make her acting all the more convincing. Perette was able to bring real depth to her character, and we hope to see her continue to put those vocal chops to good use in the future.

It makes complete sense that Drew Barrymore has gone the talk show route. With a voice as interesting and inviting as hers, it was always going to be money in the bank. Barrymore has been in our lives for so long, so she’s one of the rare actresses whose voices we’ve seen mature over time. Still, there’s something really unique about the way she speaks. There’s sort of a subtle lisp to her words that makes her sound perpetually authentic and sincere. This means she’s almost always able to showcase a sense of joy using just her voice. Whenever she talks, it literally feels like sunshine personified.

For starters, let’s go back in time to the golden age of Hollywood. Bacall started her career as a model before moving on to Broadway and eventually, the silver screen. She had the classic Hollywood looks, but her voice set her apart and made her an icon. With her deep and sultry tone, it made her perfect for the femme fatale archetypes popular at the time. Even though she was only 19 when she made her film debut in “To Have and Have Not”, her husky voice gave her an air of maturity and sensuality that would keep her at the top of the film noir genre for years.

Today she is an A-list celebrity, but when Johansson first started out as a child actor she had a hard time finding work because of her voice. As Johansson has put it, a 9-year old with a deep voice just doesn’t sell Jell-O! Nowadays though… she gets work because of her voice. Just look at the movie “Her,” in which a man falls in love with his Siri-like operating system, which is voiced by Johansson. Poor Theodore… he didn’t stand a chance with a voice like that! In addition to that notable role, she has done cartoon voices and is also a rather talented singer - her velvety voice translating beautifully to music.

Hunter’s voice is more than unique - it tells the story of her life and the adversities she’s faced. The actress was born and raised in Georgia where she got her subtle southern twang. When she was nine, she contracted the mumps, which left her completely deaf in her left ear. It’s hard to say how much her deafness affects her speech, but it’s not something she lets get in her way, and this overarching attitude is reflected in her characters who don’t take crap from anyone. She also has a pronounced lisp that works with the tone of her voice and makes it refreshingly unique.

You can love her voice or you can hate it, but you can’t deny that it’s unique. Schaal started out doing stand-up comedy contrasting her high pitched baby voice with dark and twisted subject matter. She has since been the voice behind many cartoon characters. Some of her most popular roles include Louise Belcher in the animated-comedy “Bob’s Burgers”, and her leading role as Carol in “The Last Man on Earth.” When Schaal started out as an actress, people said that her voice would be a hindrance to her career, but just listen to her now!

She always sounds like she’s on the verge of losing her voice and it is SO oddly alluring. Bush says that the rasp came early on in her life and that people constantly think she’s sick because of it. Sometimes even offering her lozenges, which she of course accepts because they’re delicious. Despite her raspy voice, she has played a lot of different roles, from Detective Erin Lindsay in “Chicago PD” to a love-spurned college student in “John Tucker Must Die”. She also landed a gig playing the voice of Voyd in the long-awaited “Incredibles 2”. After all, every superhero needs a signature voice!

When you have a unique voice, you can either hide it or use it to shout loud and proud. Drescher definitely takes the later route and we wouldn’t have it any other way. Not only is she proud of her thick New York accent and nasally voice, but she also uses it to her advantage. She and Peter Marc Jacobson created a show and character that perfectly fit Drescher’s voice, and sure enough, “The Nanny” was instantly successful. It remains Drescher’s most popular and arguably most hilarious role. Since its conclusion, Drescher has been busy writing books, hosting her own short-lived talk show, doing countless guest spots and even creating her own non-profit organization for cancer.

She can do sexy, sweet and downright terrifying. When Tilly first started out in acting, she had a few directors who tried to make her change her voice, but to that she said hell no! It’s her trademark, it’s made her memorable and it’s led the way throughout her career. She’s been acting since 1983 and she’s done it all: live-action, video games, and cartoons. Outside of acting she’s also a professional poker player; employing her deceptively-sweet voice and formidable skills to score multiple titles and almost $1,000,000 in winnings.

Let’s start this off by saying that Kathleen Turner voiced arguably the most iconically sexy cartoon character in the history of the medium: Jessica Rabbit. While she doesn’t do the singing part, Turner’s husky voice is perfect for Jessica. She isn’t afraid of taking on roles that poke fun at her voice either. In “Friends,” she plays Chandler’s fabulous transgender father Bob, aka Helena Handbasket. Her performance of “I Feel Pretty” is everything you could ask for! When she’s not acting or doing voice work, she kills it on Broadway, her powerful voice effortlessly commanding the attention of the masses.

We couldn’t do this list without talking about one of the biggest icons from the Golden Age of Hollywood. Her voice had a lot of interesting features, so we’ll start with her accent. Hepburn grew up in England, but she was a world traveler and reportedly spoke 5 languages fluently. This gave her an accent that was all her own. She also talked at an even pace with an emphasis on diction. Her most common roles were women who seemed innocent, but had a bit of a wild side. But with her pet fawn Pippin, her grace, and a regal voice to match, she was basically a real-life Disney Princess.

This actress’ first name literally means famous, and it’s definitely fitting. Her deep-timbering voice gives her an air of authority, and her Persian accent lends it an exotic twist. She’s often cast as doctors and other such badass women, which is a consistently good fit given that she’s inspiring in her own right. Aghdashloo established herself as an actress in Iran, moved to England at the start of the Iranian Revolution, and studied politics before returning to acting. Between her voice and her raw talent as an actress, we just can’t get enough of her!

It’s not very often that you find a voice with such sex appeal and such regality combined. Eartha Kitt could do it all. She could dredge up dry wit, give off manic genius, emit a royal presence, or make you fall in love with her, all with her voice alone. It was a voice that was in our lives from the 1950s right up until her death in 2008. She famously played Catwoman in the live action “Batman” series, and made a number of songs famous with her unique sound. But, perhaps what we will always treasure her most for is her inimitable performance as Yzma in “The Emperor’s New Groove”.