Top 20 Animated Characters That Were Designed After Their Voice Actors

There’s no question that Cinderella is one of the most iconic Disney characters. She’s arguably the quintessential Disney princess. But the original 1950 film wouldn’t have been what it was without Ilene Woods, who was the voice behind Cinderella. There were a number of influences on the character’s features, possibly including actresses like Grace Kelly and Ingrid Bergman. Despite not being the sole influence, the appearance of the voice actress herself also contributed to Cinderella’s physical traits. Woods was just 20 years old at the time of the film’s release. While her own face wasn’t famous, she certainly left a mark on Disney animation through Cinderella.

Eep Crood is the adventurous daughter of the titular cave-clan. Her bright attitude and inquisitive nature are portrayed amazingly by Emma Stone, but we can also see the actress in other ways. For example, Eep shares the red hair Stone so frequently sports. Eep’s green eyes, and the shape of her face are also reminiscent of Stone’s. Usually, comparing someone to a caveperson would be seen as an insult, but any character modeled after Emma Stone is bound to be radiant and you’d be remiss to deem Eep the exception! Plus, her name is “Stone”!

The protagonist of the “How to Train Your Dragon” film series is Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, a young Viking who becomes deeply involved in the world of dragons. Appearance-wise, Hiccup has a lanky build, brown hair, and an angular face structure. All of these physical elements align with that of the voice actor behind him, Jay Baruchel. And it’s apparently no coincidence. The main character in the Oscar-nominated animated film was designed to reflect much of Baruchel’s awkward physicality. All the characters, including Hiccup and his dragon companion Toothless, were meticulously crafted. It’s no wonder the film series has gained significant recognition for its animation.

Don’t get it twisted. “Tangled” received plenty of critical acclaim, in part due to its impressive computer animation. One particularly noteworthy example of this comes in the form of Rapunzel’s charming and witty love interest, Flynn Rider. The character’s appearance was at least partly influenced by the human behind him, Zachary Levi. According to director Byron Howard, there were in fact multiple famous faces that impacted Flynn’s looks, including David Beckham and Clark Gable. Various physical features were fused together to create a handsome animated character. Despite the similarities, we doubt any real-life man could do a smolder as impressive as Flynn Rider’s.

At just 14 years old, high school freshman Auliʻi Cravalho was cast as the title character in “Moana.” Like her animated character, Cravalho is of Polynesian descent. The actor and character share a physical resemblance, but not on purpose. The character’s appearance had already been decided prior to Cravalho’s casting, so it turns out this was just a coincidence. What was not already set in stone, though, was another important aspect of an animated character’s design — mannerisms. Cravalho’s gestures and movements were integrated into the character during production. Dwayne Johnson’s role as Maui is also worth a mention, with their similarities in muscles, tattoos, and that iconic eyebrow.

The Disney resume that Verna Felton amassed in her illustrious career is pretty remarkable. She voiced Mrs. Jumbo and the Elephant Matriarch in “Dumbo,” the Fairy Godmother in “Cinderella,” the Queen of Hearts in “Alice in Wonderland,” Aunt Sarah in “Lady and the Tramp,” and Flora in “Sleeping Beauty.” And that isn’t even all of them. But Felton’s work as the Fairy Godmother and Flora are notable for more than just her voice acting performances. Her physical characteristics are also visible in those characters. The original conceptualization of the Fairy Godmother’s appearance was actually altered following the casting of Felton. You can see resemblances in terms of hair and facial structure.

Perhaps an underrated animated antagonist is Charles Muntz from Pixar’s “Up.” The explorer who goes from hero to zero is voiced by Christopher Plummer. With a brief glance, you can see how Muntz looks like Plummer in animated form. Both can claim slicked-back white hair, a refined chin, and an overall grandpa vibe. The design of Muntz wasn’t necessarily originally shaped by Plummer. But, according to director Pete Docter, once Plummer was cast, the character was refined in some ways. Muntz's menacing presence and obsessive quest for the rare bird were brilliantly brought to life by Plummer.

Add Wesley to the list of shady characters voiced by talented character actor Steve Buscemi. The black market businessman even resembles Buscemi. The character sports a purple suit and hat, looking like an eerily similar cartoon image of the human voice behind him. Add an exaggerated take on the actor’s eyes and facial structure, and we’re looking at a caricature of the man himself. Buscemi did a commendable job capturing the not-to-be-trusted essence of the character. Of course, he’s no stranger to voice acting, but he’s a bit less recognizable in his role as Randall Boggs in “Monsters, Inc.”

The design of Disney’s first African American princess was largely inspired by her voice actor, Anika Noni Rose. According to Rose, certain aspects of Tiana’s portrayal were designed to reflect her own physical traits. Rose specifically mentioned that the character’s nose and lips were her recommendations, which supervising animator Mark Henn incorporated. Tiana’s general facial structure also resembles her voice actor — in human form, that is. As a frog, not so much. Beyond the facial similarities, there’s another perhaps more subtle resemblance. Like Rose, Princess Tiana is left-handed. And that’s no coincidence — this detail came about thanks to Rose’s input.

The animated sitcom “American Dad!” has no shortage of wacky characters. Among them is Principal Lewis, voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson. Inappropriate and unpredictable, Principal Lewis doesn’t behave like your typical principal. The absurdity and dark humor in his actions and words fit well within the dynamic of the series. But it’s not just Richardson’s vocal talents that are instilled in the character. His appearance, particularly with his beard and bald head, resembles the voice actor as well. Richardson also has voice credits for various other animated series and video games, but none of them are quite like Principal Lewis.

Newman, is that you? Indeed, it is — that’s animated Newman. Perhaps you didn’t recognize him if you saw “Toy Story 2” as a kid. But if you’re familiar with Newman from “Seinfeld,” you’ll definitely be able to identify the voice of Wayne Knight in the character Al McWhiggin. Not only that, you can see his face in the character. The similarities between Knight and the greedy, goofy toy collector are evident in the glasses, hair color, and overall facial structure. The animators may have even added Al’s goatee after being inspired by Knight’s facial hair at the time.

Lance Sterling is essentially Will Smith’s animated doppelganger in the movie “Spies in Disguise.” If you specifically compare Agent J from the “Men in Black” series to the animated spy Lance Sterling, the resemblance is even more apparent — they both rock those black suits. Smith is no stranger to voicing lookalikes — we can even see it in the animated fish version of himself in “Shark Tale.” But we’re ultimately going with Lance Sterling here, because the secret agent looks more like Smith than a fish. In “Spies in Disguise,” you can also see a resemblance between Tom Holland and his character of Walter Beckett, the brilliant but awkward young scientist.

This Disney film about the lives of video game characters has several characters who look strikingly similar to their real-life counterparts, from the titular Wreck-It Ralph pretty much just being John C. Reilly in overalls, to Fix-It Felix, Jr.’s remarkable resemblance to actor Jack McBrayer. Of them all, however, we think Sergeant Calhoun’s inspiration is rather obvious. Jane Lynch’s signature short blonde hair, as well as her tall frame and facial features all have Calhoun feeling like she’s just an animated, alien-battling version of Lynch herself. Even Lynch’s dry humor shines through.

For being such an out-there cartoon, “Alice in Wonderland” draws more from the real world than you might think – at least, from the appearances of its actors. Kathryn Beaumont, at the time that she voiced Alice, looked just like her, and it’s easy to see Jerry Colonna in the March Hare. But, for our money, the Mad Hatter is a dead ringer for Ed Wynn. The batty top-hat enthusiast has the same nose, eyebrows, and tufts of hair coming off the back of his head. You can really see the resemblance in the test footage Disney did for the tea party scene.

If Jennifer Saunders’ greatest desire was to look like a fairy godmother on screen, then we’d say her wish was granted. The magical, winged, wish-granting lady is not only a scheming businesswoman, but she also has a flair for the dramatic, and quite the set of pipes, thanks to Saunders! While there are a lot of differences between the two–for instance, body type and hair color–the Fairy Godmother’s face is a wildly close match to Saunders’. And she looks “absolutely fabulous!”

The internal personification of melancholy within a young girl named Riley, Sadness is one of the main characters of “Inside Out.” She’s played by Phyllis Smith, who’s famous for her quiet demeanor and unassuming roles with wholesome attitudes. For fans of “The Office”, you’ll know exactly what we’re talking about! While Smith isn’t small and blue, Sadness does manage to capture some of Smith’s physicality, including her facial features, from her mouth to her nose to her big blue eyes. Smith may be playing a tragic role, but we couldn’t be happier about her character’s likeness.

Zazu is the advisor to King Mufasa and frequently the voice of reason at Pride Rock, discouraging both Scar and Simba’s particular brands of rebelliousness. One might expect that it would be difficult to make a human look like a red-billed hornbill, but weirdly… it doesn’t seem very odd at all. Zazu shares Atkinson’s prominent eyebrows, wide eyes, and, even sort of a similar nose. The turn of their mouths are similar too! All those parallels help convey Atkinson’s rather theatrical delivery even better, given just how expressive the actor is.

Although it was tempting to discuss James Woods as Hades since the entire character changed when he was cast, we ultimately had to go with Danny DeVito as Phil. Both short and balding, Phil has much of DeVito’s appearance already, but his personality is also very reminiscent of the bad-tempered, over-the-top characters he so often plays. Of course, there are distinctions such as DeVito’s nose, which is nowhere near as red or bulbous but, otherwise, he and Philoctetes could be twins…if one of them was a satyr. It wouldn’t be the first time Danny DeVito had a twin who was quite different from him!

Eleanor Audley has lent her likeness to several iconic Disney characters, including Maleficent. However, despite arguably being less famous, we’re choosing her part as Lady Tremaine, the evil stepmother from “Cinderella.” This is because we contend that Lady Tremaine looked more like Audley. The character shares Audley’s graying hair, as well as her nose and the curl of her lips, particularly when frowning – which Tremaine does a lot of. Tremaine may be a more subtle villainess than Audley’s other Disney role, but that only means that more of her performance comes through on screen.

Yes, you probably saw this coming. The Genie was created and designed with Robin Williams in mind. The wish-granting, blue djinn’s zany attitude, facial features (from that strong chin to those wide, expressive eyes), as well as his numerous pop culture references are all classic Williams. The comedian famously improvised frequently in the recording booth, which led to plenty of Genie’s famous lines coming directly from him. So much about his appearance and actions are all owed directly to Williams. It’s safe to say that without Robin Williams, we’d “never have a friend like” him!

Let us know in the comments which voice actor you think is most similar to their animated counterpart.