1. Dan Akroyd Actually, I’m surprised that Dan hasn’t done more cartoon characters. He’s debuting his voice in the 2010 cartoon movie “Yogi Bear”. He has the perfect personality, as well as voice, for this well-loved character. I’m definitely expecting a sequel.
2. Alec Baldwin He just doesn’t seem like the cartoon type to me. I was really surprised to see his name on the list of those who have done cartoon voice overs. He has two to his credit already: Cats and Dogs and The Spongebob Squarepants Movie.
3. John Candy The cartoon this well-known comedian contributed to was another surprise to me. The Rescuers Down Under was the animated film Candy’s voice is heard in. You’ll hear his voice coming out of Wilbur in this mousey tale.
4. Wally Cox This comic actor provided the voice of a television comic hero. Do you know which one? Under Dog! The wonderful canine spoof on Superman where Lois Lane was characterized as Under Dog’s sweetheart, Polly Purebred.
5. Robert DeNiro Now this was a REAL shocker. Mister tough guy doing a cartoon voice over? Yep. Of course, he didn’t play some wimpy character. He was the King in Arthur and the Invisibles. Still, it’s just not quite what you expect to find on the resume of DeNiro.
6. Mel Gibson This mega-star has two cartoons to his credit. He was the hero (of course) John Smith in the cartoon movie Pocahantus. He also provided the voice for Rocky in Chicken Run. From Mad Max to cartoon voice overs. Shows his versatility, I guess.
7. Gene Hackman This is another name I did not expect to show up on this list. They needed someone who could sound like a general for the movie Ants. I guess Gene Hackman has the voice, personality and acting experience to fit the part.
8. Brad Pitt His cartoon movie? Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas. They also had Michelle Pfeiffer in this one, so he wasn’t the only big name hiding his face behind a cartoon character for this film. He also has done a voice appearance for a King of the Hill episode and another for  Oobermind.
9. Burt Reynolds This longtime leading man has gone to the dogs. He is the voice of Charlie B. Barkin in All Dogs Go to Heaven and its sequel All Dogs Go to Heaven 2. He also was the voice of Delgo’s father in Delgo. It’s probably the only movie character Burt played that got killed off before the end of the movie.
10. Val Kilmer The Prince of Egypt was his big cartoon hit. Not only was his voice used for Moses but for God as well. Talk about a great resume line: “My voice sounds like that of a deity.” Pretty impressive. His voice was also used for KITT in Knightrider, no surprise there. He also made the star-studded line-up of Delgo, playing General Bogardus.

Danny Devito, Angelina Jolie, Ernest Borgnine, Tim Conway, Johnny Depp, James Garner, Eddie Murphy, Susan Sarandon and Freddie Prince, all these big names have cartoon voice credits listed on their resumes. For some it has just been a one-time experience but for others, like Freddie Prince, there are multiple titles and characters to their credit.

Occasionally their ‘perfection’ runs into technical difficulties and exposes the reality behind that continuous perfection. Lip syncing has been one of those areas where the technology occasionally has created a bit of embarrassment for some big name stars.

1. Milli Vanilli This is still the most infamous lip syncing bust. What set this situation apart was the fact that this European duo didn’t even sing for their recordings, much less on stage. They were hired totally for their looks with the full intent that they would never actually sing. So they weren’t even lip syncing to their own voices. This was way too far over the edge for the music business. They lost it all when the truth was brought to light.
2. Ashlee Simpson This younger sister of Jessica Simpson, experienced her little bit of technical embarrassment during a Saturday Night Live performance. Her lips weren’t syncing with her voice that was flowing out of the sound system with the music. There was no official acknowledgment from anyone that it was a lip sync mis-cue but the rumors say it probably was.
3. Madonna Not all lip syncing destroys a career, as was the case with Manilli Vanilli. Live performances are totally different from a studio recording, yet the fans still expect to hear from the stage the same musical perfection that they have been listening to on their ipod. Madonna puts on a very physical act when on stage. It is part of the overall entertainment package you expect to get from her. It’d be pretty hard for her to pull it all off and still sound perfect with out some help from a background tape that never runs out of breath.
4. Britney Spears Miss Spears managed to reveal the sound track playing her comeback song as she giggled throughout it during the MTV Awards program. Again, it didn’t destroy her career but wasn’t what her publicist was hoping for, I’m sure.
5. The Spice Girls This group of female vocalists has often been accused of lip syncing. Their appearance at the 2007 Victoria Secret Parade was the event that most people site. Most fans excused it as a necessary use of technology to assist the performance in an unusual setting.
6. The Monkees This was a bit of a unique situation. The four guys were hired as actors for a television program centered around a rock and roll band. Only Peter Tork and Michael Nesmeth actually knew how to play their instruments and they were all expected to lip sync to the vocals during the filming of the show. Only after the show took off in popularity was the decision made that ‘The Monkees’ needed to legitimize their musical talents to a greater degree.
7. Lindsey Lohan This starlet was to have her singing debut on Good Morning America. It was a short lived musical career when she was unable to fully match up her performance with the background tract.
8. Mariah Carey Mariah has had her share of accusations, as well. The singer has no lack of personal vocal talent. Her fans shrug off the rumors, even defending her for preserving her voice for her concerts and recordings.
9. Hilary Duff Hilary’s charge of lip syncing came during her 2008 tour in Mexico. It has always been denied and a faulty piece of audio equipment has been saddled with the blame.
10. Luciano Pavarotti There hasn’t been much debate over this one. The opera singer had recently been diagnosed with cancer and was to sing out of doors during the 2006 Winter Olympic games. These circumstances were considered just cause for providing a sound track for the performance.

It seems to be pretty well accepted that some lip syncing will be done to enhance performances these days. It is just the lip syncing to someone else’s voice that remains an unforgivable trespass as far as the fans are concerned

Baby James was born this morning (one day before his due date) and weighed-in at 8lb1oz. My sister and her husband don’t live very close to me so I am thankful to the wonders of technology that I heard about it almost immediately and have even seen a picture of the handsome little man (hooray for multimedia phone messaging).

Although I am Auntie to my Godson (also called James) this is the first child for any of my brothers and sisters (I have two of each). So my parents are grandparents for the first time too.

It has already been planned that my little sister will be “Cool Auntie Becky” and I will have the dubious title of “Mad Auntie Lisa” – can’t imagine why?!! The quote from my mum’s best friend today was: “Why not. James already has a mad Grandma!”

So, creative uses for PLR will have to wait until tomorrow while I enjoy the new member to my family from afar.

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@AsbjornRiedel In the words of the Mamas and Papas: "I’m in with the in crowd. I go where the in crowd go" http://tinyurl.com/56dbef #

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Don’t remember dancing and singing naked in a fountain but that doesn’t mean I didn’t #

@Ed_Dale Thanks. There’s been an explosion of Twitter tools appearing. Looks like you were right about Twitter….again #

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Which STI would you link my voice with?If you said Chlamydia, you’d be correct! I’m so proud…my first Chlamydia script recording #

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