"Allow me to introduce myself — I'm the Invisible Man!"
— The Invisible Man (played by Vincent Price), Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein
There are all different types of cameo. This is the type where a famous person or a lesser-known VA gives their voice to...The Voice (if it only appears fleetingly).
Their face is not shown and therefore they are easy to miss, or they are an Easter Egg for devoted fans if the person has some relationship to the universe of the story. As a result, please expect unmarked spoilers. It's also the vocal counterpart to You Look Familiar (when an actor or actress from a previous work plays another character).
This may be because the person would otherwise seem out of place or it's a small cast where there isn't a lot of room for walk-ons, or health or personal circumstances prevented the person from being able to participate in person. It may be a form of Stunt Casting, although will usually not be advertised due to the small role, a Creator Cameo, or I Want You to Meet an Old Friend of Mine. See also Voice with an Internet Connection, when a character's voice is heard at the other end of the earpiece.
Examples
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Film - Live Action
- Rian Johnson gave Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who is a member of his Production Posse, two such roles to fulfill his perfect attendance record in Johnson's filmography:
- The Last Jedi: Gordon-Levitt voices the alien Slowen-Lo (who is physically portrayed by a suit actor) who tells on Finn and Rey for parking on the beach.
- Knives Out: He is the detective character talking on the television (which screen is not shown) that Alice and Marla are watching.
- Glass Onion: He is the voice of the Hourly Dong alarm.
- 10 Cloverfield Lane: Bradley Cooper is heard in the first scene as Michelle's abusive boyfriend who's trying to convince her through a voicemail to stay with him.
- As quoted above, the final scene of Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein features a (non)appearance by Vincent Price, ironically many years before he became known as a horror actor.
- The Assistant: Slightly longer than most cameos, but Jay O. Sanders is Jane's abusive boss who berates her over the phone a few times.
- Avengers: Infinity War: Kenneth Branagh, who directed Thor, voices the Asgard distress beacon.
- Barbarian:
- Sara Paxton gives her voice to the narrator on the breastfeeding video.
- Kate Bosworth voices Melisa, the woman that AJ raped, on the answerphone message.
- Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice: Patrick Wilson is heard during Superman and Doomsday's battle as the President giving orders.
- Black Panther (2018): Trevor Noah gives his voice to "Griot", Shuri's AI system which is only really heard through the battle.
- Blood Simple: Holly Hunter's voice is heard on the answering machine.
- Candyman (2021): Other than the picture of her in the newspaper, Virginia Madsen is not seen, but her voice is heard when Anthony listens to Helen's tapes at the library.
- Captain America: Civil War: The voice of Zemo's deceased wife in his phone's voice message actually belongs to one of The Russo Brothers' real-life wives.
- The Cloverfield Paradox: Simon Pegg reads the first line of dialogue as the reporter heard over the spaceship's radio.
- In the second Descendants, Whoopi Goldberg played Ursula. However, she's only heard shouting at Uma from off-screen in one scene, and never seen beyond a single tentacle.
- Dunkirk: Christopher Nolan's regular collaborator Michael Caine is the radio operator who advises them.
- Eternals features Mahershala Ali as Blade in The Stinger, communicating from offscreen with Dane Whitman.
- Evil Dead Rise features the voice of Bruce Campbell on a recording warning a priest not to read from the Book of the Dead. According to Word of God, this is indeed meant to be series protagonist Ash Williams on the recording, having been once again displaced in time.
- Tony Todd has a small but pivotal physical appearance in all the Final Destination films, going so far as to be the final person onscreen in Final Destination 5... except in Final Destination 3. There, he voices the rollercoaster announcer telling the characters there's "no exit after the turnstiles. I'll see you soon."
- Full Metal Jacket: In a Creator Cameo, Stanley Kubrick is 'Murphy', the voice that replies to the call on the radio.
- Gravity: Ed Harris lends his voice to Mission Control.
- Unlike most of his other cameos in his films, M. Night Shyamalan never appears in-person in The Happening, but he provides the voice for the character of Joey, who is only heard from a phone.
- her:
- Bill Hader is the man pretending to be a woman that Theodore finds in the phone sex forum.
- Kristen Wiig is the woman who has phone sex with Theodore and wants him to choke her with a dead cat.
- The House of the Devil: Lena Dunham gives her voice to the 911 operator that Sam calls.
- Inglourious Basterds: When Hans Landa makes a deal with an Army representative to assassinate Hitler in exchange for immunity and a reward, he gives the phone to Lt. Aldo Raine, and the voice on the other end briefly tells him where to rendezvous; the voice is Harvey Keitel.
- Kamen Rider × Super Sentai: Super Hero Taisen: Ryōsuke Sakamoto vocally reprises his Choudenshi Bioman role of Red One for a single line of dialogue (the character is otherwise a background Fake Shemp played by a suit actor in the film), encouraging Gokai Silver to defeat his nemesis Silva.
- Last Action Hero: Danny DeVito is the voice of Whiskers, the cartoon cat detective.
- Michael Clayton: Actor/director Tom McCarthy is the voice of the man who calls Michael about a client.
- The Nice Guys: Hannibal Buress is the voice of the bee that Holland sees when he falls asleep at the wheel.
- Panic Room: When Jodie Foster calls up her ex-husband at one point, Nicole Kidman is the voice who answers the phone as the mistress (Kidman was originally cast in Foster's role until she became injured on the set of Moulin Rouge!).
- Paul: Steven Spielberg appears on speakerphone where he talks to Paul the alien.
- The Prowler (1951): The uncredited voice of radio announcer John Gilvray heard throughout the film is actually that of uncredited screenwriter Dalton Trumbo.
- Rosemary's Baby: Tony Curtis is the voice of Donald Baumgart, the actor that Guy replaced in the play. (This is also why Mia Farrow is frowning, because she wasn't told who would play him, and knew the voice but couldn't place it.)
- In The Saint (1997), Roger Moore (who starred as Simon Templar in The Saint TV show in the 1960s) is the voice of the newsreader on the radio at the end of the film.
- Scream 2: Selma Blair is the drunk sister talking to Cece on the phone at the sorority house before Ghostface calls her.
- Scream (2022):
- Drew Barrymore is the principal who makes announcements over the intercom at school.
- Henry Winkler, Adam Brody, Hayden Panettiere, Marco Beltrami, and Wes Craven's widow, Iya Labunka, are all heard toasting Wes at the party.
- A Single Man: Jon Hamm is the voice calling George to tell him his lover is dead.
- Source Code: Given the plot deals with a man going back in time and inhabiting someone else's body to try to stop a tragedy, it's definitely a wink to the audience that the voice on the other end of the phone in one scene is that of Scott Bakula, complete with the catchphrase, "Oh Boy."
- Spotlight: Richard Jenkins is the voice of the ex-priest who helps the reporters with their story.
- The Rise of Skywalker: When Rey is knocked out in the final battle, she hears the voices of many Jedi before her at her time of need. They are Hayden Christensen as Anakin Skywalker, Olivia d'Abo as Luminara Unduli, Ashley Eckstein as Ahsoka Tano, Jennifer Hale as Aayla Secura, Samuel L. Jackson as Mace Windu, both Alec Guinness and Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan, Frank Oz as Yoda, Angelique Perrin as Adi Gallia, Freddie Prinze Jr. as Kanan Jarrus and Liam Neeson as Qui-Gon Jinn. (McGregor also had a similar case in The Force Awakens: once it was decided to have Rey hear Obi-Wan call her name in a vision, it became a mix of McGregor fresh recordings and an edit of Alec Guiness, namely taking "Rey" out of "afraid")
- The heavy breathing in Tenet's film score, meant to stand for the Big Bad Sator, is director Christopher Nolan's own breathing.
- James Cameron's voice is heard three times in The Terminator: as Sarah Connor's date on the answering machine and twice as a manager of Tiki motel, who is heard (but not seen) speaking to Sarah and then again answers the phone when The Terminator calls.
- Uncut Gems has two secret voice cameos:
- Natasha Lyonne is the Celtics agent who Howard talks to over the phone.
- Tilda Swinton is the auctioneer who defends devaluing Howard's gem over the phone.
Live-Action TV
- Tara Strong has a voice cameo in Arrow as "Deranged Squad Female" in the episode "Suicide Squad". She can be heard shouting from behind a door, but the character is physically played by another actress seen only from the back.
- Barry: Bill Burr makes a vocal cameo in "the wizard" as the host of a fundamentalist Christian podcast.
- Black Mirror: In "U.S.S. Callister", Aaron Paul's voice is heard as the gamer who harasses the crew when they manage to break out of Daly's universe.
- Doctor Who:
- "Utopia": In an advance warning for hardcore fans as to a character's true identity before The Reveal at the episode's climax, Professor Yana briefly hears archival recordings of Roger Delgado and Anthony Ainley as the Master emanating from his fob watch.
- Slipknot lead vocalist Corey Taylor provides the roar of the Monster of the Week of "Before the Flood", who is otherwise voiced by Peter Serafinowicz in normal dialogue and physically portrayed by a suit actor.
- In the official parody short film The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot, impressionist Jon Culshaw voices Tom Baker in a phone call.
- In the 3rd season premiere of ER, Dr. Carter finds a Dr. Karubian asleep in an on-call room to ask for a consult. The guy rattles off a series of instructions and although we never see his face, viewers of Friends instantly recognized his voice as that of David Schwimmer, aka Ross Geller.
- Frasier: almost all of Frasier's guest callers on his radio psychiatry show are performers doing brief cameos as neurotic Seattle citizens, sometimes more than once as different people, including the likes of John Lithgow, Stephen King, Art Garfunkel, Carrie Fisher, Jodie Foster, Ben Stiller, and even a young Elijah Wood. Every season ends with a photo montage of the various voices.
- The Handmaid's Tale: Oprah Winfrey voices the host of Radio Free America that is briefly heard.
- House of the Dragon: Emma D'Arcy makes their physical debut as adult Rhaenyra in the sixth episode of Season 1, but they're heard doing the Opening Narration in the first episode.
- Legacies: Caroline Forbes from The Vampire Diaries cameos reading a letter to her daughter in voiceover.
- Lodge 49: Throughout Season One, Ernie listens to an audiobook by fictional author L. Marvin Metz, voiced by an uncredited Paul Giamatti. Averted in Season Two when Metz shows up in the flesh, played by Giamatti in several episodes.
- Reno 911!: In "Fastest Criminal In Reno," the deputies try to nab Fast Eddie, a legendary local crook who always manages to outrace them and is never shown onscreen (only in his car). At the end, Fast Eddie calls the Sheriff's Department to tell them he admires their tenacity and gives them a jukebox as a present; his voice is provided by Jeff Foxworthy.
- Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: "A Quality of Mercy" has an Alternate Timeline where Pike remains captain of the Enterprise seven years later. While Spock is busy fixing damage from a battle in a Jefferies tube, he converses with a chief engineer who has a Scottish accent, who emphatically says that he is not a "miracle worker."
- Ultraman Trigger: New Generation Tiga: Rima Matsuda cameos in episode 7 as Humongous Mecha pilot Yoko Nakashima from Ultraman Z in this manner - unlike Z, there's no shot of her mecha's cockpit while it's on the field.
- Young Sheldon: In "Teenager Soup and a Little Ball of Fib", Kaley Cuoco voices the pool water in Sheldon's nightmare.
- Cowboy Bebop (2021): In "Cowboy Gospel", Steve Blum, the original English voice actor for Spike from the anime series, provides the voice of a subspace gate worker who sasses Jet.
Theatre
- Tsukiuta Act 7: Cyber-Dive Connection, like most of the rest of the series, focuses on the male month representatives. About a year before they announced a series for the female side, Kurisu, the December goddess, made a voice-only appearance in this episode. Kakeru (the December boy) calls her on the phone and asks her to help them rescue Santa Claus. She ends up coming in at the end and saving the boys, and Santa. There was no stage cast for her at the time, so she's voiced by her seiyuu, Hisako Kanemoto.
Video Games
- Assassin's Creed:
- In Assassin's Creed: Odyssey, Dai Tabuchi voices Japanese Assassin Kiyoshi Takakura, a member of the Altair II cell who is fighting off Abstergo's Sigma Team and working with Layla Hassan.
- Assassin's Creed: Valhalla:
- Octavian/Osbert's actor Simon Lee Philips voices Brendan of Clonfert when Eivor reads the carvings on the Standing stones that document his interactions with the Isu.
- Abubakar Salim reprises his role as Bayek for a voice-only cameo appearance in the mission "A Brief History of the Hidden Ones" when Eivor finds the pages of the Magas Codex.
- Ezio Auditore's voice is heard by Gunlodr/Minerva while trying to communicate with the future. Counts as a case of the Flashback with the Other Darrin since it is not Roger Craig Smith doing it but instead a soundalike imitator.
- Dreamfall Chapters: Zigzagged. In the first episode, April Ryan appears on screen and in voice... but never at the same time, since her on-screen appearance is during her funeral, while her voice is heard by Kian while delirious from the wounds he sustained escaping from Friar's Keep. Then, in episode five, April (or rather, her ghost) appears again and speaks... but it is painfully obvious that she isn't voiced by her original voice actress, Sarah Hamilton, in this appearance.
Web Video
- Chris Ray Gun: A Running Gag in his videos is for one of his YouTube friends to cameo as the voice of his evil llama toy, Paul.
- Demo Reel: Mara Wilson lends her voice to play Donnie's wife when he calls her in one episode.
- Semi common in Lindsay Ellis videos, especially any that involve large extracts from literature, where Lindsay's collaborators and/or fellow YouTubers read different characters:
- Caitlin Doughty, Dan Olson, Natalie Wynn, Craig McCracken, Sarah Z, Elisa Hansen, Maggie Mae Fish, H Bomber Guy, and Jenny Nicholson give their voices to "characters" (Natalie is Zoey Ellis; Jenny is Addison Cain; Sarah is Dragons' Maiden; Harris is one narrator; Maggie is Blushing Books; David is Gideon; the others voice Facebook commenters) in "Into The Omegaverse".
- H.Bomberguy reads J. K. Rowling's prose in "Tracing the Roots of Pop Culture Transphobia."
- ContraPoints:
- Abigail Thorn voices the self-loathing incel who has given up all hope of being happy in "Incels", and Lord Melbourne in "The Apocalypse."
- H Bomber Guy voices John Berger and danisnotonfire voiced Oscar Wilde in "Opulence."
- Very common in Kevin Perjurer's Defunctland videos, most notably the video on the failed "Disney's America" park, which features everyone from Lindsey Ellis, Quinton Reviews, and fellow amusement park-based content creators such as Disney Dan and Mark of Yesterworld fame reading relevant quotes like the video were a PBS documentary.
Western Animation
- Big City Greens: The episode "Cheap Show" features the Greens bumping into and being greeted by Tom Hanks at a street festival...while the viewers are stuck staring at the Greens' now-empty living room.
- The Lilo & Stitch: The Series finale Leroy & Stitch has Ving Rhames reprising his role of Cobra Bubbles one last time as a pre-recorded voicemail message.
- The Simpsons: In "Lisa's First Word" Elizabeth Taylor provides Maggie's voice for one word at the end: "daddy".
- Star Wars Rebels: The episode "A World Between Worlds" features Ezra Bridger entering the eponymous Place Beyond Time, upon which he hears voices from all across the timeline, past and future. Said voices are archival recordings of Frank Oz as Yoda, Hayden Christensen and Matt Lanter as Anakin Skywalker, James Arnold Taylor and Alec Guinness as Obi-Wan, Liam Neeson as Qui-Gon Jinn, Lloyd Sherr as the Father, Adrienne Wilkinson as the Daughter, Felicity Jones as Jyn Erso, Donnie Yen as Chirrut Îmwe, Carrie Fisher as Leia Organa, James Earl Jones as Darth Vader, Oscar Isaac as Poe Dameron, Adam Driver as Kylo Ren, Lupita Nyong'o as Maz Kanata and Daisy Ridley as Rey.
- The episode "Shattered" in the seventh season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars uses archival audio from Revenge of the Sith for Anakin, Mace, and Palpatine after the fateful duel in the Chancellor's Office.
