Top 10 Actors Who Transformed Their Voices for Iconic Roles

MsMojo

Join us as we count down our picks for unforgettable roles where movie stars underwent incredible vocal transformations, from Bill Skarsgård's deep voice in "Nosferatu" to Heath Ledger's iconic Joker, and many more. These actors pushed their voices to new depths, adopting accents, and even damaging their vocal cords to bring their characters to life. Get ready to be impressed by these stunning vocal makeovers.

Transcript

00:00Welcome to Miss Mojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the unforgettable roles

00:06that saw movie stars changing their entire sound.

00:1910. Bill Skarsgård

00:20Bringing this silent masterpiece back to theatres had director Robert Eggers and actor Bill Skarsgård

00:26pulling out all the stops.

00:2810. They break the laws near, and on the bells of dawn shall toll in despair of my coming.

00:46The director told the actor that he wanted Transylvanian bloodsucker Count Orlok to have

00:51the deepest voice that he could muster without digital effects. To achieve this, Skarsgård

00:56trained with an opera singer.

00:58I never wanted the voice to feel put on, so I wanted the voice to kind of surprise myself

01:02as I was performing it, that it would just come out of me as opposed to being forced out

01:07of me. And that meant for, yeah, a lot of work.

01:10The process saw him activating bass notes that he didn't even think possible. He was even

01:16doing Mongolian throat singing to keep his voice low and sonorous. When he speaks in character,

01:21his voice is guttural, with exaggerated rolled Rs and resonance that only legit vocal training

01:27can generate.

01:28Of course, sir. Lord. Pardon me, sir?

01:34Your lord. I will be addressed as the honour of my blood demands it.

01:41Sick.

01:42Number nine, Mercedes McCambridge, The Exorcist. One of the most memorable performances in the

01:471973 blockbuster horror classic is given by an actress who never even appears on screen.

01:53I'm a friend of your mother's. I'd like to help you. You want to loosen the straps, huh?

02:00I'm afraid you might hurt yourself, Reagan. I'm not Reagan.

02:04Academy Award winner Mercedes McCambridge provided the voice of the demon-possessed little girl in

02:09The Exorcist. According to director William Friedkin, she achieved the demon's voice through

02:14some unconventional means.

02:16If it's this close in me right here, I'm only a human being. It's that close in everybody.

02:23Everybody can from the second forward.

02:25That isn't hard.

02:32McCambridge drank raw eggs and smoked for hours. She even broke her sobriety to swill whiskey

02:38to make her voice worn out and creepy enough. The crew actually tied her to a chair so her

02:42voice could reflect the tension of being restrained. McCambridge's one request was that her priest

02:48should be there with her.

02:49You utilise everything. Don't analyse, utilise. And I utilise the thickness, all of that stuff,

02:57for the voice of Lucifer.

02:59Number eight, Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady.

03:02I hope you appreciate what an inspiration you've been to women like myself.

03:08Well, it used to be about trying to do something.

03:13Now it's about trying to be someone.

03:16Hearing the three-time Oscar winner wearing a different accent is not really new. Meryl Streep

03:21can slip into another accent like a pair of comfortable shoes. But with her performance

03:25as former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, she also taps into more heaviness and gravitas.

03:30This is a day to put differences aside. To hold one's head high. And take pride in being British.

03:41There's a harshness to her tone in the role that is unlike many of the parts that she's played before.

03:46Not only does she have to play Thatcher at the peak of her powers, but she also plays her as an

03:51older woman, with a voice weighed down by age, fatigue and illness.

03:55What we think we become. My father always said that. And I think I am fine.

04:04Number seven, Lupita Nyong'o, Us.

04:07What do you want?

04:18What?

04:18Starring as a woman whose family is terrorized by murderous doppelgangers from below the surface,

04:23Lupita Nyong'o has to find ways to differentiate the two characters that she plays. The voice is key.

04:29And adopting an American accent is only half the work. To play Red, her malnourished and neglected

04:34tether, Nyong'o studied a condition known as spasmodic dysphonia.

04:39It's a condition that is brought about by a trauma, sometimes emotional, sometimes physical,

04:44sometimes just inexplicable, where your vocal folds start to spasm and they create this kind

04:50of irregular pattern of air and this kind of interesting modulation of the voice.

04:58As a character who has suffered trauma to the throat, it's not far outside of the realm of

05:02possibility that she could have it. The actress's research into the condition gave her a realistic

05:07example to work from. The effect is chilling, but also very authentic.

05:12Once upon a time, there was a girl and the girl had a shadow.

05:34Number 6. Johnny Depp, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

05:37It was tricky, you know, in a sense, because, you know, initially you start thinking it is,

05:42you know, it is a very large pair of shoes to fill. So you start worrying about that and you go,

05:47well, why don't I just make another pair of shoes?

05:49The mid-2000s update of Roald Dahl's story was a bit more whimsical than the 1971 Gene Wilder version.

05:56Johnny Depp's take on Willy Wonka was way less angry, but somehow even creepier.

06:00Good morning, starshine. The earth says hello.

06:04His characterization has him dropping his normally deep and soulful voice and finding something a

06:09little more unsettling. As the eccentric chocolatier, he goes for a light and airy

06:14sound with lots of upward inflection and even a few gleeful squeaks.

06:18What's a special prize? Who gets it? The best kind of prize is a surprise.

06:23Depp took inspiration from the forced joy and upbeat personality of a children's television host.

06:28It turns the character into a fun-house version of Mr. Rogers or Captain Kangaroo.

06:34Let's go put him in the taffy-puller.

06:35Taffy-puller? Hey, that was my idea.

06:41Boy, is he gonna be skinny.

06:42Number five, Mia Goth, ex-franchise.

06:45I need to be famous, Wayne.

06:47I'm ready for the high life. I'm sick and tired of never forgetting what I want.

06:50Dual roles are not exactly unheard of, but English actress Mia Goth has to swing wildly

06:56between two very different characters. As adult film ingenue Maxine, she employs a high southern

07:02twang that often goes shrill. As the elderly Pearl, Goth taps into an entirely different sound.

07:07I was a dancer in those 30 years. Then the war came, so not everything it lasts until you expect.

07:18Pearl is a decrepit creation. Everything about her is weathered. That includes her voice,

07:23which is heavy with age, disappointment, and eventually deep rage and bitterness.

07:28But the real kicker is Mia Goth's true voice. You don't really know how crazy her vocal

07:33work in the X trilogy is until you hear her speak for real.

07:36So I was born in London. And then when I was two weeks old, we moved to Rio. And then when we

07:43went, my mom's Brazilian. And then we lived in Rio for a couple of years. And then we moved back to

07:48London. And then we moved to Rio again. And then we moved to London. And then we moved to Canada.

07:55My dad's Canadian.

07:56Number four, Austin Butler, Elvis.

07:58I would usually wake up every day around three or four in the morning with this terror.

08:02It was just such a daunting thing. And I really just was guided by my terror, really. Because

08:09I would go, I don't know how to sing this one line of a song. Or it would be a certain

08:14word that he said. I couldn't figure out where the placement was and what the architecture of my

08:19mouth should be.

08:19Talk about committing to a role. Fans couldn't help but notice that Austin Butler's speaking

08:24voice was notably higher in his younger days. Part of that is age. But a lot of that has to do with

08:28his Oscar-nominated role in Elvis. Butler's vocal range outlasted his time on camera.

08:33Presley's southern drawl is only one component.

08:36I think I, from all the singing, I probably have destroyed my voice a bit. You know,

08:41my vocal cords, it's a lot raspier now. And so I just trained a lot.

08:46The lower pitch of the singer's voice was especially important, and Butler nailed it.

08:50He lived and breathed the role, even having to perfect his singing voice for the movie,

08:55which uses a mix of Butler's own vocals and the original Elvis Presley tracks.

09:11Number 3. Jim Carrey. Dr. Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

09:15You're the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the Grinch!

09:19Embodying Dr. Seuss's infamous Christmas-hating antihero took several hours of suffocating makeup

09:25every day. Producers actually arranged for Jim Carrey to receive training in enduring torture

09:30to cope with it. If you're freaking out and you start to spiral downward, uh, turn the television

09:35on, change your pattern, have someone you know come up and smack you in the head, um, you know,

09:40punch yourself in the leg, so it was, or, or smoke. Smoke as much as you possibly can.

09:44So I was this Grinch sitting, sitting, sitting, eating, eating, eating, eating, eating, eating.

09:50But what's just as impressive is the vocal embodiment the Grinch required.

09:55Carey imbues the misanthropic creature with a braying,

09:58mush-mouthed voice and hard-to-place accent that feels perfectly measured.

10:03You never mentioned an award. Yeah, with a trophy and everything.

10:09And I won. You won!

10:10That means you're a loser. I guess. So if you come to-

10:15Down! Ho ho! Losers! I like it!

10:21Instead of skewing villainous, he constantly sounds like a petulant buffoon.

10:25Carey's Grinch becomes believably terrifying, but he also sounds too funny to take seriously as a real

10:31threat. It is a children's movie, after all.

10:33Your cheeks so... I know. Hairy. No.

10:41Greasy. Stinky. Do I possess? No. Warm.

10:49Number 2. Robin Williams. Popeye.

10:51We heard him go to the top of his vocal range as Mrs. Doubtfire,

10:54but the famously versatile funny man probably had an even bigger challenge in Popeye.

10:58What if you dare? Hey, your mother's here. So what?

11:02You've been on his mother. Pleased to meet you, ma'am. I'm a mother meself.

11:04In fact, his mother I can't bust when it was his mother. Hey!

11:07You see?

11:08It may not be Robin Williams' most famous performance, but this take on Popeye

11:11the Sailor Man is almost uncanny. Notable for his acidic, gruff vocalizations,

11:17the character is iconic, but it can't be easy to put on the voice for hours at a time.

11:21I'm just starting to train for it now, do a lot of acrobatics, and work on some

11:24man's helping with the voice. I'm just, he's just, it's a lot of, yeah.

11:29Is that the voice? Not yet.

11:31Williams manages to completely change his timbre to play the muscle-bound sailor.

11:35The cough drop budget on this movie must have been out of control.

11:45Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.

11:48Dustin Hoffman. Tootsie.

11:50Playing dual roles, the actor shifted his voice to portray his female alter ego.

11:54My name is Dorothy. It's not Tootsie, or Toots, or Sweetie, or Honey, or Dow.

11:58Oh, graced.

11:59No, just Dorothy.

12:01Daniel Day-Lewis. There will be blood. The three-time Oscar winner taps into something

12:05deeper and darker as a vicious oil tycoon.

12:09I drink your milkshake.

12:14I drink it up!

12:16Michelle Williams. My week with Marilyn.

12:18She doesn't just have to master Monroe's screen voice, but her real one as well.

12:23All people ever see is Marilyn Monroe.

12:28As soon as they realize I'm not her, they run.

12:31Hugh Jackman. X-Men franchise.

12:33The Wolverine actor's singing voice was actually damaged by his character's growling.

12:38I know what you are.

12:38You lost your money. You keep this up, you lose something else.

12:41Tom Hanks. Forrest Gump.

12:43Hanks modeled his voice after the boy cast as the younger version of his character.

12:47I just sat next to her on that bus and had a conversation all the way to school.

12:51My back's crooked like a question mark.

12:54These are gonna make you a straight sparrow.

12:55And next to mama, no one ever talked to me or asked me questions.

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13:16Number 1. Heath Ledger. The Dark Knight.

13:18I'd seen what world it was that I would be playing in.

13:22So I knew it was open for a fresh interpretation. And I also instantly kind of had something up my sleeve.

13:28Christian Bale later said that he had to deepen his voice for the superhero character of Batman

13:32because it was the only way he could believe himself in the role. But it's the vocal transformation

13:37behind his most formidable supervillain that's the real shocker.

13:40Do I really look like a guy with a plan?

13:43You know what I am? I'm a dog chasing cars. I wouldn't know what to do with one if I caught it.

13:49You know, I just do things. Heath Ledger's Joker is chaos incarnate.

13:54He is full of ticks and dangerous energy. But it's his eerily raspy,

13:58forced manner of speaking that really sells you on the Joker's volatility.

14:03They're only as good as the world allows them to be.

14:05I'll show you. When the chips are down, these civilized people, they'll eat each other.

14:14Considering Ledger's usual buttery vocal pitch, it was a huge change to his style.

14:19It's one of the many reasons we're still talking about the performance after all these years.

14:23This town deserves a better class of criminal. And I'm gonna give it to them.

14:29Tell your men they work for me now. This is my city.

14:33What actor's vocal transformation impressed you the most? Tell us in the comments.

14:38We have to make them respect us. And they will, but it will take time. But we have time, so we start small.

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