Disney and by extension Pixar, have had an illustrious career casting some of the greatest actors in some of their most iconic roles like Tom Hanks as Woody in Toy Story, Patton Oswalt as Remi in Ratatouille and Owen Wilson as wow, a car in Cars.
But it’s not just the headliners that are stacked with big names. Their supporting casts are loaded with A-tier actors as well and even chicken sounds were created using actors who went to Julliard.
1. Hayden Panettiere in ‘A Bugs Life’
Between ‘A Bug’s Life‘, ‘Remember The Titans‘ and ‘Dinosaur‘, Hayden Panettiere seemed to be Disney’s go-to child voice and you know what? She kills it in every role which is why it’s easy to see that she can both slip under the radar because she wasn’t a child actor, she was THE child actor.
2. Joaquin Phoenix in ‘Brother Bear’
Fresh off the heels of ‘Gladiator’ it only made sense that Joaquin Phoenix would tackle an animated movie about bears. But somehow it..works?! Phoenix’s press tour for the film is also notorious for the GREATEST (cringiest) interview.
3. Mandy Moore in ‘Tangled’
Mandy Moore’s voice in ‘Tangled‘ is utter perfection as one of Disney’s post-renaissance princesses and it works on so many levels, the least of which the fact that Moore is also a fantastic singer.
4. Laurie Metcalf in The ‘Toy Story’ Series
Laurie Metcalf has the definitive “mum” voice, which isn’t surprising when you realise that she didn’t only play Andy’s mum in ‘Toy Story‘ but Jim Hawkins’ mother in ‘Treasure Planet‘ and Lucille Krunklehorn-Robinson in ‘Meet The Robinsons‘.
5. Christian Bale in ‘Pocahontas’
Christian Bale may be known for his dark roles and extreme weight loss but at one point in time he voiced lil’ old Thomas in ‘Pocahontas‘.
7. Alan Tudyk in ‘Moana’
Now, the most surprising of the bunch, Julliard trained Alan Tudyk who has had roles in everything from ‘Big Hero 6‘ to ‘Wreck It Ralph‘ was brought onto ‘Moana‘ to voice her rooster Hei Hei and he is sublime in the role of the erratic rooster and we need to see more classically trained actors take on characters of this calibre.