Playing Against Type/Western Animation

Examples of Playing Against Type in Western Animation include:

Many of the actors from Gargoyles were also Star Trek: The Next Generation alumni. First up, we have Riker playing David Xanatos. Then, Troi playing both Demona and one half of the Trope Namer Yuppie Couple. Also, Geordi as Anansi. Janeway as Titania. Data playing Puck.
- On a minor note, those of you familiar with the voice of Lexington may not spot him as the psychopathic Simon in Invasion America.
Speaking of Data and Greg Weisman cartoons, he plays a very knife happy Joker in Young Justice.
Casting Patrick Stewart as Seti in The Prince of Egypt might be considered a Double Subversion, as he initially acts like a typical "Patrick Stewart character" as a tough but loving father and authority figure deserving of respect. Then, in sharp opposition to the usual Patrick Stewart Speech, he gives a lecture to Moses justifying feeding thousands of Hebrew infants to the crocodiles. Even though the audience is likely to know of the almost-genocide from the Passover story, having Stewart in this role makes it shocking.
- In a much less serious (and probably intentional) note, in American Dad, Stewart was cast as Avery Bullock, Stan's often whimsical and bizarre boss.
  - Going even further, an episode of Family Guy had all the Next Gen actors reprising their roles...as themselves. Except that Stewart is the abusive father figure, Frakes is vapid, Dorn is the gentle guy, and Wheaton is the overeager chi...wait a second...

Wheaton: [at a drive-thru] I want a hamburger. No, cheeseburger. I want a hot dog. I want a milkshake. I want potato chips...

Stewart: [smacking him hard in the head] You'll get nothing, and like it!

- Number One, would you join me in a laugh if I said Commander Worf's forehead looked like a fanny?
  - Similarly, Patrick Stewart being cast as the yokian king in Jimmy Neutron Boy Genius qualifies under the comedic against-type casting as well, seeing how his overall character was somewhat comical in spite of his essentially being a sacrificing genocidal ruler.
- The Prince of Egypt had this in spades: action hero-type Val Kilmer as Moses/God comes to mind.
- Speaking of Michael Dorn, he is also known as the cute and brainy ace of I Am Weasel.
James Hong, veteran character actor and better known as cheesy, Large Ham villains in various kung fu productions (particularly Lo Pan of Big Trouble in Little China), appears in Kung Fu Panda instead as the clueless, Genius Ditz noodle-making goose Mr. Ping. Meanwhile, Action Girl Lucy Liu gets to be the sweet-natured, kindly Viper.
- Likewise, in Blade Runner James Hong appears as a meek genetic engineer specializing in eyes.
- Hong also played goofy Mr. Miyagi parodies in Balls of Fury and Totally Awesome.
Though his other roles may not fit, the decision to cast David Kaye as Optimus Prime in Transformers Animated raised many eyebrows among the fans, given that Kaye's usual role in previous Transformers series' has been Me ga tron.
Casting Ed Asner as Granny Goodness in Superman the Animated Series was probably supposed to be this, but felt surprisingly appropriate.
The Wild Thornberrys had Tim Curry, he of the deliciously slimy and evil-sounding voice, playing the energetic, good-natured, and wholeheartedly lovable naturalist Nigel Thornberry.
Richard Horvitz is usually known for playing goofy, loudmouthed characters who scream a lot such as Invader Zim, Dagget from The Angry Beavers, and Billy from The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy. However he played a serious role in Static Shock in which he played Jimmy Osgood, a shy, nerdy boy who was often bullied. Eventually, he loses it and tries to kill his tormentors with a gun, but he is stopped before he can do anything. The gun still goes off, though, and nearly kills Ritchie.
- Horvitz also voiced the far more subdued and vastly more intelligent Grey Matter in the original Ben10.
Diedrich Bader. You know, Oswald from The Drew Carey Show? Now he's playing Warp Darkmatter, Hoss Delgado, and BATMAN.
Keith David is known for playing villains and Dark Is Not Evil characters. His role as Dr. Facilier in The Princess and the Frog only kept the dark part, and he also has a humorous side. Usually, the characters David plays are serious.
Grey DeLisle usually specializes in voicing nasty, unsympathetic teen girls such as Mandy in The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, Vicky in The Fairly OddParents, and the downright diabolical Azula in Avatar: The Last Airbender. In Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, however, she voices Frankie, an essentially caring and good-natured caretaker, and Goo, a friendly (if overtalkative) youngster. More recently, she's given her voice to Doc Holiday from Generator Rex, a caring and friendly scientist who's a surrogate mother to the protagonist.
- And not only that, she was Emily Elizabeth and Wubbzy as well.
Compare Ron Perlman's usual roles of Badasses to his role on Danny Phantom as Mr. Lancer, who pretty much is a wuss and can't fight.
- This troper was severely confused when she first heard Slade using the same voice that once cried "To kill a mockingbird!!" as a curse.
Lorenzo Music, the voice of Deadpan Snarker Garfield and Friends in most of his animated appearances until his death, was also the sweet fool hero Ralph (the all-purpose animal) in 1983's Twice Upon a Time.
Mark Hamill is most well-known for two roles: Luke Skywalker and the Joker. Can you get two more divergent roles?
- Mark has also voiced various other major villains, such as the Hobgoblin, the Skeleton King, Colonel Muska, Fire Lord Ozai, and Malefor.
- He also voices the enigmatic, morally ambiguous likes of Mr. Selactia and The Specter.
- Or he's done some heroic, but a wee bit to effeminate or sissy sounding characters like Larry 3000 and Sean the fairy in Ralph Bakshi's Wizards.
- For more classic, scenery-chewing villainous roles, he also voices Undergrowth in Danny Phantom and Captain Stickybeard in Codename: Kids Next Door.
  - Most of his characters are very clever in some way. But the big, stupid zombie Solomon Grundy ain't.
- With his roles as Von Nebula and Dr. Pullem, it appears that hammy supervillains are his type of role nowadays. For a current example of Playing Against Type, he now does the gruff-but-likable stoic Skips on Regular Show.
Rob Paulsen, who is usually known for his comedic roles, voices the cruel, serious, foul-mouthed gangster Sal Maroni in Batman Gotham Knight.
- He also voiced a bigoted racist in a recent episode of The Boondocks.
  - And Riley's soft spoken, Shell-Shocked Veteran painting teacher.
  - Don't forget his role as Gray Fox in Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes, and fans of the series would think of Gray Fox as anything but comical.
Hynden Walch, someone who's played characters that are incredibly kind like Starfire, Penny Sanchez, and Princess Bubblegum... plays the frightening, four-armed girl Breach in Generator Rex.
- Not as extreme, but a villainess nonetheless, was Harley Quinn in The Batman.
- She also voiced the villainesses Blackfire and Madame Rouge.
John Dimaggio, known for his gruff voice and New Jersey accent, as the usually high-pitched Joker in Batman: Under the Red Hood. However, upon hearing the performance, most people actually liked it.
Charlie Adler, well known for comedic roles like Buster Bunny, Mr. Whiskers, and that cuddly pink dragon from My Little Pony, as well as crazy overdramatic characters like Ickis, The Red Guy, and I.R. Baboon, voices Cobra Commander in G.I. Joe: Resolute, who is quite possibly the darkest and most monstrously evil incarnation of the character to date. He reprises the role in G.I. Joe: Renegades. He also played Chance "T-Bone" Furlong in Swat Kats.
- In an inverse to the David Kaye Transformers example listed above, Adler also voiced the villainous Starscream in the live-action movies. His best known Transformers role prior to that was as the considerably more heroic Aerialbot leader Silverbolt in the original cartoon.
Pamela Segal Adlon, usually known for voicing young boys or spunky or motherly women, voiced Luanne's violent, promiscuous, alcoholic, neglectful mother in an episode of King of the Hill.
- She also plays a coke-snorting sex fiend on Californication
Mulan also had this as well. No, it's not the title character. You know the character Yao? Well, that guy is voiced by Harvey Fierstein, who is nothing like that character.
Over the Hedge has an enthusiastic, cheerful raccoon named RJ voiced by Bruce Willis. Also, William Shatner as a possum. With Avril Lavigne as his daughter.
- One of the latter two takes part in the song over the closing credits. And it's not Avril.
Any character played by Tom Kenny who isn't dimwitted, goofy, energetic, lovable, crazy, or just plain silly in any way will count as this.
- His role as Doctor Octopus in Ultimate Spider Man in particular, being quieter and creepier than his other two characters (Curt Connors and The Wizard) in the show.
Billie Lou Watt, who earned her fame in animation as the voice actress for the messiah-like main characters from Astro Boy, and Kimba the White Lion, has her final role prior to retiring being Eustace's mother, Courage the Cowardly Dog's resident Jerkass.
Cree Summer is famous for voicing young African-American women in most animated cartoons (Codename: Kids Next Door, Drawn Together, Rugrats/All Grown Up!, Histeria!, etc.), but the first few characters she ever voiced were actually Caucasian women, such as Penny from Inspector Gadget and Elmyra Duff from Tiny Toon Adventures (her father is white). However, recently, Cree decided to go both ways and as a result, some of the later characters she actually voiced appear to be dark-skinned women with White-Haired Pretty Girl and Blue Eyes (Atlantis the Lost Empire).
- And then there's her role as the poodle Cleo in Clifford the Big Red Dog.
- Her role as Protoss Executor Selendis in Star Craft 2 isn't like the roles she usually plays either. Unlike the other roles she's done before, she really sounds dead serious in this one.
Danny Cooksey is mostly known for voicing a lot of jerks and juvenile delinquents such as Montana Max, Hotstreak, Brad Buttowski, and Jack Spicer, but he also voiced the good natured albeit cowardly Dave the Barbarian and the soft spoken, artistic, and sensitive Milo in Pepper Ann.
- He starred in Invader Zim as Keef, of all people.
One Mr. Adam Baldwin, known for his roles as gruff badasses, played the cowardly and not so gruff Finn in Jackie Chan Adventures.
- Mr. Baldwin was also Hal Jordan in Justice League and Superman/Clark Kent in Superman: Doomsday. He reprises the latter role for DC Universe Online.
Tony Jay as Dr. Lipschitz.
- And also fatherly fowl (not chicken) Virgil in Mighty Max.
Chantal Strand, who normally plays sweet, innocent, Shrinking Violet type characters like Madeline, Cassie, and Bijou, was cast against type as the Rich Bitches Gemini Stone in Sabrina the Animated Series, McKenna in Care Bears: Adventures in Care-a-Lot and Diamond Tiara in My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic.
Back in the 80's, Jerry Orbach was known for playing on Broadway, as the "touch but fair" dad of Dirty Dancing, and playing mobsters...so what was he doing playing a Space Cowboy? Well, he had never done animation up until that point...
When the intelligent, calm, in-control, thoroughly evil Catbert appeared on Dilbert, he was voiced by Jason Alexander. George Costanza, Abis Mal, Hugo, and Duckman fail to qualify as having any of Catbert's characteristics (with the possible exception of the latter).
The awesome cool Scott McNeil has these moments as well. You may know him as an awesome action hero role type of VA, but do you know he's also played roles of Pungeon Masters and Chicken-phobic shy teachers and was even a Care Bears? Now you do.
Sonic Sat AM features Tim Curry as the kind King Maximillian Acorn and Jim Cummings, the guy who did Winnie the Pooh, as the evil Dr. Robotnik.
- Cummings also played the incredibly foulmouthed Terror Mask in the 2010 Splatterhouse remake.
Tony Todd, who's best known for his villainous roles(Candyman, The Fallen, and currently Dreadwing), plays the heroic Icon in Young Justice.
Andrea Libman is currently known for her roles on My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic as Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie, as well as Emmy in Dragon Tales and the titular character of Madeline (taking over the helm from Andrea Libman). However, you'd be pretty surprised to find out that she once starred in X-Men: Evolution as X-23.
Tara Strong tends to voice good, even sweet characters - with Bubbles probably being the best example. Of course, she also voiced Princess Clara and Toot - two characters about as far removed from Bubbles as humanly possible. Tara herself pointed out the trope when Drawn Together first premiered.

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