10+ Voice actors who lend their voices to characters of the opposite gender and maybe even the fans didn’t know

In Brazil, to be a voice actor or voice actor, you need to be registered as an actor or actress, good diction and a test to “prove” to the person who is directing the dubbing that you fit the character. But, not always women dub women and men dub men. In fact, sometimes it is necessary that the genders of the character and the voice actor are switched.

This is a very common practice in anime dubbing in Japan, but in Brazil it also happens a lot. This is because, many times, child voice actors are lacking to interpret children, being necessary to resort to women, who have a vocal timbre closer to that of boys.

Therefore, the awesome.club gathered in this list, voice actresses who play male characters and vice versa, to the surprise of many fans who watch these productions without imagining who is behind the microphone. Check it out!

Angélica Santos has in her curriculum some male characters with her voice. Possibly, one of the most recognized by the public is the unmistakable voice of Cebolinha with its “tloca”, or rather, exchange of lyrics. She also voiced Oolong in the Dragon Ball series and Kevin, the protagonist of the classic Wonder Years series. Plus, she’s been in the business since 1982, so she still has dozens of other outstanding characters with her voice, like the Wasp in the Marvel movies and, more recently, Virana in Raya and the Last Dragon.

Úrsula is as experienced in dubbing as Angélica, both started in the same year. Naruto, the protagonist of the eponymous anime, is one of the male characters with her voice. Another boy she voiced was Goku, also in Dragon Ball, but when he was still a child. Interestingly, Ursula’s brother, Wendell Bezerra, started to voice Goku after the character grew up, and does so to this day.

Fátima also dubbed Oolong for a period, in a dub studio switch. She later voiced young Gohan, the son of Goku, who inspired many parents to name their children Gohan as well. She even voiced Kiki in Knights of the Zodiac and Tommy in Rugrats; The little Angels. Today you can hear Fatima’s voice in the series Supergirl, where she voices Alex, the heroine’s sister. A curiosity: his first work in dubbing was in the 80s, as Zé Gotinha.

Marisa is yet another veteran in dubbing, in addition to being an actress, singer and announcer. She was the one who lent the voice to Baby, from the Dinosaurs Family, responsible for the boom in Brazil in the 90s. In addition to him, she also voiced Pinocchimon in the Digimon anime. But you possibly know her best from her voice acting as Ariel in The Little Mermaid.

The child prodigy Franklin from Eu, a Patroa e as Crianças, was also voiced in Brazil by a woman. Bruna Laynes started in the dubbing world at about 7 years old and has already made many famous voices, in addition to Franklin. She is Topaz in Steven Universe and the spoiled Veruca Salt in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

This is the end of the series of women voicing male characters, which is very normal in the dubbing world. Especially when it comes to children’s characters, as women usually have the perfect timbre to fit these characters, as mentioned above.

But what about the other way around? We also have men voicing female characters, although it’s less common. Shall we meet some?

Marcelo Campos is an experienced and award-winning voice actor from São Paulo, with several anime in his curriculum. His experience in the profession also led him to work as a dubbing director, who is the person responsible for scaling the dubbing cast and guiding professionals, in addition to other functions. In the original Pokémon animation, he voiced the character Mandy, a very popular Pokémon trainer who can do magic tricks.

He is an actor from Rio de Janeiro who started as a voice actor in the traditional Herbert Richers. Today he is well known among dubbing fans for having lent his voice to epic villains such as Lex Luthor in the Justice League and Justice League Unlimited animations, Aragog and Lord Voldemort in the Harry Potter saga and Madame Junta in the Robots animation. Another female character that Luiz voiced was the Turtle Princess, who manages a library in the Adventure Time animation.

Jorel’s Brother is one of the national prides for those who enjoy animation. It is a series entirely produced in Brazil, shown on Cartoon Network and also on Netflix. It was created by Juliano Enrico based on his childhood in the 90s. One of the outstanding characters of the series is Director Lola, who yells “can’t” for everything, with the voice of the voice actor César Marchetti. If you’ve ever watched Jorel’s Brother, you probably haven’t imagined that he was a man who voiced the director, just like us.

Briggs, as he is called by his fans, is one of the most famous and popular Brazilian voice actors. In addition to being extremely charismatic, he is very creative and competent in his voiceovers. He is the “official” voice of Superman/Clark Kent in Brazil, Optimus Prime from Transformers and Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story. The list of emblematic characters that Guilherme Briggs voiced is huge.

But he made that list for having voiced Miss Piggy in the movie The Muppets. In the American original, the pig diva has always been voiced by men — Frank Oz, the original voice actor since 1979, and Eric Jacobson since 2002. In Brazil, Miss Piggy’s voice has been voiced by nine voice actors, four of which were men. : Hermes Baroli, Oberdan Júnior, Duda Espinoza and Guilherme Briggs.

Eyes That Condemn is a miniseries that tells the true story of five young Americans wrongfully convicted. One of the people involved in the story is Marci Wise, a trans woman, sister of one of the accused. In the miniseries she is played by a transgender woman, Isis King.

Well, in Brazil, the voice chosen for Marci Wise was that of actor, voice actor, singer, songwriter and drag queen Daniel Garcia, better known as Gloria Groove. Many people don’t know that he is also a voice actor, but you must have heard his voice. He voiced Aladdin in the 2019 live-action and also voiced the character Malick in the Elite series.

And, to finish this list, we return to Monica’s Gang. José Márcio Nicolosi has been an illustrator for the gang since the 70’s. He has a very characteristic trait, we suggest that you check out his drawings on the artist’s Instagram.

In addition to being a designer, he is also the voice actor for Monica Toy, the series with short and cute drawings that is successful on YouTube. José Márcio doesn’t just do the voice for boys, not just for girls. He does all the voices and all the sound effects for the animation. All. It’s a wonderful work and a lot of fun, impossible to explain in words. Just seeing (and hearing) to understand.

“Without a doubt, Mônica Toy was a remarkable experience for me because I had total freedom in creating the scripts”, explains the artist in an interview. As the characters of Monica Toy do not speak words of any language, the animation can be shown in any country and has conquered fans in several places.

Dubbing in Brazil is highly respected in other countries, and much of this is due to the dedication of professionals, such as those mentioned here. Do you follow any of the productions we have listed? What did you expect from your voice actors? Tell us in the comments, we’d love to know!