Disney can often attract big names to appear in their animated movies, even if they are only offering a minor role. This means that some A-list actors and Oscar-winners have obscure roles in Disney movies that fans could easily miss. While the stars behind the biggest characters are usually publicized, like Dwayne Johnson in Moana and Robin Williams in Aladdin, it can be hard to recognize other actors based solely on their voices.
Disney’s old classics generally don’t have many recognizable names, because Hollywood’s brightest stars weren’t interested in animation and studios preferred dedicated voice actors anyway. The trend of casting high-profile actors in animated movies is a relatively recent one, starting in the 1990s and accelerating throughout the 21st century. These days, it’s common for an animated movie’s cast to be filled with A-list talent, but many of these actors can go unnoticed.
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Thomas – Pocahontas (1995)
Christian Bale
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Christian Bale’s big breakthrough came in American Psycho, although he had several notable roles before Mary Harron’s dark psychological thriller. He played Demtrius in an adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream alongside Kevin Kline and Michelle Pfeiffer, and he shone as a young actor in Empire of the Sun and Newsies. Looking back, his biggest movie before American Psycho was probably Pocahontas, although he only has a minor role as one of John Smith’s compatriots.
Christian Bale’s mastery of accents suggests that he could have a much bigger career as a voice actor if he wanted one.
Christian Bale’s mastery of accents suggests that he could have a much bigger career as a voice actor if he wanted one, but his voice-acting roles have been few and far between since Pocahontas. He voices Bagheera in Andy Serkis’ Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle, and he has lent his voice to the English dub of two Studio Ghibli movies, Howl’s Moving Castle and The Boy and the Heron.
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Dean Abigail Hardscrabble – Monsters University (2013)
Helen Mirren
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Helen Mirren’s best movies include period dramas, biopics and the odd comedy. Her illustrious career stretches back to the 1960s, so she’s had time to adapt to a wide variety of genres. She still hasn’t had too many voice-acting roles, however, which makes her appearance as Dean Hardscrabble in Monsters University something of an oddity. Hardscrabble is the firm but fair authority figure whom Mike and Sully meet when they start causing trouble on campus.
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Other than Monsters University, Mirren’s voice-acting roles have been relatively low-key. She’s part of the star-studded cast of Prince of Egypt, and she voices the ponderous robot Deep Thought in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, but her other roles have come in more obscure animated movies. Mirren is still going strong, and the Oscar-winner is set to appear in the buzzy mystery movie The Thursday Murder Club at some point in 2025.
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Captain Amelia – Treasure Planet (2002)
Emma Thompson
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Treasure Planet is one of the best Disney movies of the 2000s, and a bright spot in an awkward decade between the Disney renaissance and later hits like Tangled and Frozen. It’s common knowledge that Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays the main character, Jim Hawkins, but he isn’t the only star in the cast. Emma Thompson brings a lot of menace and gravitas to her portrayal of Captain Amelia.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays the main character, Jim Hawkins, but he isn’t the only star in the cast.
Emma Thompson is a versatile actor, just as comfortable in period dramas like Sense and Sensibility as she is in lighthearted blockbusters like the Men in Black franchise. It should come as no surprise that she can also list voice-acting among her many talents. Treasure Planet provided her with her first voice-acting role ever, but she returned to Disney for her role in Brave. Her other major animated movie is Laika’s Missing Link.
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Chicken Little – Chicken Little (2005)
Zach Braff
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Chicken Little was Disney’s first 3-D computer-generated animated movie, coming a few years after other studios had stolen a march with hits like Toy Story and Shrek. It’s not considered a real Disney classic, despite its historic significance for the studio. The story adapts an old folk tale, which is usually a path to victory for Disney, but it puts a modern sci-fi twist on the story that divides opinion.
Chicken Little stars Zach Braff as the title character, while there are other major stars in the cast, like Adam West, Joan Cusack and Patrick Stewart. Braff’s most significant movie is Garden State, which he also wrote and directed. He’s mainly known as a TV star, and he could be about to return to his biggest role if news of the Scrubs revival is accurate. Scrubs is far from his only TV role. Recently, he made a scene-stealing appearance in the dark comedy Bad Monkey.
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Kenai – Brother Bear (2003)
Joaquin Phoenix
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Brother Bear gave Joaquin Phoenix his first voice-acting role, and the Disney movie is still his only animated movie. He has lent his voice to a couple of documentaries, but he has mostly stuck to acting in live-action movies. Phoenix was already an established star by the time he made Brother Bear, having starred in hits like Gladiator and Signs. His one and only voice-acting role now seems like nothing more than a brief experiment.
Brother Bear gave Joaquin Phoenix his first voice-acting role, and it’s still his only animated movie.
Brother Bear was a commercial success, but it wasn’t a hit with critics. It’s possible that this tepid response contributed to Phoenix’s reluctance to return to voice-acting, but it seems more likely that he simply wanted to make the most of his time by starring in live-action movies. He’s one of the best actors of his generation, and he has made a habit of appearing in Oscar-nominated movies, as well as scooping Best Actor for his role in Joker.
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Mrs. Potts – Beauty & The Beast (1991)
Angela Lansbury
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Beauty and the Beast is one of the best movies of the 1990s Disney renaissance, which got the studio back on track and revitalized the medium of animation in America. One thing that made the Disney renaissance different to earlier animated movies was that the studio started hiring some bigger names for their voice roles, whereas older animated movies often stuck with specialized voice actors without much of a public profile.
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Beauty and the Beast still doesn’t have the star power in the cast of later hits like Aladdin and The Lion King, but there are some noteworthy names. Angela Lansbury stands out as the most famous actor on the cast list, thanks to her portrayal of Jessica Fletcher in Murder, She Wrote. Aside from the classic TV mystery series, Lansbury enjoyed a long career in Hollywood, from her film debut in 1944’s Gaslight to her late-career children’s movies, like Mr. Popper’s Penguins and The Grinch.
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Horst – Ratatouille (2007)
Will Arnett
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Ratatouille is most associated with Patton Oswalt, although Peter O’Toole also gets a lot of love for his performance as the snobby food critic Anton Ego. One actor who sometimes gets lost amid the cast is Will Arnett. He only has a minor role as Horst, but the chef delivers some great lines, constantly changing his mysterious backstory whenever someone questions him about his time in prison.
His most iconic voice role is that of the title characer in Netflix’s dark sitcom BoJack Horseman.
Will Arnett has starred in some hilarious comedy movies and TV shows, including Arrested Development, 30 Rock and Blades of Glory, and his distinctive deep voice has also allowed him to amass a long list of animated movie credits. He plays Batman in the Lego franchise, Mr. Perkins in Despicable Me and dozens of other animated characters. His most iconic voice role is that of the title characer in Netflix’s dark sitcom BoJack Horseman.
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Sina – Moana (2016)
Nicole Scherzinger
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Moana is famous for Dwayne Johnson’s role as Maui, which casts a shadow over some of the other actors. Nicole Scherzinger is one of the other big names in the cast, even though she doesn’t have many acting roles under her belt. Scherzinger brings her vocal talents to Moana, building on her successful career as a solo artist and a member of the Pussycat Dolls. She plays Moana’s mother Sina.
Aside from her music, Nicole Scherzinger is famous for being a judge on The Masked Singer. She has had minor roles in Men in Black 3 and some TV shows, but Moana is her biggest movie by far. She also appears in the cast of Moana 2. She only plays a supporting role, but she’s a welcome addition to the soundtrack when she gets the opportunity to sing. Moana also allows Scherzinger to pay tribute to her Polynesian roots.
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Mrs. Otterton – Zootopia (2016)
Octavia Spencer
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The cast of Zootopia has plenty of big names, like many of Disney’s more recent animated movies. Most fans will know that Jason Bateman plays Nick, Idris Elba plays Chief Bogo and J. K. Simmons plays Mayor Lionheart, but Octavia Spencer’s minor role as Mrs. Otterton can go unnoticed. Mrs. Otterton pleads with Chief Bogo and Judy to find her missing husband, Emmitt, and this case eventually leads Judy to uncovering the “Night Howlers” conspiracy.
The cast of Zootopia has plenty of big names, like many of Disney’s more recent animated movies.
It seems unlikely that Octavia Spencer will return for the upcoming Zootopia sequel, since she hasn’t been listed among the first batch of cast announcement and her character’s story has been concluded. The Oscar-winner has a few other voice-acting roles, however. She plays Corey the Manticore in Pixar’s Onward, she has a memorable role in American Dad, and she’s set to appear in The Smurfs Movie.
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Nigel – Finding Nemo (2003)
Geoffrey Rush
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Finding Nemo has a few big stars in its cast, with Ellen DeGeneres as Dory, Willem Dafoe as Gill and Eric Bana as a hammerhead shark. Geoffrey Rush’s role as Nigel the Pelican can easily fly under the radar. Rush is one of many Australian actors in Finding Nemo, and he makes the most of a minor role. Nigel helps Marlin and Nemo despite his nature as a pelican who should be preying on small fish.
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Geoffrey Rush gained international prominence and won an Oscar for his role in 1996’s Shine, but he was already an accomplished actor in Australia at that point. He has since appeared in several more awards-season contenders, such as The King’s Speech and Shakespeare in Love, but he’s probably most famous for playing Hector Barbossa in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.