The futuristic space-set cartoon Futurama built a large stable of characters over the seven seasons that it aired (as well as in its four movies). And 202 of them were voiced by just eight people:
Chart: The 8 actors that voiced more than 200 Futurama characters
Phil Edwards was a senior producer for the Vox video team.
The many voices of Futurama (Phil Edwards/Vox)
Those actors in the main cast include Billy West (Fry, Professor Farnsworth, Zapp Brannigan, Doctor Zoidberg), Katey Sagal (Leela), John DiMaggio (Bender), Tress MacNeille (Mom), Maurice LaMarche (Kif Kroker), Lauren Tom (Amy Wong), Phil LaMarr (Hermes), and David Herman (Scruffy).
Some key observations from looking at the chart:
- Billy West, the most famous Futurama voice, did several main characters including Fry and Professor Farnsworth. Still, he didn’t voice the most characters.
- On the flip side, look at Tress MacNeille! She voiced at least 46 characters on the show, but her major character, Mom, is probably less prominent than many others. That shows the invisible nature of voice acting — the most prolific actor on a single show may not be the most famous.
- The actors with the most established non-voice acting careers voiced the fewest characters. Phil LaMarr, Lauren Tom, and Katey Sagal probably had the most well-established non-voice acting careers. They also voiced the fewest characters. David Herman breaks the trend — he played Michael Bolton in Office Space (1999), but he still voiced at least 37 characters and is more established as a voice actor.
Note: There are some key decisions that come with making a chart so vast. We omitted some “alternate universe” characters like Alternate Farnswoth and Alternate Fry, and we left out Flexo, too. Minor characters are probably overrepresented, and, in truth, a few may have slipped through the cracks — this chart is largely based on the work of dedicated fans at the Futurama Wikia, to which we owe great thanks.
