Best Speaking Voices (from Youngest To Oldest)

1. Emma Stone

Emily Jean "Emma" Stone was born on November 6, 1988 in Scottsdale, Arizona to Krista Jean Stone (née Yeager), a homemaker & Jeffrey Charles "Jeff" Stone, a contracting company founder and CEO. She is of Swedish, German & British Isles descent. Stone began acting as a child as a member of the ...

She's not one of my very favorites, not to mention she's kind of predictable, but I do like her voice.

2. Sutton Foster

Actress | Younger

Sutton Lenore Foster (born March 18, 1975) is an American actress, singer and dancer. She is known for her work on the Broadway stage, for which she has received two Tony Awards for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical, in 2002 for her role as Millie Dillmount in Thoroughly Modern ...

Her singing voice is beautiful, her speaking voice is lovely, she's won Tony Awards, she's hot...And it just so happens she's dating another guy with a great voice, Bobby Cannavale. XD If anything, I'm happy for her. I didn't include Cannavale in this list, though. I don't know why.

3. Seth MacFarlane

Writer | Family Guy

Seth Woodbury MacFarlane was born in the small New England town of Kent, Connecticut, where he lived with his mother, Ann Perry (Sager), an admissions office worker, his father, Ronald Milton MacFarlane, a prep school teacher, and his sister, Rachael MacFarlane, now a voice actress and singer. He ...

4. Susan Egan

Actress | Hercules

Susan Egan was born on February 18, 1970 in Long Beach, California as Susan Farrell Egan. She's an American actress, singer and dancer, known for her work on the Broadway stage. She is best known for originating the role of Belle in the Broadway musical adaptation of Beauty and the Beast (1994), ...

Her voice is unique. It's kind of nasal and almost childish-sounding, but the result is quite sexy.

5. Ted Cassidy

Actor | Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Ted Cassidy was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and raised in Philippi, West Virginia. He was a well respected actor who portrayed many different characters during his film and television career. His most notable role was Lurch, the faithful butler on the television series The Addams Family (1964)....

Best known for playing Lurch on "The Addams Family," and for being kicked to his death by Paul Newman in the film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Yes, that may have happened, but Ted Cassidy will always have one of the greatest speaking voices in cinematic history.

6. Jodie Foster

Actress | The Silence of the Lambs

Jodie Foster started her career at the age of two. For four years she made commercials and finally gave her debut as an actress in the TV series Mayberry R.F.D. (1968). In 1975 Jodie was offered the role of prostitute Iris Steensma in the movie Taxi Driver (1976). This role, for which she received ...

Kind of like Susan Egan, only more womanly. I LOVE the way she pronounces her r's. It's kind of sharp and drawling at the same time; I can still sense a hint of young Jodie Foster in the way she speaks.

7. Trace Adkins

Actor | The Lincoln Lawyer

Trace Adkins' trademark baritone has powered countless hits to the top of the charts and turned albums into Platinum plaques, selling over 10 million albums, cumulatively. The Grammy-nominated member of the Grand Ole Opry is a television personality, actor, author, spokesman for the Wounded Warrior...

8. Laura Nyro

Soundtrack | Final Destination

Laura Nyro was born on October 18, 1947 in The Bronx, New York, USA. She was a production manager, known for Final Destination (2000), My Girl (1991) and A Home at the End of the World (2004). She was married to David Bianchini. She died on April 8, 1997 in Danbury, Connecticut, USA.

She was a singer. Her speaking voice was as lovely, resonant, and pristine as her singing voice. I can only find two interviews of her on YouTube. Her voice was so...breathy, almost husky, like she was telling you a secret.

9. Frank Bruno

Actor | The Calcium Kid

Frank Bruno was born on November 16, 1961 in Hammersmith, London, England, UK. He is an actor, known for The Calcium Kid (2004), Family Fortunes (1980) and Cass (2008). He was previously married to Laura Mooney.

I think this is the right Frank Bruno. Yeah, his voice is almost confusing. His accent doesn't match his voice at all. He has a deep powerful bass voice and an extremely thick, practically unintelligible Cockney accent. You'd expect him to have an accent more like James Earl Jones or Michael Clarke Duncan.

10. Allison Janney

Actress | The Help

Allison Janney is an award-winning actress who has earned a solid reputation in stage productions and in many supporting roles on screen, and who more recently has become prominent by portraying one of the major characters in the popular TV series The West Wing (1999).

Entertainment Weekly magazine ...

Her voice is very unique and mellifluous.

11. Michael Clarke Duncan

Actor | The Green Mile

Michael Clarke Duncan was born on December 10, 1957 in Chicago, Illinois. Raised on Chicago's South Side by his single mother, Jean, a house cleaner, Duncan grew up resisting drugs and alcohol, instead concentrating on school. He wanted to play football in high school, but his mother wouldn't let ...

12. Ron Perlman

Actor | Hand of God

Ron Perlman is a classically-trained actor who has appeared in countless stage plays, feature films and television productions.

Ronald N. Perlman was born April 13, 1950 in Washington Heights, Manhattan, New York. His mother, Dorothy (Rosen), is retired from the City Clerk's Office. His father, ...

13. Meryl Streep

Actress | Out of Africa

Considered by many critics to be the greatest living actress, Meryl Streep has been nominated for the Academy Award an astonishing 21 times, and has won it three times. Meryl was born Mary Louise Streep in 1949 in Summit, New Jersey, to Mary Wolf (Wilkinson), a commercial artist, and Harry William ...

Her voice is quite underrated. It's the right pitch (actually, maybe a bit higher than preferred), the right tone, the right accent, the right volume...

14. Avery Brooks

Actor | Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Avery Franklin Brooks was born on October 2, 1948 in Evansville, Indiana to a musically talented family. His maternal grandfather, Samuel Travis Crawford, was a tenor who graduated from Tougaloo College in Mississippi in 1901. Crawford toured the country singing with the Delta Rhythm Boys in the ...

15. Jeremy Irons

Actor | Dead Ringers

British actor Jeremy Irons was born in Cowes, Isle of Wight, a small island off the south coast of England. He is the son of Barbara Anne Brereton (Sharpe) and Paul Dugan Irons, an accountant. Young Jeremy didn't prove very fond of figures. He visited mainland England only once a year. He wound up ...

Rich and haunting, as his biography describes it. A kind of light baritone with a grainy edge to it. Like an angel crossed with a serpent indeed.

16. Bernadette Peters

Actress | The Jerk

Throughout her illustrious career, Bernadette Peters has dazzled audiences and critics with her performances on stage and television, in concert, and on recordings. She is one of the most critically-acclaimed Broadway performers, having received nominations for seven Tony Awards, winning two, and ...

The only person I've ever heard speak who can sound sexy while sounding like she has a cold.

17. Suresh Oberoi

Actor | Animal

Suresh Oberoi was born on December 17, 1946 in Quetta, Baluchistan, British India. He is an actor and producer, known for Animal (2023), Kabir Singh (2019) and Mirch Masala (1986).

A Bollywood actor, and a big name there. My world cultures class saw the film Asoka the Great, which Oberoi narrated. His voice was so incredibly epic. He sounded very much like Lorne Greene.

18. Sam Elliott

Actor | A Star Is Born

Tall, thin, wiry Sam Elliott is the classic picture of the American cowboy. Elliott began his acting career on the stage and his film debut was in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969). Although his future wife, Katharine Ross co-starred in the film, the two did not meet until they filmed The ...

19. Fred Gwynne

Actor | My Cousin Vinny

Fred Gwynne was an enormously talented character actor most famous for starring in the television situation comedies Car 54, Where Are You? (1961) (as Officer Francis Muldoon) and The Munsters (1964) (as the Frankenstein clone Herman Munster). He was very tall at 6'5" and had a resonant, baritone ...

Most people know him from The Munsters, but the first thing I ever saw him in was My Cousin Vinny. He was the judge. Incredible deep rumbling bass voice.

20. Harrison Ford

Actor | Raiders of the Lost Ark

Harrison Ford was born on July 13, 1942 in Chicago, Illinois, to Dorothy (Nidelman), a radio actress, and Christopher Ford (born John William Ford), an actor turned advertising executive. His father was of Irish and German ancestry, while his maternal grandparents were Jewish emigrants from Minsk, ...

Just like Meryl Streep, his voice is thoroughly underestimated. He always sounds so calm, soft-spoken, and paternal.

21. Orson Welles

Actor | Citizen Kane

His father, Richard Head Welles, was a well-to-do inventor, his mother, Beatrice (Ives) Welles, a beautiful concert pianist; Orson Welles was gifted in many arts (magic, piano, painting) as a child. When his mother died in 1924 (when he was nine) he traveled the world with his father. He was ...

I could never forget Mr. Welles.

22. Lorne Greene

Actor | Bonanza

Lorne Greene was born Lyon Himan "Chaim" Green on February 12, 1915, in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. He began acting while attending Canada's Queen's University, and after graduation got a job in radio broadcasting. His rich, deep, authoritarian voice quickly propelled him to prominence as Canada's top...

One of the ideal voices in my opinion. Watch a video of him, and you'll see what I mean.

23. Anne Bancroft

Actress | The Graduate

Anne Bancroft was born on September 17, 1931 in The Bronx, NY, the middle daughter of Michael Italiano (1905-2001), a dress pattern maker, and Mildred DiNapoli (1907-2010), a telephone operator. She made her cinema debut in Don't Bother to Knock (1952) in 1952, and over the next five years appeared...

24. Dustin Hoffman

Actor | Tootsie

Dustin Lee Hoffman was born in Los Angeles, California, to Lillian (Gold) and Harry Hoffman, who was a furniture salesman and prop supervisor for Columbia Pictures. He was raised in a Jewish family (from Ukraine, Russia-Poland, and Romania). Hoffman graduated from Los Angeles High School in 1955, ...

Feel free to disagree with me, but his voice is awesome. It's deep, resonant, and kind of...almost whiny. He sounds rather like Tom Hanks. Hoffman sort of speaks through his nose, making a unique honk-like sound. And I think if anyone else tried to do that, it wouldn't sound as good.

25. Morgan Freeman

Actor | Driving Miss Daisy

With an authoritative voice and calm demeanor, this ever popular American actor has grown into one of the most respected figures in modern US cinema. Morgan was born on June 1, 1937 in Memphis, Tennessee, to Mayme Edna (Revere), a teacher, and Morgan Porterfield Freeman, a barber. The young Freeman...

You might have noticed a pattern here. A pattern of deep, rich, often stentorian voices. Well, stentorian doesn't suit Morgan Freeman's voice, but I won't deny that it's one of the greats. Kind of crackly, with a pinch of his old Georgia-ness left in it. No one has that kind of voice but him. It's Morgan Freeman's voice.

26. Vanessa Redgrave

Actress | Coriolanus

On January 30, 1937, renowned theatre actor Michael Redgrave was performing in a production of Hamlet in London. During the curtain call, the show's lead, Laurence Olivier, announced to the audience: "tonight a great actress was born". This was in reference to his co-star's newborn daughter, ...

27. Howard Cosell

Self | Bananas

When you think of the words honesty, straight from the shoulder, and tell it like it is, you think of one man: Howard Cosell. Howard is best remembered as the greatest sportscaster in the history of sports. His way with words and ability of telling like it was, brought him fame not only in America,...

Kinda weird, but his voice always manages to both bring my attention to his words and a smile to my face. Even so, he's not an actor, but he's on IMDb, so sue me.

28. Valentine Dyall

Actor | The Haunting

He could have been described as the "British Vincent Price". This distinguished actor was probably best known for his voice work. His low, resonant and mellifluous tones were employed to chill and excite for at least half a century. His most famous radio role was as "The Man In Black", back in the ...

29. Sam Donaldson

Self | ABC News: Inauguration 2009

Sam Donaldson was born on March 11, 1934 in El Paso, Texas, USA. He is known for ABC News: Inauguration 2009 (2009), ABC 2000: The Millennium (1999) and Primary Issues (2011). He has been married to Sandra Martorelli since December 22, 2014. He was previously married to Janice Smith, Billie Kay ...

I don't care for it much anymore, but it has always been clipped and mellifluous. I never found his voice that great, but I just enjoy listening to him. Even if what he's saying is kind of jerkish.

30. Tom Baker

Actor | Doctor Who

One of Britain's most recognizable (and most larger-than-life) character actors, Tom Baker is best known for his record-setting seven-year stint as the Fourth Doctor in Doctor Who (1963). He was born in 1934 in Liverpool, to Mary Jane (Fleming) and John Stewart Baker. His father was of English and ...

His voice has gotten considerably higher through the ages, but it used to be so deep and velvety and cavernous. It was one of the best.

31. Paul Robeson

Actor | Show Boat

This handsome, eloquent and highly charismatic actor became one of the foremost interpreters of Eugene O'Neill's plays and one of the most treasured names in song during the first half of the twentieth century. He also courted disdain and public controversy for most of his career as a staunch Cold ...

32. William Marshall

Actor | Blacula

Dynamic African American leading man and characters actor William Marshall trained in Grand Opera, Broadway and Shakespeare. In films from the 50s and 60s including: Lydia Bailey (1952), Something of Value (1957), To Trap a Spy (1964) and finally known for being in The Boston Strangler (1968) with ...

33. Peter O'Toole

Actor | Lawrence of Arabia

A leading man of prodigious talents, Peter O'Toole was born and raised in Leeds, Yorkshire, England, the son of Constance Jane Eliot (Ferguson), a Scottish nurse, and Patrick Joseph O'Toole, an Irish metal plater, football player and racecourse bookmaker. Upon leaving school, he decided to become a...

Kinda the same idea as Tom Baker.

34. Robert Mitchum

Actor | Out of the Past

Robert Mitchum was an underrated American leading man of enormous ability, who sublimated his talents beneath an air of disinterest. He was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, to Ann Harriet (Gunderson), a Norwegian immigrant, and James Thomas Mitchum, a shipyard/railroad worker. His father died in a ...

35. Robert MacNeil

Actor | Hamlet

Robert MacNeil was born on January 19, 1931 in Montréal, Québec, Canada. He was a writer and actor, known for Hamlet (2000), PBS NewsHour (1975) and The Story of English (1986). He was married to Donna Joy Nappi, Jane Jacobsen Doherty and Rosemarie Anne Copland. He died on April 12, 2024 in ...

Powerful, velvety, impossibly deep voice with a pinch of Canadian-ness left.

36. James Earl Jones

Actor | Rogue One

Widely regarded as the one of greatest stage and screen actors both in his native USA and internationally, James Earl Jones was born on January 17, 1931 in Arkabutla, Mississippi. At an early age, he started to take dramatic lessons to calm himself down. It appeared to work as he has since starred ...

Now how could I ever forget James Earl Jones?

37. Ed Ames

Actor | Daniel Boone

Born Malden, Massachusetts on July 9, 1927 (real name Urick), Ed, Vic Ames, Gene Ames and Joe Ames were sons of Ukrainian Jewish parents and four of nine children. They were very poor but Ed attended Boston Public Latin School along with brother Joe. The singing group, The Ames Brothers, was formed...

38. Leslie Nielsen

Actor | Airplane!

Leslie William Nielsen was born in Regina, Saskatchewan, and raised in Tulita (formerly Fort Norman), Northwest Territories. His mother, Mabel Elizabeth (Davies), was Welsh. His father, Ingvard Eversen Nielsen, was a Danish-born Mountie and a strict disciplinarian. Leslie studied at the Academy of ...

39. Don Ameche

Actor | Cocoon

Don Ameche was a versatile and popular American film actor in the 1930s and '40s, usually as the dapper, mustached leading man. He was also popular as a radio master of ceremonies during this time. As his film popularity waned in the 1950s, he continued working in theater and some TV. His film ...

When I watched his Oscar speech for Cocoon, I thought he was British. Holy crap.

40. George Kennedy

Actor | Cool Hand Luke

George Harris Kennedy, Jr. was born on February 18, 1925 in New York City, to Helen (Kieselbach), a ballet dancer, and George Harris Kennedy, an orchestra leader and musician. Following high school graduation, Kennedy enlisted in the United States Army in 1943 with the hope to become a fighter ...

In my opinion, people like Suresh Oberoi, Lorne Greene, younger Tom Baker, Paul Robeson, William Marshall, Robert MacNeil, Ed Ames, Leslie Nielsen, Don Ameche, and George Kennedy are kind of my line of ideal male speaking voices.

41. Thurl Ravenscroft

Actor | The Brave Little Toaster

Born in 1914, raised in Norfolk, Nebraska, Thurl Ravenscroft served as a navigator in the US Army Air Transport Command in World War II before settling in Hollywood. An accomplished singer, he performed with The Sportsmen Quartet, The Mellowmen Quartet, The Johnny Mann Singers, The Norman Luboff ...

THE best voice ever.

42. Walter Cronkite

Actor | Liberty's Kids

Walter Leland Cronkite, Jr. was born in Saint Joseph, Missouri, the only child of Helen Lena (Fritsche) and Walter Leland Cronkite, a doctor. Throughout his early career, Cronkite worked with newspapers. During World War II, he served as a news reporter. In 1950, Cronkite became a journalist. He ...

The most iconic voice in American history. Not to mention, no one ever looked better at the age of 90. By the way, did you know that when Seth MacFarlane was 9, he parodied him in a cartoon of his own? He named the character Walter Crouton. XD Yes, like every 3rd grader in 1983, he worshiped Walter Cronkite.