5 of the worst celebrity voice acting performances in films ever: from Taylor Swift in The Lorax and Beyoncé in Disney’s The Lion King, to Nicolas Cage in Astro Boy and Chris Pratt as Super Mario

Jan 9 , 2024

Beyoncé, Taylor Swift and Chris Pratt all gave less than stellar voice acting performances in films. Photos: TNS, Invision/AP, AFP

Robert Pattinson earned praise for his turn in the English dub of Studio Ghibli’s The Boy and The Heron, directed by Hayao Miyazaki – but how did these other stars’ voice acting fall so flat?

Taylor Swift and Beyoncé have earned millions from their singing, but their acting voices left much to be desired … while some critics called Matt Damon’s performance in Titan A.E. his worst ever

Hayao Miyazaki of Studio Ghibli recently came out of retirement – again – to direct his “last” animated feature film, The Boy and The Heron. The movie was internationally released in July 2023 and, by December, had become No 1 at the American box office – a first for Miyazaki.

The voice cast for the English dub featured none other than Hollywood’s Robert Pattinson playing not the boy, but the talking heron. His performance earned praise from media critics and netizens alike, but not all silver screen actors make the transition to voice acting quite as successfully.

Just because a star is highly talented in one area of life doesn’t mean they excel in all of them. A fact which, let’s be honest, is somewhat reassuring to the rest of us. And so it has been proven with a handful of celebrities who tried their hand at voice acting – and failed miserably.

Chris Pratt’s casting as Nintendo’s world-famous Italian plumber Mario didn’t go down well with everyone. Photo: @chrispratt/Instagram

Who can forget the online furore last year when Chris Pratt teased that he’d “worked really closely with the directors” of The Super Mario Bros. Movie to craft the perfect Mario voice, saying that they’d tried out “a few things and landed on something that I’m really proud of”? Cue netizens the world over worrying that a dodgy stereotypical Italian accent was in the offing. In the end it turned out differently, of course, but fans still weren’t impressed.

Here are five stars who were pilloried online for their suboptimal voice acting.

1. Nicolas Cage as Dr Tenma in Astro Boy (2009)

Nicolas Cage played Dr Tenma in the 2009 animated superhero film Astro Boy, loosely based on the manga. Photos: WatchMojo.com/YouTube, Reuters

Nicolas Cage has played several gritty and moving film roles since he first made it big in Hollywood in 1987 with Moonstruck. From Captain Corelli’s Mandolin to Face/Off, his acting skills have never been in question. So why on earth did he do such a bad job voicing the character of Dr Tenma in 2009’s Astro Boy?

Playing a scientist who creates the little robot Astro Boy as a substitute for his recently deceased son, his performance is muted at best. As pop culture YouTube channel WatchMojo points out, “He’s so flat in some spots that you’ll be left wondering which of his family is supposed to be a robot.” Ouch.

2. Beyoncé as Nala in The Lion King (2019)

Nala and Beyoncé Knowles-Carter. Photo: Disney Enterprises Inc.

It sometimes feels as though Beyoncé can do no wrong. Queen Bey seems to grow more impressive and otherworldly with every album, and last year’s Renaissance World Tour was a sell-out hit. But, as she’d be the first to tell you, haters still gonna hate.