Once an actor gets a foot in the door atDisney, they just might be set for life. The mega-studio and its various acquired brands have a tendency to reuse performers in different projects, particularly in animation, sometimes for their versatility or as a kind of elaborate in-joke. Actors like John Ratzenberger and Brad Garrett have lent their inimitable pipes to more than one Pixar project, with Ratzenberger in particularappearing in nearly every one.
More recently, another actor has joined the ranks of Disney’s most indispensable vocal players, with roles in all of their animated movies since 2012:Alan Tudyk. The versatile performer from such projects asResident AlienandTucker and Dale vs. Evilhas become one of the most prolific voice actors in the business, playing everything from a bumbling monarch to a rooster with zero survival instincts. His ability to inhabit a wide range of memorable vocal performances has made him incredibly in-demand, both at Disney and beyond.
Tudyk’s Disney Dalliances
Tudyk’s first time working on a Disney animated project came in 2012’sWreck-It Ralph,where he played King Candy, the ruler of the Candy-Crush-meets-Mario-Kart racing gameSugar Rush.In aninterview withVariety, Tudyk revealed that he was given an audition as a late replacement for the role and landed the gig based on his ability to channel Ed Wynn, a vaudeville performer who had voiced the Mad Hatter in Disney’sAlice in Wonderlandin the ’50s. Then-chief creative officer John Lasseter was impressed with his work, and Tudyk quickly became a regular member of the Disney voice acting stable.
From there, Tudyk played another nobleman out of his depth inFrozenas the Duke of Weselton in 2013, following it up with a role in the Disney/Marvel featureBig Hero 6the following year. In 2016, he appeared in two different Disney animated films, sending up hisFrozencharacter as Duke Weaselton inZootopiaand lending his clucking skills to the role of Heihei, a rooster with what appears to be a single brain cell, inMoana. In abehind-the-scenes videoat aMoanarecording session, Tudyk reminds the audience that he’s putting his Juilliard training to good use.
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From there, Tudyk continued to provide voices for Disney roles both large and small, playing entirely different characters in theWreck-It RalphandFrozensequels and voicing Pico the toucan in the studio’smega-hitEncantoin 2021. He helped see Disney through a rough patch with the well-received but underperformingRaya and the Last DragonandStrange World,the latter being one of thefew outright flopsin the studio’s current “too big to fail” era.Beyond his voice work, Tudyk made his mark in other Disney projects, providing voice and motion capture forRogue OneandAndor’speevish droid K-2SOand appearing as Mr. Darling in the live-actionPeter Pan & Wendy.At this point, few actors may be more enmeshed with Disney than Tudyk.
Why Tudyk Is the Ideal Disney Performer
At the end of the day, a company as big as Disney likely wouldn’t continue to cast an actor unless they saw value in their contributions, and it’s clear the studio appreciates what Tudyk can do with a role, regardless of the size.Tudyk is one of the most entertaining and versatile actors working today, bringing a lively, oddball sensibility to every project. In true character actor fashion, he makes any role memorable, whether he’s anchoring his own series or bringing personality to bird sounds.
Voice acting is a distinct skill from on-camera acting, with its own unique challenges. From the outside, it might seem like an easy gig, but it requires quick thinking and a great deal of creativity. Voice actors often only have an image of the character to work with when crafting their performance, and have to collaborate with the animators to bring the character to life without the added benefit of their onscreen presence. Tudyk has proven himself to be more than up for the challenge, and while his voice has a distinct timbre that’s always recognizable, his skill in creating a wide variety of voices makes him an obvious choice for any role Disney needs to fill.
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Actors like Garrett and Ratzenberger are often cast on the strength of their distinct personalities when a role demands their specific type, but Tudyk is different. While it could be argued there is something of an “Alan Tudyk-type” character,his adaptability means that he’s less constrained by certain expectations than other performers might be. He might not get the chance to voice a heroic Disney lead any time soon, but if the studio needs someone to play a sniveling villain, a talking animal, or any other odd supporting role they can think of, Tudyk is their ideal go-to guy.
