Voice-over vets facing competition from celebrities

LOS ANGELES — Tom Kane hates the ads for Mercedes-Benz.

It's not the car. It's Jon Hamm. Mercedes uses the "Mad Men" star as the voice of its television and radio commercials.

"Even if it is a terrific spot — which it isn't — people don't have a clue who that is," grumbled Kane, a professional voice actor who's done animation, movie trailers and commercials for two decades.

As brand-name advertisers fight for attention in a cluttered media landscape, they are turning increasingly to celebrities such as Robert Downey Jr. (Nissan), Jeff Bridges (Hyundai) and Tim Allen (Chevrolet) to pitch their products.

"It takes more to get people's attention, and the use of celebrities does allow marketers to permeate that clutter better than the use of a non-celebrity," said Drew Slavin, a general manager of marketing for Mercedes-Benz.

Even actors such as Hamm, Allison Janney (the "West Wing" co-star who pitches Kaiser Permanente) and John Krasinski ("The Office" star who hawks Esurance), whose voices may not be recognizable without their faces attached, are getting into the act. So are "Modern Family" co-star Ty Burrell, comedian Wanda Sykes, "24" star and second-generation voice-actor Kiefer Sutherland, and "Grey's Anatomy" veteran Patrick Dempsey.

For stars, it's a lucrative payday at a time of belt-tightening across Hollywood. For Madison Avenue, it's a way to tap into the nation's celebrity obsession and associate with the glamour of Hollywood.

But for Kane and other voice-over professionals, it's money out of their pockets.

"They are not happy campers," said Marice Tobias, a well-known voice coach known in the industry as the "voice whisperer." "A lot of them will say, 'Why don't they just leave our business alone?'"

For decades, most A-list actors did just that. The occasional big star "voiced" commercials. Jack Lemmon spoke for Honda and Gene Hackman was the sound of United Airlines. James Earl Jones did CNN. Donald Sutherland did Volvo.

But they were the exceptions. Most actors feared being tagged a sellout, or looking desperate, for doing commercial work.

"Back then, celebrities didn't do commercials," said Jeff Danis, president of DPN Talent, an agency specializing in voice-over work. "Today, the whole landscape has changed and actors traverse every medium. The taboos aren't there, as they once were."

Commercials are the latest arena in which television and movie stars are crowding out voice-over professionals. Most major documentaries use big-screen or television talent — think Morgan Freeman in the hit film "March of the Penguins." Big parts in animated movies go almost exclusively to recognizable actors — Tom Hanks in "Toy Story" or Mike Myers in "Shrek."