Voice Artist - The actors who provide the voices for animated cartoon characters are known as voice artists. Their parts are recorded before the animation is done, so the animators can exactly match the character's mouth movements and gestures to the words being spoken. Directors work very diligently to find just the right voice to give a particular character the personality they desire, often auditioning hundreds of different actors. Walt Disney himself was the voice artist for Mickey Mouse for the first two decades of the character's career.