Celebrity Voices That Bring Animation To Life

It's not unusual for animated films to feature the voices of celebrities such as actors and singers. So, when films are dubbed into Korean, producers naturally turn to Kpop and Kdrama celebrities to breathe new life into the same animated roles.

For example, it was recently announced that Seung Yeon from girl group Kara and actor and 2Am singer Jung Jinwoon would dub the Korean version of the animated fantasy advanture "Epic." Seung Yeon will dub the voice of Mary Katherine and Jinwoon, who appeared in "Dream High 2," will dub the voice of Nod, roles played by Amanda Seyfried and Josh Hutcherson in the American version. The Korean version opens in August.

In trying their hand at dubbing, Seung Yeon and Jinwoon are following the animated example of actress Kang Sora.

The actress is best known for playing the roles of Ha Chun Hwa in the film "Sunny" and Shin Hae Sung in "Dream High 2." But she also dubbed the voice of Princess Merida in the Korean version of the Pixar film "Brave." Kara's natural performance as Merida, a skilled archer who causes chaos in her kingdom, won praise from the voice director. The director noted that dubbing is not easy, even for a veteran actress.

Two other kpop/kdrama actors who voiced animation roles are T-ara's Jiyeon and MBLAQ's Lee Joon.

Jiyeon, who acted in "Dream High 2" and "Miss Ripley" and Lee Joon, who appeared in the movie "Ninja Assassin" and in the drama "God of Study," dubbed the Korean version of the Disney movie, "Gnomeo and Juliet."

The movie is about garden gnomes Gnomeo and Juliet who fall in love but must overcome the objections of their feuding parents.

SNSD members Taeyeon and Seohyun were recruited to dub the Korean version of "Despicable Me," the story of a bad guy, Gru, who adopts three girls. Taeyeon and Seohyun who both appeared in the drama, "Unstoppable Marriage," won praise for dubbing two of Gru's girls and signed on to renew their roles in the sequel.

The animated film, "The Rise of the Guardians," had an all-star American and English cast. For the Korean version, "Gentleman's Dignity star Lee Jong-hyuk supplied the voice of the Nightmare King, originally voiced by Jude Law. The "The Man Who Became King" actor Ryu Seong Ryong dubbed Alec Baldwin's role as Santa Claus and Yoo Hae Jin dubbed the Hugh Jackman role of the Easter Bunny.

With more animated films released every year, more celebrity voiceovers will be performed by kpop and kdrama stars.