The best 10 Italian male voice actors of all time

Dubbing in Italy has always been considered a true art since the 1930's with the first monochrome films and the introduction of sound in cinemas throughout the country.

Even for Italian language films, Italian voice over actors have been engaged in a real mission, initially in fact the purpose was to help the process of literacy in Italy. A clear narration, with words of common use and expressive dialogues between the actors has thus allowed to spread the grammar and the correct use of the Italian language from north to south.

With the arrival of the great American films in the 50s and 60s and then up to the present day, dubbing in Italian has become more and more a film within a film, so much so that it is considered one of the best in the world. In some cases, many Italian voiceovers have given up their careers as actors to dedicate themselves completely to dubbing. Their voices have become those of American and French actors... and very often the Italian public has decreed the success of a film thanks to the work of the voiceover actors. Here is a ranking of the best Italian male voice over actors of all time:

1) Ferruccio Amendola

(July 22, 1930 – September 3, 2001)

Deceased in 2001, he is considered the king of the Italian voice over actors, becoming popular especially as Italian dubber of many Hollywood actors: he realized Italian voiceovers for Robert De Niro, Sylvester Stallone and Dustin Hoffman. He has also dubbed Al Pacino in some important films: among the most famous, we can remember Michael Corleone in the "Godfather" trilogy ( “Il padrino” in Italian) and Tony Montana in "Scarface". Amendola is absolutely the most famous and appreciated Italian voice over actor of all time. (https://bit.ly/2XtERlW)

2) Giancarlo Giannini

(Born 1 August 1942)

Giannini, in addition to being an accomplished Italian actor and film director, has dubbed numerous famous foreign actors, including Al Pacino for whom he became the official Italian voice in 1995, Jack Nicholson whose dubbing in the film "The Shining" was praised by the director Stanley Kubrick himself, Michael Douglas in "Wall Street" in 1987 and its sequel, Gérard Depardieu, Dustin Hoffman in "Marathon Man", Ian McKellen in "Richard III" and Ryan O'Neal in "Barry Lyndon".(https://bit.ly/3sb4ypE )

3) Glauco Onorato

(December 7, 1936 – December 31, 2009)

He was one of the most representative and characteristic dubbers of his generation, with his deep and intense Italian voiceover dubbing actors such as Bud Spencer, James Coburn, Lino Ventura and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

He also gave his Italian voice to Charles Bronson for example in "The Magnificent Seven" (“I Magnifici 7 “ in Italian language), "4 for Texas" and "Death Wish" (“Il Giustiziere della Notte” in Italy) , to James Coburn for example in "The Great Escape" and "Charade", to "Danny Glover" in the series "Lethal Weapon" (published as "Arma Letale" in Italy).

He dubbed Arnold Schwarzenegger in some of his most iconic films "The Terminator" and "Predator", as well as Lee Marvin for example in "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" and " Oliver Reed in " The Three Muskeeteers ", Venom " and " Gladiator ". ( https://bit.ly/2K4wSJ6 )

4) Tonino Accola

(April 6, 1949 – July 14, 2013)

He is best known for voicing Eddie Murphy throughout his filmography until 2009. His voice, however, without any doubt, is inextricably linked to the character of Homer Simpson. Among other actors dubbed he can also boast Kenneth Branagh, Tom Hanks, Mickey Rourke, Ralph Fiennes, Hugh Grant, Rick Moranis, Jim Carrey, Ben Stiller, Tim Curry and Gary Oldman in "Léon" and in "Le cinquiéme element ". ( https://bit.ly/3q44Ah6 )

5) Carlo Sabatini

(7 April 1932 – 10 April 2020)

He became one of the best known Italian voice artists dubbing the voice of Ian McKellen/Magneto in "X-Men", "X-Men 2", "X-Men - The Last Stand", "The Wolverine" and "X-Men - Days of Future Past"; He has also done voiceovers in Italian for Harvey Keitel in "From Dusk Till Dawn" (“Dal Tramonto all’Alba” in Italian language), Bruce Lee in "Enter the Dragon" and Morgan Freeman in "The Shawshank Redemption", Martin Sheen in the television series "The West Wing": He also dubbed James Avery, as Philip Banks in "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air ", and Clint Eastwood, Donald Sutherland, Kris Kristofferson, Alain Delon, Paul Newman, Robert Duvall, John Mahoney, Leonard Nimoy and Marlon Brando. (https://bit.ly/3bqdAsJ )

6) Michele Gammino

(Born June 16, 1941)

He is best known for being the official Italian dubbing artist for Harrison Ford and Steven Seagal, and for having dubbed Kevin Costner, Jack Nicholson, Bill Murray, Bob Hoskins, Richard Gere and Bruce Campbell in some significant performances.

Among the actors dubbed there are also Kris Kristofferson in "Blade", Timothy Dalton in two James Bond movies, Chevy Chase in "Spies like us", Tom Wilkinson in "The Exorcism of Emily Rose", Paul Sorvino in "Goodfellas" (title in Italian: "Quei bravi ragazzi"), Dustin Hoffman in "Last Chance Harvey". To remember also his Italian voice-overs for the dubbing of Rickman in "Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street". ( https://bit.ly/39hTvCl )

7) Pino Insegno

(Born August 30, 1959)

Born in Rome, is a comedian and a very popular actor, is also known for being the main Italian dubbing of Will Ferrell and Viggo Mortensen in the role of Aragorn in the trilogy of "The Lord of the Rings" by Peter Jackson (in Italian "Il Signore degli Anelli") . He also dubbed Brad Pitt in the film "12 Monkeys", Jamie Foxx as Ray Charles in the film "Ray" and as Django in the film "Django Unchained" by Quentin Tarantino.

For some years now he has been conducting various programs on radio and television that deal with the dubbing industry, the narration in Italian, and the voice-over giving space to many Italian actors and actresses often known only for their voices in the movies. (https://bit.ly/3oBFaXS )

8) Francesco Pannofino

(Born November 14, 1958)

With his deep and charismatic voice, he is best known for being the official Italian voice actor for George Clooney and Denzel Washington, as well as for having dubbed Kurt Russell, Antonio Banderas, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Mickey Rourke in some significant performances. In addition to having dubbed numerous other films, he is the Italian voice of William Petersen in the role of Gil Grissom in the series "CSI - Crime Scene Investigation", and of Wesley Snipes in the "Blade" trilogy inspired by the homonymous Marvel Comics character. ( https://bit.ly/2XpBQTK )

9) Luca Ward

(Born July 31, 1960)

«Let’s unleash hell! - al mio segnale scatenate l’inferno!». He is the Italian voice of Russell Crowe in the role of Massimo Decimo Meridio in the film "Gladiator" by Ridley Scott, a character that has given him great popularity. As an Italian voice actor he dubbed Samuel L. Jackson as Jules Winnfield in "Pulp Fiction" by Quentin Tarantino, Keanu Reeves as Neo in "The Matrix" trilogy by the Wachowski brothers and Hugh Grant as Daniel Cleaver in the saga "Bridget Jones's Diary". ( https://bit.ly/3s6qvGp )

10) Francesco Pezzulli

(Born May 15, 1973)

Leonardo di Caprio's popularity in Italy is undoubtedly also due to the Italian voice actor Francesco Pezzulli who, from "Titanic" onwards, has never stopped playing the role of the famous actor. We must also remember the dubbing in Italian of James Van Der Beek in the role of Dawson Leery in the TV series "Dawson's Creek", and Hayden Christensen in the role of Anakyn Skywalker in "Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones" and "Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith". ( https://bit.ly/2K0AUSE )

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