# Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance

The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance was a Creative Arts Emmy Award given out by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. It was awarded to a performer for an outstanding "continuing or single voice-over performance in a series or a special." Prior to 1992, voice actors could be nominated for their performance in the live-action acting categories. The award was first given in 1992 when six voice actors from The Simpsons shared the award. From 1992 to 2008, it was a juried award, so there were no nominations and there would be multiple or no recipients in one year. In 2009, the rules were changed to a category award, with five nominees.
Usually, winners would be voice actors from animated shows, but some narrators of live-action shows won such as Keith David in 2005 and 2008. No winner was named in 1996 or 2007.
Nine voice actors from The Simpsons won a combined 14 Emmys in the category. Of those, Dan Castellaneta won four and Hank Azaria won three. Ja'net Dubois won two for The PJs, Keith David won two for his narration of various documentaries, and Maurice LaMarche won two for Futurama. Voice actors from shows on Fox won 17 of the 27 awards presented.
In 2014, the category was separated into two categories – Outstanding Narrator and Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance. This split acknowledged and accommodated a general industry uptrend in the distinctly different achievements that are voice-over narration and voice-over character performance.

## Rules

While most of the Primetime Emmy Awards choose winners from a group of nominees, the award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance was juried from 1992 to 2008. Each entrant was screened by a panel of Academy of Television Arts & Sciences members from the Animation branch as well as members of the Acting branch with voice-over credits. Potential nominees had to submit a DVD that contained an edited version of a single episode and a picture of the character(s) that were voiced. Submissions that were less than 30 minutes had to be edited to be shorter than five minutes; entries longer than 30 minutes were edited to be less than ten. Prior to 2007, the maximum edited lengths were ten and fifteen minutes respectively. Each entrant with majority approval went on to a second panel. Emmy winners had to be unanimous choices of this second panel, except that for every 12 persons or fraction thereof on the panel, one "no" vote was allowed, except from the head of the panel.
In 2009, the Academy changed the award from a "juried" award to a "category", with six nominees and one winner.

## Winners (1992–2008)

| Year | Winner | Character(s) | Series or special | Network | Ref. |
| 1992 | Nancy Cartwright | Bart Simpson | The Simpsons: "Separate Vocations" | Fox | |
| 1992 | Dan Castellaneta | Homer Simpson | The Simpsons: "Lisa's Pony" | Fox | |
| 1992 | Julie Kavner | Marge Simpson | The Simpsons: "I Married Marge" | Fox | |
| 1992 | Jackie Mason | Rabbi Krustofski | The Simpsons: "Like Father, Like Clown" | Fox | |
| 1992 | Yeardley Smith | Lisa Simpson | The Simpsons: "Lisa the Greek" | Fox | |
| 1992 | Marcia Wallace | Edna Krabappel | The Simpsons: "Bart the Lover" | Fox | |
| 1993 | Dan Castellaneta | Homer Simpson, Barney Gumble, Abraham Simpson and other characters | The Simpsons: "Mr. Plow" | Fox | |
| 1994 | Christopher Plummer | Narrator | Madeline | Family | |
| 1995 | Jonathan Katz | Dr. Katz | Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist | Comedy Central | |
| 1996 | No Emmy awarded in this category | No Emmy awarded in this category | No Emmy awarded in this category | No Emmy awarded in this category | No Emmy awarded in this category |
| 1997 | Jeremy Irons | Siegfried Sassoon | The Great War and the Shaping of the 20th Century: "War Without End" | PBS | |
| 1997 | Rik Mayall | Mr. Toad | The Wind in the Willows | Family | |
| 1998 | Hank Azaria | Apu Nahasapeemapetilon | The Simpsons | Fox | |
| 1999 | Ja'net Dubois | Mrs. Florence Avery | The PJs | Fox | |
| 2000 | Seth MacFarlane | Stewie Griffin | Family Guy | Fox | |
| 2000 | Julie Harris | Susan B. Anthony | Not for Ourselves Alone: The Story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton & Susan B. Anthony | PBS | |
| 2001 | Hank Azaria | Comic Book Guy, Apu, Carl Carlson, Lou, Chief Wiggum and Moe Szyslak | The Simpsons: "Worst Episode Ever" | Fox | |
| 2001 | Ja'net Dubois | Mrs. Florence Avery | The PJs: "Let's Get Ready To Rumba" | The WB | |
| 2002 | Peter Macon | Narrator | Animated Tales of the World: "John Henry, the Steel Driving Man" | HBO | |
| 2002 | Pamela Adlon | Bobby Hill, Clark Peters and Chane Wassanasong | King of the Hill: "Bobby Goes Nuts" | Fox | |
| 2003 | Hank Azaria | Moe Szyslak, Carl Carlson, Chief Wiggum, Apu, Johnny Tightlips, Bumblebee Man and Cletus | The Simpsons: "Moe Baby Blues" | Fox | |
| 2004 | Dan Castellaneta | Krusty the Clown, Homer Simpson, Abraham Simpson, Groundskeeper Willie, Sideshow Mel, Barney and Itchy | The Simpsons: "Today I Am A Clown" | Fox | |
| 2005 | Keith David | Narrator | Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson | PBS | |
| 2006 | Kelsey Grammer | Sideshow Bob | The Simpsons: "The Italian Bob" | Fox | |
| 2007 | No Emmy awarded in this category | No Emmy awarded in this category | No Emmy awarded in this category | No Emmy awarded in this category | No Emmy awarded in this category |
| 2008 | Keith David | Narrator | The War: "A Necessary War" | PBS | |

## Winners and nominations (2009–2013)

Winners are listed first, highlighted in boldface, and indicated with a double dagger (‡).
| Year | Nominee | Character(s) | Series or Special | Episode | Network |
| 2009 (61st) | Dan Castellaneta‡ | Homer Simpson | The Simpsons | "Father Knows Worst" | Fox |
| 2009 (61st) | Ron Rifkin | Narrator | American Masters | "Jerome Robbins: Something To Dance About" | PBS |
| 2009 (61st) | Seth Green | Various | Robot Chicken | "Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II" | Cartoon Network |
| 2009 (61st) | Seth MacFarlane | Peter Griffin | Family Guy | "I Dream of Jesus" | Fox |
| 2009 (61st) | Harry Shearer | Mr. Burns, Smithers, Kent Brockman and Lenny | The Simpsons | "The Burns and the Bees" | Fox |
| 2009 (61st) | Hank Azaria | Moe Szyslak | The Simpsons | "Eeny Teeny Maya Moe" | Fox |
| 2010 (62nd) | Anne Hathaway‡ | Princess Penelope | The Simpsons | "Once Upon a Time in Springfield" | Fox |
| 2010 (62nd) | H. Jon Benjamin | Sterling Archer | Archer | "Mole Hunt" | FX |
| 2010 (62nd) | Dave Foley | Wayne | Prep & Landing | Prep & Landing | ABC |
| 2010 (62nd) | Seth Green | Cobra Commander, Movie Narrator and Robot Chicken Nerd | Robot Chicken | "Cannot Be Erased, So Sorry" | Cartoon Network |
| 2010 (62nd) | Hank Azaria | Apu and Moe Szyslak | The Simpsons | "Moe Letter Blues" | Fox |
| 2010 (62nd) | Dan Castellaneta | Grampa Simpson and Homer Simpson | The Simpsons | "Thursdays with Abie" | Fox |
| 2011 (63rd) | Maurice LaMarche‡ | Lrrr, Orson Welles | Futurama | "Lrrreconcilable Ndndifferences" | Comedy Central |
| 2011 (63rd) | Bob Bergen | Porky Pig | The Looney Tunes Show | "Jailbird And Jailbunny" | Cartoon Network |
| 2011 (63rd) | Dan Castellaneta | Homer Simpson, Krusty the Clown, Barney Gumble, Louie | The Simpsons | "Donnie Fatso" | Fox |
| 2011 (63rd) | Seth Green | Batman, Cobra Commander, Judge, Light Cycle Driver, Newscaster, Robot Chicken Nerd, Teenager, Venger | Robot Chicken | "Catch Me If You Kangaroo Jack" | Cartoon Network |
| 2011 (63rd) | Christopher Plummer | Narrator | Moguls and Movie Stars | "The Birth of Hollywood" | TCM |
| 2011 (63rd) | Brenda Strong | Mary Alice Young | Desperate Housewives | "Come on Over for Dinner" | ABC |
| 2012 (64th) | Maurice LaMarche‡ | Clamps, Donbot, Hyperchicken, Calculon, Hedonismbot, Morbo | Futurama | "The Silence of the Clamps" | Comedy Central |
| 2012 (64th) | Hank Azaria | Moe Szyslak, Duffman, Mexican Duffman, Carl, Comic Book Guy, Chief Wiggum | The Simpsons | "Moe Goes from Rags to Riches" | Fox |
| 2012 (64th) | Dan Povenmire | Doctor Doofenshmirtz | Disney Phineas And Ferb: Across The 2nd Dimension | Disney Phineas And Ferb: Across The 2nd Dimension | Disney |
| 2012 (64th) | Rob Riggle | Noel | Prep & Landing: Naughty vs. Nice | Prep & Landing: Naughty vs. Nice | ABC |
| 2012 (64th) | Brenda Strong | Mary Alice Young | Desperate Housewives | "Give Me the Blame" / "Finishing the Hat" | ABC |
| 2012 (64th) | Kristen Wiig | Lola | The Looney Tunes Show | "Double Date" | Cartoon Network |
| 2013 (65th) | Lily Tomlin‡ | Narrator | An Apology to Elephants | An Apology to Elephants | HBO |
| 2013 (65th) | Seth MacFarlane | Brian Griffin, Stewie Griffin, Peter Griffin | Family Guy | "Brian's Play" | Fox |
| 2013 (65th) | Alex Borstein | Lois Griffin and Tricia Takanawa | Family Guy | "Lois Comes Out Of Her Shell" | Fox |
| 2013 (65th) | Seth Green | Abin Sur, Aquaman, Batman, Green Arrow, Martian Manhunter, Nerd and Robin | Robot Chicken | "Robot Chicken DC Comics Special" | Cartoon Network |
| 2013 (65th) | Sam Elliott | Narrator | Robot Chicken | "Hurtled From A Helicopter Into A Speeding Train" | Cartoon Network |
| 2013 (65th) | Bob Bergen | Porky Pig | The Looney Tunes Show | "We’re In Big Truffle" | Cartoon Network |

## Multiple wins

Wins include Outstanding Narrator and Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance
4 wins
* Hank Azaria
* Dan Castellaneta
* Seth MacFarlane
* Maya Rudolph
3 wins
* David Attenborough
* Keith David
2 wins
* Ja'net Dubois
* Jeremy Irons
* Maurice LaMarche
* Barack Obama