The highest-paid voice actors in the world are Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of South Park. Celebrity Net Worth puts each of them at about $1 billion. Seth MacFarlane is next at about $400 million, and six cast members of The Simpsons follow him.
Almost all of that money comes from creating and owning the shows. Very little of it is the fee for the voice.
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Here are the 15, ranked by net worth as reported by Celebrity Net Worth in October 2026. These are estimates and not bank statements.
I've kept this list to people known first for voice work. Movie stars who voice animated films are further down.
| Rank | Voice actor | Best known for | Reported net worth |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Trey Parker | Stan and Cartman on South Park, which he co-created | About $1 billion |
| 2 | Matt Stone | Kyle and Kenny on South Park, which he co-created | About $1 billion |
| 3 | Seth MacFarlane | Peter and Stewie on Family Guy, which he created | About $400 million |
| 4 | Hank Azaria | Moe and Chief Wiggum on The Simpsons | About $90 million |
| 5 | Julie Kavner | Marge Simpson | About $90 million |
| 6 | Dan Castellaneta | Homer Simpson and Krusty the Clown | About $85 million |
| 7 | Harry Shearer | Mr. Burns and Ned Flanders | About $85 million |
| 8 | Yeardley Smith | Lisa Simpson | About $85 million |
| 9 | Mike Judge | Beavis and Butt-Head and King of the Hill, both his shows | About $80 million |
| 10 | Nancy Cartwright | Bart Simpson | About $60 million |
| 11 | Mark Hamill | Luke Skywalker on screen, the Joker in animation | About $20 million |
| 12 | Tom Kenny | SpongeBob SquarePants | About $16 million |
| 13 | Billy West | Fry and Professor Farnsworth on Futurama | About $15 million |
| 14 | Tara Strong | Bubbles in The Powerpuff Girls, Raven in Teen Titans | About $12 million |
| 15 | Frank Welker | Fred in Scooby-Doo since 1969 | About $10 million |
Jim Cummings, the voice of Winnie the Pooh and Tigger, is tied with Frank Welker at about $10 million.
Where does the money actually come from?
Mostly from ownership. The top three people on the list created their shows.
Take Seth MacFarlane. Celebrity Net Worth reports a five-year, $100 million deal with Fox in 2009. It reports a five-year, $200 million deal with NBCUniversal in 2020. Those are deals to make shows. They aren't session fees.
The same goes for South Park. The money is in owning the show and its streaming deals.
So when you look at the top of this list, you're mostly looking at producers who also do the voices.
How much does The Simpsons cast make per episode?
The six main cast members reportedly make just over $300,000 an episode. That figure dates from a 2011 deal, and it was a pay cut.
The Simpsons is the reason six people on this list are here. Wikipedia's page on the cast, which cites the trade press, gives this history.
| Years | Reported pay per episode, each main cast member |
|---|---|
| Up to 1998 | $30,000 |
| 1998 to 2004 | $125,000 |
| 2004 to 2008 | Between $250,000 and $360,000 |
| From 2008 | $400,000 |
| From 2011 | Just over $300,000, after a 30 percent cut |
Now multiply that by 20-plus episodes a year for more than three decades. That's how you get there.
How much do movie stars get paid to voice animated films?
The biggest single paychecks in animation go to movie stars, and they run into the millions per film. All of these are as reported by Celebrity Net Worth.
| Actor | Film | Reported pay |
|---|---|---|
| Tom Hanks | Toy Story | $50,000 |
| Mike Myers | Shrek | More than $3 million |
| Tom Hanks | Toy Story 2 | $5 million |
| Mike Myers | Shrek 2 | $10 million |
| Tom Hanks | Toy Story 3 | $15 million |
| Mike Myers | Shrek the Third and Shrek Forever After | About $15 million each |
| Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel, Josh Gad | Frozen 2 | $15 million each |
| Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel, Josh Gad | Frozen 3 and Frozen 4 | $60 million each for the two films |
Look at the first line. Even Tom Hanks started that series at $50,000.
And for contrast, there's James Earl Jones, who died in 2024. He was reportedly paid $7,000 to voice Darth Vader in the original Star Wars. In 2022 he signed a deal letting Lucasfilm use old recordings to generate Vader's voice in the future.
That says a lot about where our business has been and where it's going. I believe we have to protect our right to decide how and where our voice is used. He got to make that choice himself.
What does a beginner voice actor actually earn?
Nothing like this list. A beginner charges about $75 to $100 per 100 words for a short script. For an audiobook it's about $75 to $125 per finished hour.
Those numbers are from our voice over rate guide. It has rates at three levels for every type of job, plus a free calculator.
I love this list. But I'd be doing you a disservice if I let you think it's what voice acting pays.
What most working voice actors do is a lot less famous. Commercials and e-learning. Video games and audiobooks. A lot of it is recorded in a closet at home.
I'm not going to promise you a number. It depends on the work and how much of it you do.
How do you start in voice acting?
Start by reading something out loud and recording it. Every name on this list started there.
Audiobooks are one good way in, because you're doing long-form work on real books for real authors. Academy Voices is our audiobook publisher, and its narrators have published more than 790 audiobooks.
If you want to practice first, we have 2,280 free scripts in the VO Journey scripts library.
Questions I hear most
Who is the richest voice actor in the world?
Trey Parker and Matt Stone are tied at about $1 billion each, according to Celebrity Net Worth. Most of that comes from owning South Park.
Do voice actors get royalties?
Some do. Audiobook narrators can work for a share of royalties in place of a fee. I explain both ways in how audiobook narrators get paid.
Can you make a living as a voice actor without being famous?
People do, and almost none of them are household names. I go through the real numbers in how much voice actors make online.
Are these net worth numbers accurate?
They're estimates from one website, Celebrity Net Worth. Read them for the order and the rough size. Nobody outside can see the real figure.
What to do next
If this list made you curious about the real job, come watch it being taught. Once a month we open all four of our live classes on Zoom for a week, for free.
Save a seat for the next Free Class Week.
Anthony
