The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance was a

Creative Arts Emmy Award The Creative Arts Emmys are a class of Emmy Awards presented in recognition of technical and other similar achievements in American television programming. They are commonly awarded to behind-the-scenes personnel such as production designers, ...

given out by the

Academy of Television Arts & Sciences The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), also colloquially known as the Television Academy, is a professional honorary organization dedicated to the advancement of the Television in the United States, television industry in the United S ...

. 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 ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening, James L. Brooks and Sam Simon for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It is a Satire (film and television), satirical depiction of American life ...

'' 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 Keith David Williams (born June 4, 1956) is an American actor. He is known for his deep voice and screen presence in over 300 roles in film, stage, television, and interactive media. He has starred in such films as '' The Thing'' (1982), ''Pla ...

in 2005 and 2008. No winner was named in

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. Nine voice actors from ''

'' won a combined 14 Emmys in the category. Of those,

Dan Castellaneta Daniel Louis Castellaneta ( ; born October 29, 1957) is an American actor. He is best known for voicing Homer Simpson on the animated series ''The Simpsons'' (as well as other characters on the show such as Grampa Simpson, Krusty the Clown, ...

won four and

Hank Azaria Henry Albert Azaria ( ; born April 25, 1964) is an American actor and producer. He is known for voicing many characters in the long-running animated sitcom ''The Simpsons'' since 1989, including Moe Szyslak, Chief Wiggum, Superintendent Chalmer ...

won three. Ja'net Dubois won two for '' The PJs'', Keith David won two for his narration of various documentaries, and

Maurice LaMarche Maurice LaMarche (born March 30, 1958) is a Canadian voice actor. Across a career spanning more than four decades he has voiced Chief Quimby on Inspector Gadget, Egon Spengler on ''The Real Ghostbusters'', The Brain on ''Animaniacs'' and its spi ...

won two for ''

Futurama ''Futurama'' is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company and later revived by Comedy Central, and then Hulu. The series follows Philip J. Fry, who is cryogenically preserved for 1 ...

''. Voice actors from shows on

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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 The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Owned and operated by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the P ...

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)

Winners and nominations (2009–2013)

Winners are listed first, highlighted in boldface, and indicated with a double dagger (‡).

Multiple wins

Wins include Outstanding Narrator and Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance 4 wins *

Seth MacFarlane Seth Woodbury MacFarlane (; born October 26, 1973) is an American actor, animator, writer, producer, director, comedian, and singer. He is best known as the creator and star of the television series ''Family Guy'' (since 1999) and ''The Orvill ...

Maya Rudolph Maya Khabira Rudolph (born July 27, 1972) is an American actress and comedian. In 2000, she became a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy show ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL''). During her tenure on the show, she appeared in supporting roles in ...

3 wins *

David Attenborough Sir David Frederick Attenborough (; born 8 May 1926) is an English broadcaster, biologist, natural historian and writer. He is best known for writing and presenting, in conjunction with the BBC Studios Natural History Unit, the nine nature d ...

2 wins * Ja'net Dubois *

Jeremy Irons Jeremy John Irons (; born 19 September 1948) is an English actor. Known for his roles on stage and screen, he has received numerous accolades including an Academy Award, a Tony Award, three Primetime Emmy Awards, and two Golden Globe Awards, ...

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

References

External links

Advanced Primetime Awards database
{{DEFAULTSORT:Voice-Over Performance Awards established in 1992 Primetime Emmy Awards Voice acting awards Awards disestablished in 2013 Retired Primetime Emmy Awards