Then and Now: Actors (and their Voices) in Commercials

[Prevailing Wind]

My grandparents had a 49 Hudson. Ours was a 1950 Hudson Hornet. I cried when we traded it in; it was the only car I'd ever known.

[CoyoteBlue]

It's very weird to watch Arby's commercials with H. Jon Benjamin during episodes of Archer.

[cpcathy]

Or Bob's Burgers.

[Shriekingeel]

I like Anna Kendrick but I’m not sure what the marketing advantage of making her so nasty on the Hilton commercials is. 

[Pj3422]

Who is the actor in that, “Y’hear that? Liberty Mutual doesn’t hold grudges” commercial? He looks SO familiar, and ispot.tv doesn’t list his name.

[elle]

Was that Lydia from E/R in an ad for an osteoporosis medication?  I can not remember the name of the drug, the ad ends with a woman (not Lydia) carrying laundry on the stairs about to step on her dog's squeeky toy.

[Browncoat]

There's a DirecTV ad with a psychologist and a patient -- is the psychologist the same woman who complains about the squirrels in the Geico ad?  It sounds like her, but she looks different enough (wig, clothing, glasses, plus my tiny TV) that I can't tell.

[mmecorday]

I'm pretty sure that's the same actress, Browncoat.

[Browncoat]

Just now, mmecorday said:

I'm pretty sure that's the same actress, Browncoat.

I thought so, but it's nice to have confirmation!  Just the way she says, "Classic narcissist." at the end reminded me of how she talks about the squirrels.

[elle]

On 6/10/2019 at 11:36 AM, Browncoat said:

There's a DirecTV ad with a psychologist and a patient -- is the psychologist the same woman who complains about the squirrels in the Geico ad?  It sounds like her, but she looks different enough (wig, clothing, glasses, plus my tiny TV) that I can't tell.

Yes, that is Cindy Drummond. Thanks to ispot.tv for the actress' name and confirmation.

Also checked to see if I did recognize the woman in the LiMu commercial w/o the emu and its reflection. Sure enough, it is Nicole Randall Johnson from the fun 'rescue ' Drivetime commercials.

[topanga]

On 9/29/2018 at 1:26 AM, CoyoteBlue said:

It's very weird to watch Arby's commercials with H. Jon Benjamin during episodes of Archer.

On 10/1/2018 at 4:02 PM, cpcathy said:

Or Bob's Burgers.

My kids love to yell, "That's Bob!" when those commercials come on, while I yell, "That's Archer!" 

I wonder how much Lena Waithe gets paid for doing the AT & T commercials. Not that there's anything wrong with them or that they're beneath her. I just can't see her auditioning to be the AT & T spokesperson, which means the company probably approached her. 

[cpcathy]

Funny, my husband sees a commercial for Archer and he doesn't think the voice fits at all, he always says, "It's BOB!"

[elle]

I was watching Jurassic World, when I realized the gyrosphere ride operator that has to shut down the ride just after the two main kids get on is the same actor in the AT&T Wireless TV Commercial, 'OK Carnival: BOGO' , Matty Cardarople. Kind of puts an interesting spin on the exchange where the mom asks if the ride is safe.

[Milburn Stone]

On 6/13/2019 at 1:12 PM, topanga said:

I wonder how much Lena Waithe gets paid for doing the AT & T commercials. Not that there's anything wrong with them or that they're beneath her. I just can't see her auditioning to be the AT & T spokesperson, which means the company probably approached her. 

I never knew the AT&T voice was "somebody." I had to wikipedia Lena Waithe to find out who she was. Now I know.

Related, I find it interesting to observe how Mercedes sometimes uses Jon Hamm, and sometimes uses a voiceover who's clearly trying to sound exactly like Jon Hamm and doing a pretty good job of it. Back when I was in advertising we were cautioned not to use "soundalikes" because Bette Midler had successfully sued Ford when they tried it. (I can't remember the song, but it was one associated with Midler, and they used not-Midler, and most people probably thought it was Midler. If she had lost her suit, it would have been open season on using soundalikes, but she didn't, and it wasn't.) But it's no doubt in Hamm's contract that the Mercedes agency can use a soundalike when he's not available.

Edited July 11, 2019 by Milburn Stone

[cpcathy]

Perhaps Jon has approved a Jon Hamm-alike, like Tom Hanks does with some of his voice stuff as Woody--his brother Jim does a lot of it, including toys where Woody speaks.

[Silver Raven]

I just realized that it's Fred Savage doing the voiceovers on the Honda ads.

[Haleth]

I noticed John Cena no longer voices the elephant in the pistachio commercials.

[CoderLady]

3 hours ago, Haleth said:

I noticed John Cena no longer voices the elephant in the pistachio commercials.

It's weird, watching the same ads but with a different voice now. I thought I was imagining that.

[Prevailing Wind]

Is this Emily Procter? (I know her as Ainsley Hayes/The West Wing) 

https://www.ispot.tv/ad/IcQk/suntrust-financial-confidence

[Moose135]

It looks a lot like her, @Prevailing Wind, but I really haven't seen her since her TWW days, so I'm not sure.

[Bastet]

There's a resemblance, but it doesn't seem to be her.  Procter is older than that woman, and I don't know what she's up to these days, but unless she seriously mismanaged her CSI money, she shouldn't need to be accepting non-speaking roles in commercials.

[Woopwoopkitty]

Driving erratically crazy!

whose voice is “just ok is not ok”

[chessiegal]

55 minutes ago, Woopwoopkitty said:

whose voice is “just ok is not ok”

Here ya' go. 

Quote

Lena Waithe voices the spot's tagline

By now, you've likely seen at least one of the spots from AT&T's “Just OK Is not OK” campaign, where the likes of mechanics, babysitters and everything in between are perfectly content with providing just OK service—much to the consternation of their customers.Dec 26, 2019

 

[Silver Raven]

Is that Randy Rainbow in the Pepto ad playing a flight attendant?

 

[KWalkerInc]

In that commercial for AT&T TV where they don't show the tops of people's faces, I had to look up that the woman who said, "Show me reality.  Reality TV" was Evan Rachel Wood.  Before that, I was very confused about why they were using Lindsay Lohan in their ad!

[Beany Malone]

Does anyone know whose voice is doing the WealthSimple commercials?  Upperclass British woman.  Sounds so familiar to me but I can't tell if it's because I recognize the specific voice or if she just sounds like someone I feel I should know.

[janie jones]

I don't know what the Bubly people are trying to accomplish by using Michael Buble, but I almost exclusively call Bubly "Buble."

[bankerchick]

18 hours ago, janie jones said:

I don't know what the Bubly people are trying to accomplish by using Michael Buble, but I almost exclusively call Bubly "Buble."

I'm sure they're trying to get people to remember their ads (and their product.)  Mission accomplished.

[janie jones]

I mean, if you want people to forget the actual name of your product. But I don't drink sparkling water anyway, so the point is moot!

[Writing Wrongs]

Does anyone know who plays the mom in the Progressive commercial with the son who still lives at home and thinks his dad is his roommate? I know I have seen her younger self in a sitcom or something, but I just can't place it. I keep trying an internet search, but I only get that Dr. Rick guy.

[janie jones]

Did Jennifer Aniston make a bet with Shaquille O'Neal to see who could appear in the most commercials?

[cinsays]

8 hours ago, janie jones said:

Did Jennifer Aniston make a bet with Shaquille O'Neal to see who could appear in the most commercials?

funny, i haven't seen any JA commercials in a long time, even the one with her winking in the end that used to play very regularly on the channels i watch most.  i think the property brothers are the ones that seem to be on way too many lately.

[Welshman in Ca]

10 hours ago, janie jones said:

Did Jennifer Aniston make a bet with Shaquille O'Neal to see who could appear in the most commercials?

I can't remember the last time I saw a JA commercial but Shaq is on at least every other commercial break.

[nittany cougar]

On 4/29/2022 at 6:24 PM, Writing Wrongs said:

Does anyone know who plays the mom in the Progressive commercial with the son who still lives at home and thinks his dad is his roommate? I know I have seen her younger self in a sitcom or something, but I just can't place it. I keep trying an internet search, but I only get that Dr. Rick guy.

It's Betsy Randle from Boy Meets World.

https://www.ispot.tv/topic/actor-actress/qbt/betsy-randle

[Writing Wrongs]

57 minutes ago, nittany cougar said:

It's Betsy Randle from Boy Meets World.

https://www.ispot.tv/topic/actor-actress/qbt/betsy-randle

Thank you! I remember her from Season 7 of Charmed.

[Trini]

(I thought we had a spokepeople topic and an insurance ad topic but I guess not; so I'll put this here):

'How Ryan Reynolds Helped “Jake from State Farm” Sneak Into the Kelce Suite During an NFL Game'

There was no "sneaking", BTW. The best part is the writer subtly pointing out the irony at the end.

[ebk57]

After the WaPo expose on the "star" of the Jardiance ad, here's a NYT expose on Flo.  

I'll take Flo.  

Everybody knows Flo from Progressive-Who is Stephanie Courtney?

(Article is gifted, so there shouldn't be a paywall)

[meep.meep]

The Capital One guy is looking really gaunt.

[Tom Holmberg]

On 11/25/2023 at 11:52 PM, ebk57 said:

After the WaPo expose on the "star" of the Jardiance ad, here's a NYT expose on Flo.  

I'll take Flo.  

Everybody knows Flo from Progressive-Who is Stephanie Courtney?

(Article is gifted, so there shouldn't be a paywall)

Without knowing anything about her, I sort of assumed she came from an improv background.  She had the feel around her.

[Bastet]

I'm surprised so few people recognize her outside of her Flo uniform.  I haven't seen her perform live, but when she popped up in a (comedic) role in an episode of Major Crimes, I recognized her right away -- but I didn't spend the episode thinking of her as Flo, I totally bought her as the character.

 

[ForumLou]

Does anyone know who the redhead is in the Old Navy ads?  She seems so familiar but I can't place her 

[Bastet]

1 hour ago, ForumLou said:

Does anyone know who the redhead is in the Old Navy ads?  She seems so familiar but I can't place her 

Natasha Lyonne.

[SoMuchTV]

1 hour ago, ForumLou said:

Does anyone know who the redhead is in the Old Navy ads?  She seems so familiar but I can't place her 

Maybe Natasha Lyonne? She’s been in ads for one of the big box clothing stores but I’m not sure which one. She’s been in Orange is the New Black, Russian Doll, Poker Face…

[ForumLou]

2 hours ago, SoMuchTV said:

Maybe Natasha Lyonne? She’s been in ads for one of the big box clothing stores but I’m not sure which one. She’s been in Orange is the New Black, Russian Doll, Poker Face…

Hmmm you may be right

2 hours ago, Bastet said:

Natasha Lyonne.

Ok thanks!