^{Credit: Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS)}

142 entries have been submitted for Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance at the 2025 Primetime Emmys. Based on Gold Derby’s estimations, we can expect six nominees. One we can count on seeing nominated is Maya Rudolph for voicing Connie the Hormone Monstress in the final season of Big Mouth. Rudolph has won this award almost every year she’s been nominated. The sole exception was in 2022 when she lost to the late Chadwick Boseman, who recorded his lines as Star-Lord T’Challa for Marvel’s What If…? before his sudden death two years earlier. Rudolph is currently tied with Hank Azaria, Dan Castellaneta, and Seth MacFarlane for the most wins for voice acting (4). If she wins again this year, she’ll break the overall record.

As for who could potentially beat Rudolph, Sterling K. Brown was nominated last year for voicing Angstrom Levy in Invincible. Brown could score another bid, although if voters actually watched this past season of Invincible, they’d know that the standout was Aaron Paul as Powerplex, aka Scott. Paul already has three Primetime Emmys for his performance as Jesse Pinkman on Breaking Bad. His work on Invincible is equally devastating as a man trying to make sense of a tragedy, only digging himself deeper into heartbreak as he attempts to balance the scales of justice.

Another possible repeat nominee is Hannah Waddingham as Deliria on Krapopolis, but let’s be honest. Nobody watches Krapopolis, despite it apparently being renewed through Season 5. Waddingham is a wonderful comedic actress, but her nomination last year was purely based on name recognition following the success of Ted Lasso. Meanwhile, voice acting royalty like Billy West and John Dimaggio are still waiting to get their first nominations. On that note, Kevin Conroy has posthumously been submitted for voicing Baines in Devil May Cry. Let’s make the definitive Batman an Emmy nominee!

This isn’t to say that the category should be exclusive to those who primarily work in voice acting. I’m personally pulling for Ella Purnell and Hailee Steinfeld to get nominated for voicing sisters Jinx and Vi in Arcane. Although Arcane won Outstanding Animated Program for its first season, both actresses went overlooked for their powerful work. Since then, Purnell’s profile has risen with Fallout while Steinfeld had a huge hit this year with Sinners. Hopefully this can help at least one of them to break through this year. For now, at least Purnell has an Annie Award.

Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance isn’t exclusive to animation. Julie Andrews has already been nominated three times for voicing Lady Whistledown in the Bridgerton universe. She’ll likely get her fourth nomination this year, especially with her name atop the alphabetized ballot. Of the 142 submissions, 14 are for live-action productions. Along with Andrews, they are…

Jennifer Aniston as Melody Brooks’ inner voice: Out of My Mind

Jim Broadbent as Snaggleroot: The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power

Adriano Giannini as Leonardo da Vinci: Leonardo da Vinci

Brett Goldstein as Buddy G: Brett Goldstein: The Second Best Night of Your Life

Michael C. Hall as Dexter Morgan: Dexter: Original Sin

Ke Huy Quan as Kenny: The White Lotus

Joe Rumrill as Bibo: Fantasmas

Robert Smigel as Triumph the Insult Comic Dog: The Daily Show

Joanna Sotomura as Sunny: Sunny

Tilda Swinton as Ambrosius the Octopus: The Boys

Tilda Swinton as Water: Fantasmas

Alan Tudyk as K-2SO: Andor

Olivia Williams as Winterbloom: The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power

Considering how well White Lotus cast members usually do, Ke Huy Quan could be a surprise for a literally phoned-in performance.

The rules for the voice acting category have undergone some revisions in recent years. In the past, actors could submit themselves for voicing multiple characters on one show. Thus, Maurice LaMarche could win for voicing Clamps, Donbot, Hyperchicken, Calculon, Hedonismbot, and Morbo in an episode of Futurama. Now, according to the Emmy rules and procedures, “Performers who voice multiple characters within an episode or special can submit all characters, provided that each character is submitted as a separate entry.”

As such, Seth MacFarlane has four separate entries this year: Roger Smith from American Dad!, Stan Smith from American Dad!, Peter Griffin from Family Guy, and Stewie Griffin for Family Guy. So, theoretically, MacFarlane could take up four out of six individual slots, although he’s more likely to split votes. If any Family Guy cast member gets in, it will probably be Alex Borstein, who has four past nominations and one win for voicing Lois Griffin. On that note, here are my predictions:

My Predictions:

Julie Andrews: Bridgerton

Alex Borstein: Family Guy

Ke Huy Quan: The White Lotus

Aaron Paul: Invincible

Maya Rudolph: Big Mouth

Hailee Steinfeld: Arcane 

Full Ballot Below:

^{Credit: Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS)}

Nominations will be announced on July 15, 2025.

Nick Spake is the Author of Bright & Shiny: A History of Animation at Award Shows Volumes 1 and 2. Available Now!