South Park is a very well-known animated sitcom. The story follows the adventurous and funny lives of four kids in a small mountain town known as South Park. At a first glance, it’d seem just like a sarcastic Parody of how the world works, but it tackles the real-life issues which make it a unique piece of work. The show was created by Matt Stone and Trey Parker and it’s been on air since 1997. And it’s been proven a million times that this show has always been way ahead of its time.
The four boys of South Park are Kyle Broflovski, Stan Marsh, Eric Cartman, and Kenneth McCormick all of these characters bring a unique perspective to life. Once you do start watching the show you’ll start wondering who is the voice behind all these characters. As their voice makes everything funnier, specifically Cartman’s. His “Authoritah” shall be respected forever. So today we’ll take a quick look at the voice actors/actresses of all the main characters of South Park.
The majority of the voices in South park are given by Trey Parker and Matt Stone. They Both are responsible for the voices of most of the male characters on the show. By editing the frequencies their voice becomes different for every character they play.
Characters Played by Trey Parker:
- Stan Marsh
Stan is one of the main characters of South Park. He is a Fourth Grader and the sanest person amongst the four kids. Since the start his catchphrase has been “Oh my god they killed Kenny” and “Dude, this is pretty F***ed up right there”. He is mainly responsible for pointing to the Moral of the story at the end of most of the episodes. His best friend throughout the series is Kyle.
- Eric Cartman
Eric is my favorite character and has the best voice ever. The way he lands his speech makes every comment hilarious. He is also a Big-boned (can’t say fat) eighth-grader. The best part about his character is that he ends up being the major antagonist in some episodes. The other characters don’t even have a strong bond with Cartman and they have no idea why they even hang out together. They are more or less Frenemies.
His best lines so far have been “Respect my Authoritah” and “Screw you guys I’m going home” Listening to his voice is almost addictive with a tinge of annoyance.
Characters played by Trey Parker
- Randy Marsh
Randy Marsh is Stan’s Father. He is a geologist however, he’s always depicted as a dumb dude without a clue about most of the things. A fun fact about this character though, Randy’s character, as well as their name, is based on Trey’s Father, who is also a Geologist!
- Mr. Garrison
Herbert Garrison is the class teacher of all four boys. He is often depicted as a gay man who suppresses his gayness by using a doll. He calls this doll “Mr. Hat”. It’s been revealed that Mr. Hat is the representation of Mr. Garrison’s homosexuality. Mr. Garrison has been a man till the 9th season. However, he went through a sex change surgery and became a woman but later he went and reversed his operation becoming male again.
Other than these permanent characters Trey Parker has also played some recurring characters, like Clyde Donovan, one of the classmates of Cartman, Kenny, Stan, and Kyle. Mr. Hankey, Literally a piece of shit that talks. Mr. Mackey is the counselor of South park elementary well known for saying ” m’kay” after every sentence. Timmy Burch, the 4th grader whose vocabulary is limited to “TIMMY!!”
Jimmy Balmer, a 4th grader who is physically disabled, uses Crutches for his forearm to walk. Tuong Lu Kim, Dr. William’s Alter ego, owns the city airlines and wok, he is depicted with a stereotypical Chinese accent often leading to mispronouncing words such as instead of ‘city’ he says ‘shitty’. He also plays Phillip, who is one of the two best friends of a kid’s show called Terrance and Phillip. The show is mostly about farting though.
Characters Played by Matt Stone:
- Kyle Broflovski
Kyle is also one of the four main characters of South Park. According to the statement made by the co-creator of the show, Kyle is the only young child in the series who is Jewish. He is often acknowledged for being intelligent as well. Kyle’s Jewish faith is always in the center specifically during Christmas. He is mostly ridiculed by Cartman who never respects others’ religious beliefs. But his loneliness on Christmas gave birth to Mr. Hankey. Often called the Christmas Poo.
Characters played by Matt Stone
- Kenny McCormick
Kenneth McCormick is the last main character often known for…. Dying. Kenny just dies in every single episode. As per Matt and Trey, the reason behind this is that Kenny is poor. That’s all. Kenny is always seen with an orange coat on which covers his mouth, making it difficult to understand what he’s saying, His voice is usually muffled. While he is played by Matt in the series His voice actor is Mike Judge in films like “The Jeffersons”, ” Turd Burglars”, “Lice Capades” and many others.
Kenny is also well known for being the most perverted 8-year-old in the entire series. Most people think that he says gibberish during his screen time but he says proper words, most of which are super perverted. To understand this even more you should lookup for “Kenny’s Lyrics in South Park theme” the results will shock you.
- Butters Stotch
Butters also play a vital role in the show. He is one of the 4th graders in South Park Elementary. Butter started getting more attention after he replaced Kenny. Due to Kenny’s temporary absence in the Sixth season. This helped Butter gain more screen time and eventually more fans. In the usual setting, He plays the role of “innocent child” in the group
Besides these characters, Matt also gives voice to some other temporary and recurring characters, Such as Stuart McCormick, Kenny’s father who is a helpless drunk who never managed to make a decent living due to his drinking habits. Gerald Broflovski, Kyle’s father, is a lawyer and used to have a good friendship with Stuart. Jimbo Kern, a Vietnam veteran, and a hunter is Stan Marsh’s half-uncle. Craig Tucker, one of the kids in 4th grade known for flipping people off for no apparent reason. And Jesus, I’m not even sure how to describe this, except for being Son of God he is also the host of a television show called Jesus and Pals.
Other important characters on South park
1) Chef
Chef whose real name is Jerome McElroy is the chef of South Park elementary. Chef is known for being the wisest person in South park elementary and the go-to guy when the kids needed any advice. While he gave advice he often ended up singing sexual songs before he realises that there are kids in front of him.
Chef is played by Isaac Hayes
Chef is played by Isaac Hayes. In the tenth season, Chef’s character was killed. This might’ve been due to the controversy with Isaac Hayes. He left the show after the airing of an episode called “Trapped in the closet”. This episode showed a parody of the beliefs of Scientology which happens to be Isaac’s belief as well. Resulting in him leaving the show.
2) Liane Cartman
Liane Cartman is Eric’s Mother (but actually his father). She has made several appearances in the show and is one of the most prominent parents of South Park. Her character was named after the ex-fiancée of Trey Parker, one of the co-creators of South Park. Her character has been played by three different voice actresses, Eliza Schneider Mary Kay Bergman, and April Stewart
3) Sheila Broflovski
Sheila is Kyle’s mother as well as the adoptive mother of Ike. She usually represents the offended mob in the show. She frequently gets insulted by Cartman, who even made a song mocking her titled ” Kyle’s Mom’s a B****”. Sheila often ends up being the central antagonist of South Park. Specifically in Bigger, Longer & Uncut. Her character is played by Mona Marshall.
Sheila Broflovski
4) Mayor McDaniels
McDaniels is the mayor of South Park. And she has been a prominent character of the Series. The creators of the show Trey Parker and Matt Stone wanted to make the character of Mayor McDaniels to be egotistical and sophisticated. As the series continued She proved to fit this character description. She is often stubborn and sticks to her own decisions without caring about their effects on other people. Through Season 1-3 she was voiced by Mary Kay Bergman. After that between Season 4-7, her voice actress was Eliza J. Schneider yet again this changed in Season 8 as April Stewart took over the character and is presently the voice actress of this character.
5) Wendy Testaburger
Wendy Testaburger is one of the major supporting characters on South Park. And the most prominent female character. She is a 4th grader in South park elementary and Stan’s girlfriend in a sense. She has also been voiced by three different people during the series, Mary Kay Bergman, Eliza J. Schneider, and April Stewart. April is the current voice actress.
Wendy Testaburger
All the changes in the Casting
In the beginning, Mary Kay Bergman voiced almost every female character in the series. But Unfortunately, she died on November 11, 1999. Due to her death, all the characters she played were now given to Mona Marshall and Eliza Schneider in the year 2000. But in the year 2003, Eliza Schneider left the show due to the refusal of producers to extend her a union contract.
After she left, she was replaced by April Stewart. She, along with Marshall, has continued to be the voice of most of the female characters. Another character whose voice actor changed was Chef. As Isaac Hayes, who voiced this character left due to the wrongful depiction of his beliefs in the episode “Trapped in the Closet”.
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