Chicago Tribune

Michael Phillips: Some actors just have that voice. Here’s why we listen

Jeffrey Wright in the movie “American Fiction.”

Some actors have it, and we love it: a speaking voice so naturally musical or mysteriously pleasing, that millions the world over respond with variations on the same reaction: I’d listen to this actor read the phone book.

Or: That actor could make the Yellow Pages riveting.

Or, simply: What a voice!

It’s the actor’s indelible trademark and most telling instrument. (I’m using the word “actor” for women as well as men.) We lean into certain voices for their cello-like beauty. Other voices function like an entire symphony of stage-trained expressivity, size and impact. Still others we come to know from the movies, or TV, or audiobooks or whatever, favor an insinuating and confidential key. In Shakespeare’s words, it’s the “speak low if you speak love” approach.

I think about actors’ voices a lot. I hear

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