Scream: What Ghostface's Voice Actor Looks Like In Real Life
If there's one thing a slasher movie franchise needs, it's an instantly recognizable slasher. "Halloween" has Michael Myers, "A Nightmare on Elm Street" has Freddy Krueger (inseparable from actor Robert Englund), "Friday the 13th" has Jason Voorhees, and "Scream" has Ghostface. Unlike the other slashers, though, Ghostface is a mantle, not a single person.
The original "Scream" was a murder mystery, with Ghostface unmasked and killed at the film's end. Each sequel has continued the trend: a new person (or, often, two killers working together) slips on the ghoulish white mask, full body black cloak, and starts stabbing people in Sidney Prescott's (Neve Campbell) orbit. While each Ghostface killer has naturally been played by a different actor, the disguised voice is the same in every movie, provided by voice actor Roger L. Jackson. Get a look at the voice behind the mask courtesy of this video from Jamie Kennedy (who played Randy Meeks in "Scream").
Ghostface's voice is an essential ingredient; after all, we first meet Ghostface as his voice. The terrifying opening of the original "Scream" is a cat-and-mouse phone call in which the unseen Ghostface stalks Casey (Drew Barrymore) and quizzes her on horror movie trivia, dangling the chance to live if she can answer his questions correctly. Even when Ghostface pretends to sound friendly, there's a hint of rage in the voice, and he flips quickly into profanity and threats. At the 2020 Mad Monster Party festival in North Carolina, Jackson explained the origins of his Ghostface voice:
"I read [the audition script] and it was there that he's gotta be kind of sexy, put a little sexy color to it. It's got to be interesting, keep her on the phone [...] and then it's gotta change a bit." If someone called you out of the blue to ask 'do you like scary movies?', it'd have to be a nice sounding voice for you to not immediately hang up, right?"
Jackson has been voice acting since the 1990s. He has a long-ish resume (mostly supporting parts in various video games), but not many classic roles. Ghostface is easily his most famous character — with one possible exception.
The voice of Ghostface also has an important role on The Powerpuff Girls
Shortly after "Scream" premiered in 1996, Roger L. Jackson booked his other career-defining role on Craig McCracken's superhero comedy "The Powerpuff Girls." Debuting in 1998 and running for 78 episodes, "The Powerpuff Girls" was and remains a Cartoon Network staple. Jackson voiced the Powerpuff Girls' archnemesis: the talking, super-intelligent, green-skinned chimpanzee Mojo Jojo. (See the photo above of Jackson at "The Powerpuff Girls Movie" premiere in 2003, standing with Bubbles' voice actor Tara Strong and a Mojo Jojo costumed performer.)
Jackson's voice as Mojo Jojo is nothing like Ghostface's — "The Powerpuff Girls" is a comedy, not a horror movie, so it demands an amusing villain instead of a scary one. The chimp supervillain speaks in a stilted, overdramatic voice meant to sound like badly dubbed anime from the 1960s. (Tellingly, Mojo also has a Japanese accent.) His sentences are always too verbose, using two dozen words when six would get the same point across. Even Mojo Jojo's rhyming name fits into his repetitive speech patterns.
Like Ghostface, Jackson has been with Mojo Jojo from beginning up to the present. He reprised the role in the 2016 "Powerpuff Girls" reboot and the "Teen Titans Go!" crossover episode "TTG v PPG." (Mojo becomes quick friends with Cyborg and his fellow green-skinned monkey, Beast Boy.)
Somehow, though, I don't think a "Scream" and "Powerpuff Girls" crossover is in the cards. One can only guess how Jackson's two villains would (or wouldn't) get along.