Which film character best encompasses the iconic Val Kilmer voice? Could it be John ‘Doc’ Holliday from Tombstone? Or the legendary Lt. / Admiral Tom ‘Iceman’ Kazansky from Top Gun and the sequel. At Voice123, the go-to platform for hiring voice actors, we’ve seen firsthand how powerful a voice can be in shaping stories.
In recent years, however, Kilmer fought an intense battle with throat cancer, resulting in the loss of his voice. But with the help of voice synthesis company Sonantic, Val Kilmer’s AI voice made a comeback in Top Gun: Maverick. So, with AI voices being a hot topic in the voice over industry, the Val Kilmer AI voice is an important case study of AV producers looking to harness the power of AI in their projects.
What happened to Val Kilmer’s voice?
Val Kilmer was diagnosed with throat cancer in the mid-2010s. According to The New York Times Magazine, he eventually underwent multiple rounds of intense chemotherapy, radiation, and a surgical procedure called a tracheotomy. And though the treatment left his cancer in remission, it also took away his natural speaking voice. By 2017, his speech was significantly altered, and by the time of his documentary Val (2021), his son Jack narrated most of the audio because Kilmer could only speak in short, strained bursts.
How Top Gun Maverick brought back Val Kilmer’s voice
In Top Gun: Maverick 2022, innovative AI voice technology brought Val Kilmer’s voice back to life. The film introduces Iceman as a now-retired Admiral who underwent a throat cancer struggle to explain his on-screen communication via a computer with text.
To reproduce Val Kilmer’s voice, filmmakers collaborated with Sonantic AI. The AI was trained on hours of archival footage, blending machine learning with performance. This way, Kilmer could still speak in an emotional scene with his own voice. The Val Kilmer AI voice is a great example of how AI can be used responsibly—with consent—to preserve authenticity while supporting actors in the AV industry.
How Sonantic created the Val Kilmer AI voice
Usually, when Sonantic creates an AI voice model, they work directly with an actor to record a script performance. But the Val Kilmer AI voice was unique since the actor couldn’t read a script. So, after removing background noise from old audio recordings of Kilmer’s voice, the company used its voice engine to teach the voice model to speak just like him. They even developed new algorithms to produce higher-quality voice models.
John Flynn, CTO and co-founder of Sonantic, explained that the company wanted to create a voice that would make Val Kilmer proud. A voice he could also use in future projects because it perfectly represented his natural sound. However, working with minimal data was challenging. So, the company eventually generated over 40 different voice models and chose the one that carried the essence of the Val Kilmer voice that audiences know and love.
The Val Kilmer AI voice
The Val Kilmer voice highlights how AI technology could change the future of the human voice. Whether that’s to recreate the iconic voice of someone who has died, like James Earl Jones and Val Kilmer, but can AI tech really replace the human voice?
Sonantic claims that its tech isn’t a substitute for a person. Instead, it generates AI voices based on compelling real-life performances by the original speaker, much like the Darth Vader voice that producers can use in future projects after James Earl Jones passed away in 2024. Whether AI will ultimately replace human voices is a question only time will answer. But for now, it’s done a bang-up job of preserving the legendary Val Kilmer voice.
How to use AI voices in your audio projects
Synthetic voices have been around for years, from Siri to Alexa. But where AI once meant robotic speech, today’s AI voices sound natural, nuanced, and customizable.
So, when should you hire a human voice actor, and when does an AI voice make sense? Here’s the breakdown:
When to hire a professional voice actor
- You need fresh performances with emotional depth, improvisation, and nuance.
- You want clear rights, licensing, and long-term usage security.
- You need versatility—from dubbing to multi-language projects where cultural context matters.
- You’re building a brand story that requires warmth, humor, or subtle delivery only a human can deliver.
When to consider AI voices like Val Kilmer
- Scale & speed: Brands producing hundreds of audio hours monthly that rely on AI to keep up.
- Consistency: AI voices deliver the same tone across thousands of touchpoints, making it ideal for customer service and large-scale content.
- Customization: AI can adjust intonation, pitch, pace, and pronunciation for different audiences.
- Localization: AI tech can shift accents or dialects, like adapting an ad for audiences in Boston, Vermont, or Texas, without recording multiple takes.
- Preservation: AI can ethically preserve iconic voices when consent is secured.
Final thoughts on Val Kilmer’s voice
Keeping the Val Kilmer voice alive through AI technology attests to the combined power of technology and the human voice. In this case, AI technology recreated the Val Kilmer voice that audiences still recognize, preserving it for future projects. So, without a doubt, the future of AI and voice technology holds endless possibilities for vocal projects.
\At Voice123, you can hire professional voice actors for all your audio needs, and you can also use custom AI voice models built by real voice actors. Explore our AI voices today!
FAQs
Between 2015 and 2017, Val Kilmer was diagnosed with throat cancer and underwent multiple rounds of intense chemotherapy, radiation, and a tracheotomy that left his cancer in remission but also took away his natural speaking voice.
Yes, but his tracheostomy altered how they function, leaving his voice permanently impaired. He eventually lost his speaking voice entirely and an AI voice model was built to preserve his voice in film.
Radiation, chemotherapy, and multiple tracheostomies changed his airway and vocal ability, affecting his ability to speak and ultimately resulting in him losing his voice entirely.
No, Val Kilmer lost his voice entirely due to multiple throat cancer treatments. However, In Top Gun: Maverick, an AI model helped restore his iconic voice for one last time in film.
