Meet the Famous Voice Actors

Publish date: 2024-08-13

If there’s one thing the Hotel Transylvania franchise has taught viewers, it’s that Count Dracula and his daughter Mavis have the same drama as everyone else. In the third installment, Hotel Transylvania 3: Family Vacation, a trip on the luxury Monster Cruise Ship goes awry when Dracula starts to fall for the ship’s captain — who turns out to be the great-granddaughter of his ancient archenemy.

Viewers first encountered Dracula’s complicated family in 2012's Hotel Transylvania, which creator Todd Durham has since transformed into a lucrative animated franchise starring Adam Sandler and Selena Gomez. In the original, Mavis struggles to keep her father from interfering with her bourgeoning love for a human named Jonathan, while in the 2015 sequel, Mavis and Jonathan attempt to raise their child under the watchful gaze of Dracula.

In anticipation of Hotel Transylvania 3's release in theaters on July 13, read more about the star-studded collection of voice actors behind the animated monster family.

Adam Sandler as Count Dracula
545-year-old Count Dracula founded the Hotel Transylvania after a mob of humans murdered his wife and Mavis’ mother, Martha. He is controlling and distrustful of the human race, and he frequently clashes with his daughter on the subject. A perennial comedy actor known for Saturday Night Live (1990-95) and Happy Gilmore (1996), among numerous other credits, Adam Sandler lends his voice to the character of Count Dracula, who in the third film begins to date a mysterious cruise ship captain to the horror of Mavis. Though Sandler’s recent films have struggled at the box office, Hotel Transylvania has been a consistent winner for him.
Selena Gomez as Mavis
For the third time in a row, Selena Gomez is voicing Mavis, Count Dracula’s 131-year-old daughter, who, against his immediate wishes, marries a human and leads a family of half-monster, half-human children. Gomez, who first took on the role of the Mavis as her Disney show Wizards of Waverly Place was drawing to a close, has since catapulted to international musical fame, with her songs "Same Old Love" and "Come & Get It" topping charts across the globe. But in interviews about Hotel Transylvania 3, Gomez remains steadfast in her excitement about voicing Mavis, telling Just Jared that the third movie covers a fascinating mood shift for her character: “My dad Drac begins dating, so in this one Mavis acts as the overprotective parent. I had a good time playing up that dynamic!”
Andy Samberg as Jonathan
Andy Samberg is a master at playing the odd one out, and in many ways, Hotel Transylvania’s Jonathan is exactly that. He’s the only full human in a family of monsters, and throughout the series he frequently battles the contempt — and not-so-uncommon meddling — of Count Dracula. In Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation, the tables turn: now it’s Dracula whose life needs to be interfered with. When Samberg signed on to Hotel Transylvania, he was still a regular on Saturday Night Live, but in recent years the success of his sitcom Brooklyn Nine-Nine has made him a Golden Globe winner and a star in his own right.
Kathryn Hahn as Ericka Van Helsing
Kathryn Hahn joins the franchise in Hotel Transylvania 3 as Ericka Van Helsing, a cruise ship captain on which Dracula immediately develops a massive crush. Mavis fights to keep the two apart, but her concerns for her dad are only heightened when the group discovers that Ericka is in fact a descendent of Dracula’s ancient, monster-hunting enemy. Hahn, who has appeared in Anchorman and How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days, has lately gravitated toward awards-buzzy TV roles, including on Transparent, Veep, I Love Dick and Parks & Rec. Last year, she received an Emmy nomination for her work on Transparent.
Steve Buscemi as Wane
Hotel Transylvania regular Wane is a werewolf unhappy in his life. A data processor who struggles with both his work and his badly behaved children, he first arrives at the hotel in hopes that a vacation will reset his misery, and he is quickly looped into Dracula’s family drama. Wayne draws his voice from Golden Globe winner Steve Buscemi, who starred in the critically beloved series Boardwalk Empire and the Coen brothers classic Fargo.
Mel Brooks as Vlad
91-year-old Blazing Saddles and Spaceballs star Mel Brooks first joined the Hotel Transylvania franchise in the second film when his character Vlad, the 1,251-year-old father of Dracula and grandfather of Mavis, arrived at the hotel. Vlad's contempt for humans leads to complications when he discovers that his great-grandson is only part monster. “I see a lot of Dracula’s father in me. My kids will tell you that,” Brooks has said of Vlad.
Kevin James as Frank
Real-life Adam Sandler friend Kevin James, who previously starred with him in 2007’s I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry, voices Dracula’s best friend Frank — as in Frankenstein — in the Hotel Transylvania franchise. Sandler and James have become regulars on the comedy circuit, with James leading films like Paul Blart: Mall Cop and the early-2000s TV sitcom The King of Queens.
Fran Drescher as Eunice
Fran Drescher has acted in films like John Travolta-led Saturday Night Fever (1977) and ‘90s sitcom The Nanny, and since the first Hotel Transylvania movie, she has voiced Eunice, the unapologetic and frequently worried wife of Frank.
Keegan-Michael Key as Murray
Among Hotel Transylvania’s regulars is Murray, a big-hearted mummy who is close friends with Dracula. Although actor and rapper CeeLo Green voiced Murray in the original film, Keegan-Michael Key, a veteran of Key & Peele who has since accepted leading roles in TV shows like Friends From College, replaced him for the second and third installments.
David Spade as Griffin
Audiences won’t see Saturday Night Live alum David Spade onscreen during Hotel Transylvania 3, but the same is true for his character, Griffin: Griffin, a guest of the hotel and a friend of Dracula’s, is invisible. He’s also drily sarcastic, and he often forgets that others can’t see him. Rules of Engagement star Spade — who has appeared in numerous other Sandler comedies, including Grown Ups and The Do-Over — voices the role.
Molly Shannon as Wanda
Saturday Night Live alum Molly Shannon has appeared in Superstar, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl and HBO’s Divorced. In Hotel Transylvania 3, she voices Wanda, an oblivious werewolf who is married to Dracula’s friend Wayne.