Kari Wahlgren | |
|---|---|
 Wahlgren at SacAnime in 2025 | |
| Born | Kari Kay Wahlgren (1977-07-13)July 13, 1977 (age 48) Hoisington, Kansas, U.S. |
| Other names | |
| Education | University of Kansas |
| Occupation | Voice actress |
| Years active | 2002–present |
| Partner | Bobby Rock |
| Children | 1 |
| Website | kariwahlgren |
Kari Kay Wahlgren (born July 13, 1977)[4][5] is an American voice actress who has provided English-language roles for animated movies, TV series, and video games.[6][4] She got her start in anime voice-overs asHaruko Haruhara inFLCL, and would later land major roles in a number of shows and films:Saya Otonashi inBlood+,Robin Sena inWitch Hunter Robin,Lavie Head inLast Exile,Fuu inSamurai Champloo,Rip van Winkle inHellsing,[7] Scarlett inSteamboy,Pacifica Casull in theScrapped Princess,Michiru Satomi andLuca inImmortal Grand Prix,Kagami Hiiragi inLucky Star,Saber inFate/Zero,Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works andFate/stay night: Heaven's Feel, andCelty Sturluson in theDurarara!! series.
In American animation, she has provided voices for a number of series includingSuper Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!,Gravity Falls,Fish Hooks, voicing Little Suzy inPhineas and Ferb, Dorothy and Queen Ozma inDorothy and the Wizard of Oz,Ben 10,Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness,Kaijudo: Rise of the Duel Masters,Bunnicula,The Fairly OddParents,Bunsen Is a Beast, and the Nickelodeon versions ofWinx Club andTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,Jessica andDiane inRick and Morty, and Baby Scrat in theDisney+ miniseriesIce Age: Scrat Tales, produced byBlue Sky Studios. Since 2023, she has voiced several roles in the children's seriesSuperKitties, for which she received aChildren's and Family Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice Performer in a Preschool Animated Program.
In video games, she voiced lead charactersAshe inFinal Fantasy XII,Shelke inDirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII,Kitana andMileena in theMortal Kombat series (beginning withMortal Kombat 11),[8] and Raine Sage inTales of Symphonia.
Wahlgren was born and raised inHoisington, Kansas.[9] She was inspired as a child by theDisney Princesses and other voices in animation.[10][11][12] Her parents were teachers, which encouraged her to support charities and organizations that promote reading and education later in her career.[6][11][13] On her 11th birthday, when she and her family were in California and toured the building forFocus on the Family, she was asked to do a bit role in their radio dramaAdventures in Odyssey, as an 11-year-old character named Gloria McCoy.[14][a] Wahlgren graduated from theUniversity of Kansas with a Bachelor of Arts in Theater in 1999.[b]
Wahlgren is of Swedish and Irish descent.[15][16] In December 2022, she announced that she was expecting her first child withNitro drummer Bobby Rock who was due in January 2023.[17][18] She gave birth to their son in January 2023.[19]
Wahlgren lived inKansas City, Missouri,[20] where she did some radio spots, then moved to Los Angeles in 2000 to work on her acting career. In an interview inLawrence Journal-World, she said that she was not getting much on-camera work, so she shifted her energies towards voice-over work, and that her experience with dialogue and Shakespeare classes helped a lot towards landing roles that involved various characters, some of which had accents or were from certain time periods.[4]
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Wahlgren's debut anime role wasHaruko Haruhara in a six-episode OVA series calledFLCL. In an interview withAnime Tourist, she said that Haruko was the only character she got to audition for. She depicted her as close to the original dub but with some American interpretation to appeal to the audience,[21] and depending on how she was drawn, she changed her voice range from cartoon and childlike to realistic.[22] In a later review of the series, Bryce Coulter of Mania.com was impressed by her character work: "she definitely gives Haruko that twenty-something, sarcastic and almost punkish persona."[23] In 2018, she voiced in the newFLCL seasons, including as main character Haruha Raharu inFLCL: Progressive and reprising Haruko inFLCL: Alternative.[24][25]
Wahlgren's next major anime dub role was inWitch Hunter Robin, where she played the title characterRobin Sena,[20] a soft-spoken girl who joins a group of witch hunters, but harbors some magic abilities of her own. Zac Bertschy of Anime News Network said she was "pleasant, subtle and perfect for the role" and wished the supporting voice cast would demonstrate such subtleties.[26] She voiced lead characterLavie Head in the steampunk fantasy seriesLast Exile. Allen Divers of Anime News Network grouped her with the "better known names of the California voice-acting scene".[27] She voiced title characterSakura Kinomoto inBang Zoom!'s dubbing ofCardcaptor Sakura Movie 2: The Sealed Card, which Divers praised that "the voice actors did a great job of matching the emotions of the original Japanese voices, including Sakura's trademark expression 'Hoe!'", something that was missing in previous English adaptations.[28][29] In live-action works, she starred as Tinkerbell in an indie Peter Pan film rendition calledNeverland, released in 2003. Her character was described as a "sullen sidekick" and "drugged-out".[4][30]
In 2004, she voiced a starring role in the animated feature filmSteamboy, among actorsAnna Paquin,Patrick Stewart andAlfred Molina. She played Scarlett, a teenage granddaughter of the corporation's chairman, described as spoiled and cruel, and generally annoying.[31][32][33] Peter Sanderson of IGN called Scarlett one of the most obnoxious characters he has ever encountered, and hardly stands up to hermovie equivalent.[34] She voicedChika Minazuki inAi Yori Aoshi, a little cousin character. Way Jeng of Mania.com described her performance as energetic, yet innocent and simple, but contrasting toWendee Lee's voicing ofTina Foster.[35] In 2005, she voiced the female lead characterFuu Kasumi inSamurai Champloo. Carlo Santos of Anime News Network thought the characters sounded "well-suited to their personalities", but was concerned that Fuu "falls into the habit of sounding like every other ditzy anime girl out there."[36] InScrapped Princess, she voices the title characterPacifica Casull, who is hunted down because of a prophecy where she would cause the destruction of the world if she lives to see her 16th birthday. Theron Martin called her acting of "Pacifica's brattiness and deep sensitivity solidly pegged", although it is different from her Japanese counterpart as it "lacks some of the poutiness",[37] and takes some time to get used to.[38]
Wahlgren has been involved in a number of video games.[4] Her first voice-over role in video games was inBuffy the Vampire Slayer: Chaos Bleeds where she playedWillow Rosenberg.[39] In the James Bond video gameFrom Russia with Love, released in 2005, she voiced a Bond girl that was paired withSean Connery's original voice.[4] In 2006, she landed leading roles ofAshe inFinal Fantasy XII and Shelke inDirge of Cerberus – Final Fantasy VII. In an interview conducted by UFFSite and RPGSite, she recounts how she received notice of the roles on two consecutive days, and said that the franchise was like "the holy grail of video game acting". She portrayed Ashe with a bit of a regal tone, after the director encouraged her to do so following a class where she was doing Shakespeare. She describes her character as someone a girl would look up to as "intelligent, diplomatic, and can kick ass and look good doing it". In contrast, Shelkie was desired to be portrayed as very cold and emotionless, which she describes as "cold, but sympathetic."[20][40] In 2007, she voiced the playable title character in the strategy-RPGJeanne d'Arc.[12] Wahlgren voices the femaleJedi Knight in theMMOStar Wars: The Old Republic.[41] She also voices several characters in the MMOGuild Wars 2, most notably Caithe.[42] Wahlgren also voiced Mevia from the choice-based video gameMinecraft: Story Mode by Telltale Games.
Wahlgren's involvement in animation voice-over took off in 2004 when she was cast in a lead role in the Disney/Jetix ensemble action superhero showSuper Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go! where she voicedNova.[10] The show ran for four seasons from 2004 to 2006. She would also pick up recurring villain roles such asSamantha Paine aka Magness inA.T.O.M.[43] andCharmcaster inBen 10, the latter of which would return in the show's sequels and related video games.[44] In 2007, she voiced Tak's friendJeera in Nickelodeon's computer graphics-animated seriesTak and the Power of Juju.[45] She voiced little sister characterSuzy Johnson in Disney's hit seriesPhineas and Ferb,[46] and participated in the second season of the animated comedyLil' Bush where she voicedLil' Hillary andLil' Condi.[47]
Wahlgren became a regular cast member forFish Hooks, which premiered in 2010, where she voicedShellsea and many supporting and guest characters.[48] She landed the role ofTigress in the television adaptationKung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness (replacingAngelina Jolie); the series premiered in 2011 and has run over four seasons.[49] Also in 2011, Wahlgren started voicingFaragonda in theNickelodeon revival ofWinx Club.[44] In 2012, she had the lead role ofAllie Underhill in the action seriesKaijudo, which spanned 52 episodes,[50] and picked up roles in other cartoon shows such asGravity Falls andRandy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja.[44] She voiced Meg, the starring love interest in the Disney short filmPaperman which screened beforeWreck-It Ralph in the theaters in 2012. In an interview with her school's alumni association, she said that she was asked to do the role because of her previous involvements inBolt andTangled. Recording for the film took about 30 minutes, mostly of vocal sounds.[13] The short went on to win anAcademy Award for Best Animated Short Film.[51]
In 2015, she joined the cast ofFairly OddParents as a starring characterChloe Carmichael in its show's tenth season.[52] She continued to voiceJessica and other characters forRick and Morty during its third season,[53] and voiced Amanda in the Butch Hartman-produced seriesBunsen Is a Beast which aired on Nickelodeon in February 2017.[54] In July 2017, she voicedDorothy Gale in the animated television seriesDorothy and the Wizard of Oz broadcast on Boomerang.[55] In 2023, Wahlgren voiced multiple characters inMy Dad the Bounty Hunter, specifically Lootbat and Mike.[56][57]
Some of her work has garnered recognition, awards and nominations from websites that review anime and animation. Mania.com wrote that Wahlgren's performance as thestraight-man characterKagami Hiiragi inLucky Star was absolute sarcastic perfection, and named her the Best Overlooked Actress for 2008 in their annual Anime Dubbies Awards.[58] Theron Martin likedCelty Sturluson, a headlessdullahan character inDurarara!! who uses mostly body language and typed words. In his year-end awards for 2011, he selected Wahlgren the Best English Dub Performance – Female.[59]
On the Behind the Voice Actors website, she was selected by the staff as the Voice Actress of the Year in 2012,[60] and was nominated for 2011[61] and 2013.[62] She received nominations in other categories: Best Female Lead Vocal Performer in an Anime Title for Celty inDurarara!! in 2011,[63] Best Female Lead Vocal Performance in a Television Series – Action / Drama forAllie Underhill inKaijudo in 2012, Best Female Lead Vocal Performance in a Television Series – Comedy / Musical forTigress inKung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness in 2012,[64] Best Female Lead Vocal Performance in an Anime Television Series/OVA forSaber inFate/zero,[65] Best Female Supporting Vocal Performance in an Anime Movie/Special forKarina Lyle/Blue Rose inTiger & Bunny: The Beginning in 2013,[66] Best Female Vocal Performance in a Television Series in a Guest Role – Action/Drama forLetta Turmond inStar Wars: The Clone Wars[67] and Best Female Vocal Performance in a Video Game in a Supporting Role for Courtney Collins inMetal Gear Rising: Revengeance.[68]
| Year | Organisation | Category | Project | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Children's and Family Emmy Awards | Outstanding Voice Performer in a Preschool Animated Program | SuperKitties | Won | [69] |
| 2025 | Outstanding Multiple Voice Role Performer | Legends of Evergreen Hills | Pending | [70] |
The easiest one to cast was the villain, Amanda. We cast Kari Wahlgren, who I had just hired to be Chloe on the Fairly OddParents. The new character of Chloe, she was just great, and I said, "I'm doing this new show Bunsen, would do you just do me a favor and read this part real quick?" She just did it and was hilarious and the character drawing had braces so she kind of did a ::talks through teeth: braces like she was spitting a lot and it was very funny, and so we just kept that.
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