Tara Strong | |
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.jpg) Strong atGalaxyCon Raleigh in 2024 | |
| Born | Tara Lyn Charendoff (1973-02-12)February 12, 1973 (age 52) |
| Citizenship |
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| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1986–present |
| Spouse | |
| Partner | Willie Morris (2022–present) |
| Children | 2 |
| Website | tarastrong |
Tara Lyn Strong (née Charendoff; born February 12, 1973) is a Canadian and American actress.[1] She is known for her voice work in animation, websites, and video games. Strong's voice roles include animated series such asThe Powerpuff Girls,The Fairly OddParents,My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic,Teen Titans,Xiaolin Showdown,Ben 10,Drawn Together,The New Batman Adventures,Rugrats,The Proud Family,Chowder,Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!,Unikitty!, andDC Super Hero Girls. She has also voiced characters in the video gamesMortal Kombat X,Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3,Jak and Daxter,Final Fantasy X,Final Fantasy X-2,Blue Dragon, andBatman: Arkham. Strong has earnedAnnie Award andDaytime Emmy nominations and won an award from theAcademy of Interactive Arts & Sciences.
Strong was born as Tara Lyn Charendoff inToronto, Ontario, on February 12, 1973,[2] the younger daughter of Syd and Lucy Charendoff.[3] Her parents are of Russian-Jewish ancestry, and her grandparents emigrated to Canada after fleeingpogroms in Russia.[4] Strong has called her Jewish background "a big part of her identity".[5] Her grandfather was acantor, while her grandmother ran a catering business in Toronto's Beth Radom Congregation.[6] She has a sister.[7]
At age four, Strong became interested in acting and volunteered to be a soloist at a school production.[8] Strong worked inYiddish Theatre in Toronto, where she memorized her lines phonetically because she did not know the Yiddish language. Strong also performed with the Toronto Jewish Theater, where she acted inA Night of Stars and was featured in an audiotape for "Lay Down Your Arms" with theHabonim Youth Choir, singing the lyrics in both English andHebrew.[8]
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Strong's first professional role was Gracie in Limelight Theater's production ofThe Music Man at the age of 13.[8] She had a guest role in the action seriesT. and T. Her first major voice role, also at the age of 13, was the title role inHello Kitty's Furry Tale Theater.[9] Strong starred in the short-livedCBC Television sitcomMosquito Lake.[8] She took improv classes atThe Second City in Toronto[9] and continued acting in both animated and live-action shows and films, before moving to Los Angeles in January 1994.[5][10]
Strong is the voice of numerous animated characters, including main roles inThe New Batman Adventures asBarbara Gordon/Batgirl,Teen Titans andTeen Titans Go! asRaven;Fillmore! as Ingrid Third;The Fairly OddParents asTimmy Turner (Strong took over the role after the suicide of the original voice actressMary Kay Bergman—the two were close friends[11]) andPoof;Rugrats andAll Grown Up! asDil Pickles;The Powerpuff Girls asBubbles;Ben 10 asBen Tennyson, Upgrade, Blitzwolfer, and Buzzshock;Chowder as Truffles;Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends asTerrence; the singing voice ofMeg Griffin and additional voices onFamily Guy;My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic asTwilight Sparkle,Unikitty! as the titular princess,Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! as Daizy, andDorothy and the Wizard of Oz as Joanni.
While recording lines for her role as Dil inRugrats, one scene's script for Strong's character prompted her to make crying noises. During the taping, the producers suddenly paused and revealed to Strong that her voice acting of a child had been so realistic that she had inadvertently made a woman in the studio lactate. As the role was otherwise going to be offered toMadonna, Strong subsequently quipped that she was proud that the incident led to her keeping the role.[12][13]
She has also lent her voice to English-dubbedlocalizations of Japanese anime such asSpirited Away andPrincess Mononoke, as well as several video games, including her work as Elisa and Ursula inMetal Gear Solid: Portable Ops; Paz Ortega Andrade inMetal Gear Solid: Peace Walker,Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes, andMetal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain;Rikku inFinal Fantasy X, its sequelFinal Fantasy X-2, andKingdom Hearts II; Krista Sparks inTwisted Metal: Head-On; Talwyn Apogee inRatchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction and its sequel,Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest for Booty; Keira inJak and Daxter series; and Juliet Starling, the main character ofLollipop Chainsaw. She also has a minor voiceover for the teddy bear Ted in the motion pictureTed. InBlue Dragon, she is the voice actress for Kluke for the Xbox 360 game, but not in theanime series.[14]
Beginning with the video gameBatman: Arkham City, Strong would also succeedArleen Sorkin as the voice ofHarley Quinn.
She has appeared in live roles inNational Lampoon's Senior Trip,Sabrina Goes to Rome,Sabrina Down Under, andThe Last White Dishwasher. She also made guest appearances on such shows asForever Knight,Street Legal,Touched by an Angel,Take Home Chef,Party of Five,Comic Book: The Movie,Kung Fu: The Legend Continues,3rd Rock from the Sun andThe Drew Carey Show.[15] In January 2013, she voiced the character Plum inCartoon Hangover'sBravest Warriors, created byPendleton Ward. She recurred as Miss Collins inNickelodeon's live-action seriesBig Time Rush from 2010 to 2013.[16]
In2004, she won anInteractive Achievement Award for her role as Rikku inFinal Fantasy X-2.[17][18] She also served as the announcer for the1999 Kids' Choice Awards, appeared as a guest panelist at severalfan conventions (includingBotCon, Jacon,Comic-Con International, andAnime Overdose), and was featured on the front cover of the July/August 2004 issue ofWorking Mother magazine, in which she said, "My son is now old enough to respond to my work. To me, that's what it is all about."[19] Strong has been nominated five times forAnnie Awards.[20][21][22][23]
In 2013, Strong won theShorty Award for "Best Actress" for her use of social media.[24] The Behind the Voice Actors website selected her for a BTVA Voice Acting Award for Voice Actress of the Year for 2013,[25] having nominated her for 2011 and 2012.[26][27]
Strong starred in the Canadian seriesPretty Hard Cases as Tiggy Sullivan, the head of a drug trafficking gang. She also voicesMiss Minutes in the live-actionMarvel Cinematic Universe seriesLoki.[28]
In 1999, Strong met American real estate agent and former actor Craig Strong.[2][29] The couple married on May 14, 2000, and have two sons named Sammy (b. February 2002) and Aden (b. August 2004).[30] They lived in Los Angeles and were formerly the owners of VoiceStarz, an online company that taught people how to get into the voice-over business.[31] On July 24, 2019, she filed for divorce,[32] which was finalized on January 5, 2022.[33] That same year, she started dating social media entrepreneur Willie Morris, who runs Happy Goat Farm, a farmland based in Yosemite.[34]
In 2012, during theBronyCon event inNew Jersey, she attended a lunch with fans from the military.[35] In 2013, she was involved with a charity group called Bronies for Good, helping them raise funds for a family whose daughter had abrain tumour.[5][36]
In July 2019, Strong participated in a Lights for Liberty demonstration inLos Angeles, which protestedDonald Trump's immigration policy.[37]
Strong has been a vocal supporter of Israel since the 2023October 7 attacks.[38][39][40] She was fired from the independent animated seriesBoxtown after sheliked severalanti-Palestinian tweets and a tweet that equated all Muslims toHamas andISIS, and shared a screenshot from theMiddle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), which claimed Hamas would take over the world.[41][42] Bandit Mill Animation, the studio behindBoxtown, issued a statement explaining that "This decision was due to a trend among Tara's recent online activity, including posts that promote controversial messages regarding the peoples of Palestine currently being affected by the ongoing Israel-Palestine crisis... This was not a difficult decision."[42]
In March 2024, Strong signed an open letter denouncing filmmakerJonathan Glazer's Oscar speech forThe Zone of Interest, in which he criticized Israel's actions in theGaza war.[43]
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