Francesca Marie Smith (born March 26, 1985) is an American actress known for voicing Helga Pataki on the

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (nicknamed Nick) is an American pay television channel and the flagship property of the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first ca ...

animated television series ''

Hey Arnold! ''Hey Arnold!'' is an American animated sitcom created by Craig Bartlett for Nickelodeon. It originally aired from October 7, 1996, to June 8, 2004. The show centers on fourth grader Arnold Shortman, who lives with his grandparents in an inner ...

''. She is also known for voicing multiple characters on

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

's '' Recess'', most notably as Ashley B. and Swinger Girl, among others.

Filmography

Television

Film

Video games

Awards and nominations

In 1998, Smith won the award for Best Performance in a Voice-Over – TV or Film: Young Actress at the

19th Youth in Film Awards The 19th Youth in Film Awards ceremony (now known as the Young Artist Awards), presented by the Youth in Film Association, honored outstanding youth performers under the age of 21 in the fields of film, television and theatre for the 1996-1997 se ...

for her role on ''Hey Arnold!''. She was nominated for Best Youth Actress in a Voice-Over Role: TV or Movie at the 15th Youth in Film Awards for ''

Itsy Bitsy Spider "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" (also known as "The Incey Wincey Spider" in Australia or "Incy Wincy Spider" in the United Kingdom, and other anglophone countries) is a popular nursery rhyme, folksong, and fingerplay that describes the adventures of a s ...

'' and for Best Performance in a TV Drama Series: Guest Starring Young Actress at the 18th Youth in Film Awards for her role on ''

The Secret World of Alex Mack ''The Secret World of Alex Mack'' is an American science fiction television series that aired on Nickelodeon from October 8, 1994, to January 15, 1998. The series was co-created by Ken Lipman and Thomas W. Lynch and was produced by Lynch Entertain ...

''. In 2001, Smith was nominated for Best Performance in a Voice-Over: TV/Film/Video – Young Actress at the

22nd Young Artist Awards The 22nd Young Artist Awards ceremony, presented by the Young Artist Association, honored excellence of young performers under the age of 21 in the fields of film and television for the year 2000, and took place on April 1, 2001, at the Sportsm ...

for her role on ''Hey Arnold!''.

Personal life

Smith studied at

Pepperdine University Pepperdine University () is a private university, private Christianity, Christian research university affiliated with the Churches of Christ, with its main campus in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Pepperdine's main campus consists ...

, graduating in 2008. She obtained a Ph.D. from

USC Annenberg The USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism is a part of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. It has 2,300 undergraduate and graduate students. Willow Bay is the dean. Prof. Hector Amaya is the Director of the Sc ...

in 2021. On March 27, 2019, Smith stated that she had been diagnosed with relapsing-remitting

multiple sclerosis Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease resulting in damage to myelinthe insulating covers of nerve cellsin the brain and spinal cord. As a demyelinating disease, MS disrupts the nervous system's ability to Action potential, transmit ...

via

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

(now X). On April 12, 2024, Smith was admitted to the Keck Hospital as a result of a major relapse effect of MS (similar to a

stroke Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...

) and stated that she was unable to walk, speak and even unable to eat solid foods for three weeks, while also having trouble breathing. Thus, she set up a fundraiser called *FrancescaAndHerMSJourney to help her recovery.

References

External links

* 1985 births Living people 20th-century American actresses 21st-century American actresses Actresses from Lincoln, Nebraska Actresses from Nebraska American child actresses American film actresses American voice actresses American television actresses Nickelodeon people Pepperdine University alumni People with multiple sclerosis {{US-screen-actor-1980s-stub