Michaela Jill Murphy

Michaela Jill Murphy (born August 18, 1994), also known by her stage name Jessie Flower, is an American voice actress. She is best known for voicing Toph Beifong in '' Avatar: The Last Airbender'' and Chaca in ''Kronk's New Groove'' and ''The Emperor's New School''.

Early life

Murphy was born in Southern Indiana and is of Irish descent. She became interested in acting at the age of four, and her mother, Evette, moved them to Los Angeles to begin her career, where she appeared in commercials for Barbie and Mitsubishi. She starred as an orphan in ''Oliver!'' when she was five.

Career

At the age of 7, Murphy began auditioning for voice over roles and parts where she provided automated dialogue replacement (ADR) and additional voices. Her first voice role was in the Pixar animated film ''Finding Nemo'', where she played one of the school fishes and baby turtles. Murphy played the role of Chaca in ''Kronk's New Groove'', and reprised the role in the spin-off series ''The Emperor's New School''. She later called it the "most fun" voice acting she has ever done.

In 2005, Murphy voiced Meng in an episode of the Nickelodeon animated series '' Avatar: The Last Airbender''. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information. Her performance convinced creators Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino to cast her as main cast member Toph Beifong because of the "energy" she brought to the role. Murphy later told The Tab that she continued voicing Toph until her first year in high school and called the role her favorite voice acting experience and said she felt "pretty connected" to Toph's character, although she was only eleven years old when she was cast. She would also describe the second-season episode "The Library" as one of her favorite episodes in the series.

Murphy later admitted that she is rarely recognized in public, even when cosplaying as Toph at San Diego Comic-Con without any recognizing her as the voice actor of Toph. She later appeared as a guest on the official companion podcast for the series, ''Avatar: Braving the Elements'', hosted by Dante Basco and Janet Varney, where she would talk about Toph and what the character "meant to her," with Basco describing Murphy as a "dear friend" and praising Toph's character. In a 2023, Murphy said that while she would "love to come back and do stuff" for the franchise, she supported the vision of the show's creators, including possible recasting.

She would voice other characters in animated films and series after ''Avatar: The Last Airbender''. This included the character Peggy in ''Random! Cartoons'' (2008-2009), young Franny in the film ''Meet the Robinsons'' (2007), and other characters in the film ''Curious George'' (2006), along with Chaca in ''The Emperor's New School'' (2006) and '' The Emperor's New Groove 2: Kronk's New Groove'' (2005).

In 2014, Murphy guest-starred in ''The Legend of Korra'' as Toph's daughter Suyin Beifong. It was later described as helping lay the groundwork of Suyin's "personality while also paying tribute to her original role."

Murphy became an assistant theater manager at Yale University in fall 2014, but did not perform until the next year, joining the university's theater scene, working on a production of '' Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play'' and performing in the musical '' Hello Again'', among other productions. She graduated from Yale University in 2017, where she majored in a dual B.A. in Theater and Film Studies with concentrations in Playwrighting and Screenwriting. Before that, she voiced the English dubbed voice of Eiko Carol in the '' World of Final Fantasy'' video game.

In 2021, Murphy provided the voice of Nasse in the English dub of ''Platinum End''. The next year, she provided the voice of a minor character in the English dubbed version of '' Super Cub''.

Personal life

Murphy resides in Los Angeles. Murphy is openly bisexual. In June 2021, she celebrated Pride Month in an Instagram post, writing, "Pride is forever...Be kind to those around you, love is love is love!...There have been many who don’t swing my way, on multiple gender fronts, and that’s okay!" She broke up with her boyfriend before she began attending Yale University in 2014, and dyed her hair purple.

In September 2020, Murphy founded Bandit Basics, an e-commerce platform that sells merchandise inspired by Toph Beifong and the ''Avatar: The Last Airbender'' universe.

Filmography

Film

Television

Shorts

Video games

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Murphy, Michaela Jill
1994 births
Living people
21st-century American actresses
Actresses from Indiana
American bisexual actresses
American people of Irish descent
American video game actresses
American voice actresses
LGBTQ people from Indiana
Yale University alumni