Tara Strong

Tara Lyn Strong (; born February 12, 1973) is a Canadian and American actress. She is known for her voice work in animation, websites, and video games. Strong's voice roles include animated series such as '' The 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!'', and '' DC Super Hero Girls''. She has also voiced characters in the video games '' Mortal Kombat X'', '' Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3'', '' Jak and Daxter'', '' Final Fantasy X'', '' Final Fantasy X-2'', '' Blue Dragon'', and '' Batman: Arkham''. Strong has earned Annie Award and Daytime Emmy nominations and won an award from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences.

Early life

Strong was born as Tara Lyn Charendoff in Toronto, Ontario, on February 12, 1973, the younger daughter of Syd and Lucy Charendoff. Strong has called her Jewish background "a big part of her identity". Her grandfather was a cantor, while her grandmother ran a catering business in Toronto's Beth Radom Congregation. She has a sister.

At age four, Strong became interested in acting and volunteered to be a soloist at a school production. Strong worked in Yiddish 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 in ''A Night of Stars'' and was featured in an audiotape for " Lay Down Your Arms" with the Habonim Youth Choir, singing the lyrics in both English and Hebrew.

Career

Strong's first professional role was Gracie in Limelight Theater's production of '' The Music Man'' at the age of 13. She had a guest role in the action series '' T. and T.'' Her first major cartoon role, also at the age of 13, was the title role in '' Hello Kitty's Furry Tale Theater''. Strong starred in the short-lived CBC Television sitcom '' Mosquito Lake''. She took improv classes at The Second City in Toronto and continued acting in both animated and live-action shows and films, before moving to Los Angeles in January 1994.

Strong is the voice of numerous animated characters, including main roles in '' The New Batman Adventures'' as Barbara Gordon/Batgirl, ''Teen Titans'' and ''Teen Titans Go!'' as Raven; '' Fillmore!'' as Ingrid Third; '' The Fairly OddParents'' as Timmy Turner (Strong took over the role after the suicide of the original voice actress Mary Kay Bergman—the two were close friends) and Poof; '' Rugrats'' and '' All Grown Up!'' as Dil Pickles; '' The Powerpuff Girls'' as Bubbles; '' Ben 10'' as Ben Tennyson, Upgrade, Blitzwolfer, and Buzzshock; '' Chowder'' as Truffles; '' Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends'' as Terrence; the singing voice of Meg Griffin and additional voices on ''Family Guy''; '' My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic'' as Twilight Sparkle, '' Unikitty!'' as the titular princess, '' Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!'' as Daizy, and '' Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz'' as Joanni.

While recording lines for her role as Dil in ''Rugrats'', 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 to Madonna, Strong subsequently quipped that she was proud that the incident led to her keeping the role.

She has also lent her voice to English-dubbed localizations of Japanese anime such as '' Spirited Away'' and '' Princess Mononoke'', as well as several video games, including her work as Elisa and Ursula in '' Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops''; Paz Ortega Andrade in '' Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker'', '' Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes'', and '' Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain''; Rikku in '' Final Fantasy X'', its sequel '' Final Fantasy X-2'', and ''Kingdom Hearts II''; Krista Sparks in '' Twisted Metal: Head-On''; Talwyn Apogee in '' Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction'' and its sequel, '' Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest for Booty''; Keira in '' Jak and Daxter series''; and Juliet Starling, the main character of '' Lollipop Chainsaw''. She also has a minor voiceover for the teddy bear Ted in the motion picture '' Ted''. In '' Blue Dragon'', she is the voice actor for Kluke for the Xbox 360 game, but not in the anime series.

Beginning with the video game '' Batman: Arkham City'', Strong would also succeed Arleen Sorkin as the voice of Harley Quinn.

She has appeared in live roles in '' National Lampoon's Senior Trip'', '' Sabrina Goes to Rome'', '' Sabrina Down Under'', and '' The Last White Dishwasher''. She also made guest appearances on such shows as '' Forever 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'' and '' The Drew Carey Show''. In January 2013, she voiced the character Plum in Cartoon Hangover's '' Bravest Warriors'', created by Pendleton Ward. She recurred as Miss Collins in Nickelodeon's live-action series '' Big Time Rush'' from 2010 to 2013.

In 2004, she won an Interactive Achievement Award for her role as Rikku in '' Final Fantasy X-2''. She also served as the announcer for the 1999 Kids' Choice Awards, appeared as a guest panelist at several fan conventions (including BotCon, Jacon, Comic-Con International, and Anime Overdose), and was featured on the front cover of the July/August 2004 issue of '' Working 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." Strong has been nominated five times for Annie Awards.

In 2013, Strong won the Shorty Award for "Best Actress" for her use of social media. The Behind the Voice Actors website selected her for a BTVA Voice Acting Award for Voice Actress of the Year for 2013, having nominated her for 2011 and 2012.

Strong starred in the Canadian series '' Pretty Hard Cases'' as Tiggy Sullivan, the head of a drug trafficking gang. She also voices Miss Minutes in the live-action Marvel Cinematic Universe series ''Loki''.

Dismissal from ''Boxtown'' cast

After the Gaza war began, Strong asserted that Hamas had "brainwashed the western world" to support terrorism. She also stated that people can "help Palestine without supporting terrorism" and expressed support for Israel. Strong also praised the Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip as "smart", liked a tweet equating all Muslims to Hamas and ISIS and shared a screenshot from the Middle East Media Research Institute, a pro-Israel think tank, which claimed Hamas would take over the world.

The tweets led independent animation studio Bandit Mill Animation to remove her from the production of their upcoming series ''Boxtown'' and recast a role for a character she would have voiced. They explained on their official Twitter page 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."

After her removal, Strong claimed that she was "fired for being Jewish". This was denied by a co-writer of ''Boxtown'' pilot, Spencer Rothbell, who pointed out that several ''Boxtown'' cast and crew members are Jewish, including himself and voice actor Alex Hirsch, the latter whom is voicing a lead character in the series.

Personal life

Strong is a vegan. In 2012, during the BronyCon event in New Jersey, she attended a lunch with fans from the military. In 2013, she was involved with a charity group called Bronies for Good, helping them raise funds for a family whose daughter had a brain tumor.

In July 2019, Strong participated in a Lights for Liberty demonstration in Los Angeles, which protested Donald Trump's immigration policy.

Relationships and family

In 1999, Strong met U.S. real estate agent and former actor Craig Strong. The couple married on May 14, 2000, and have two sons named Sammy (b. February 2002) and Aden (b. August 2004). 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. On July 24, 2019, she filed for divorce, which was finalized on January 5, 2022. That same year, she started dating social media entrepreneur Willie Morris who runs Happy Goat Farm, a farmland based in Yosemite.
Note how the intro of that article incorrectly says she had "spent two decades as a single woman".

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Strong, Tara
1973 births
Living people
Actresses from Toronto
American film actresses
American television actresses
American video game actresses
American voice actresses
American animal rights activists
American veganism activists
Animal impersonators
Canadian expatriate actresses in the United States
Canadian film actresses
Jewish American actresses
Jewish Canadian actresses
Canadian stage actresses
Canadian television actresses
Canadian video game actresses
Canadian voice actresses
Canadian animal rights activists
California Democrats
Cartoon Network people
Nickelodeon people
Shorty Award winners
20th-century American actresses
20th-century Canadian actresses
21st-century American actresses
21st-century Canadian actresses
21st-century American Jews
21st-century Canadian Jews
Jewish Canadian film people