Tara Strong

Tara Lyn Strong (née Charendoff; born February 12, 1973) is a Canadian-American actress.[1] She is known for her voice work in animation and video games.

Tara Strong
Strong in 2012
Born
Tara Lyn Charendoff

(1973-02-12) February 12, 1973
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Citizenship
  • Canadian
  • American
OccupationActress
Years active1986–present
Spouse
Craig Strong
​
​
(m. 2000; sep. 2019)​
Children2

Strong's voice roles include animated series such as The New Batman Adventures, Teen Titans, Teen Titans Go!, Rugrats, The Powerpuff Girls, The Fairly OddParents, Xiaolin Showdown, Ben 10, Chowder, Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, DC Super Hero Girls, and Unikitty!. She has also voiced characters in the video games Mortal Kombat X, Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Jak and Daxter, Final Fantasy X, X-2, Blue Dragon, and Batman: Arkham.

She has earned Annie Award and Daytime Emmy nominations and won an award from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences.

Early life

Strong was born Tara Lyn Charendoff in Toronto, Canada, on February 12, 1973,[2] the younger daughter of Syd and Lucy Charendoff.[3] Strong has called her Jewish background "a big part of her identity".[4] She has an older sister named Marla. At age four, Strong became interested in acting and volunteered to be a soloist at a school production.[5] She worked with the Yiddish Theater, 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.[5]

Career
Strong at the 2009 Comic-Con San Diego

Strong's first professional role was Gracie in Limelight Theater's production of The Music Man at the age of 13.[5] 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.[6] Strong starred in the short-lived CBC Television sitcom Mosquito Lake.[5] She took improv classes at The Second City in Toronto[6] and continued acting in both animated and live-action shows and films, before moving to Los Angeles in January 1994.[7][8]

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 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 Princess Unikitty, Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! as Daizy, and Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz as Joanni.

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; Kiera in Jak and Daxter series; Harley Quinn in Batman: Arkham City and Batman: Arkham Knight, replacing Arleen Sorkin from the franchise; 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.[9]

Strong at GalaxyCon Richmond in 2022

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.[10] 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.[11]

In 2004, she won an Interactive Achievement Award for her role as Rikku in Final Fantasy X-2.[12][13] 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."[14] Strong has been nominated five times for Annie Awards.[15][16][17][18]

In 2013, Strong won the Shorty Award for "Best Actress" for her use of social media.[19] The Behind the Voice Actors website selected her for a BTVA Voice Acting Award for Voice Actress of the Year for 2013,[20] having nominated her for 2011 and 2012.[21][22]

Strong is currently starring 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.[23]

Personal life

In 1999, Strong met U.S. real estate agent and former actor Craig Strong.[2][24] The couple married on May 14, 2000, and have two sons named Sammy (born February 2002) and Aden (born August 2004).[25] 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.[26] On July 24, 2019, she filed for divorce.[27]

In 2012, during the BronyCon event in New Jersey, Strong attended a lunch with fans from the military.[28] 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.[4][29]

She follows a vegan diet and is a fervent supporter of PETA.[30]

References

Citations
  1. "Tara Strong Reddit AMA – February 2014". Interviewly. February 2014. Archived from the original on March 26, 2015. Retrieved January 7, 2015.
  2. Mulman, Doreen. "Stats and Agency Info". TOTS: The Official Tara Strong. MKBMemorial.com. Archived from the original on April 25, 2015. Retrieved January 3, 2015.
  3. "Tara Strong". TV Guide. Retrieved October 30, 2020.
  4. Stern, Cara (November 4, 2013). "Versatile voice is key to success". Canadian Jewish News. Retrieved October 10, 2014.
  5. Mulman, Doreen. "Early Career". TOTS – The Official Tara Strong. MKBMemorial.com. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved October 10, 2014.
  6. Mulman, Doreen. "FAQ 2008". TOTS: The Official Tara Strong. MKBMemorial.com. Archived from the original on May 11, 2015. Retrieved January 3, 2015.
  7. Stern, Cara (November 4, 2013). "Versatile voice is key to success". Canadian Jewish News. Archived from the original on January 7, 2015.
  8. "About Tara Strong". VoiceStarz. Retrieved January 7, 2015.
  9. "Tara Strong to voice Kluke in Blue Dragon". Square Haven News. February 25, 2007. Archived from the original on January 10, 2015. Retrieved May 4, 2011.
  10. "Tara Strong official website". Tarastrong.com. Archived from the original on May 26, 2011. Retrieved May 4, 2011.
  11. Rudoff, Paul. "Ghostbusters Cast & Crew Multimedia". Spook Central. Archived from the original on October 16, 2014. Retrieved September 22, 2014.
  12. "2004 Interactive Achievement Awards". Interactive.org. Archived from the original on September 5, 2011.
  13. "2004 Interactive Achievement Awards". IGN. Archived from the original on November 5, 2013. Retrieved March 4, 2004.
  14. Howard, Caroline (July–August 2004). "Work in Progress – Getting It Done – Career, Self, & Soul – This Week's Cover Mom – Tara Strong". Working Mother. Front cover, p. 15. Archived from the original on May 19, 2015. Retrieved January 5, 2015.
  15. "39th Annie Awards". Annie Awards. Archived from the original on February 3, 2014. Retrieved September 17, 2014.
  16. "31st Annie Awards". Annie Awards. February 1, 2014. Archived from the original on July 1, 2016. Retrieved March 23, 2014.
  17. "29th Annie Awards". Annie Awards. February 1, 2014. Archived from the original on January 2, 2013. Retrieved March 23, 2014.
  18. "27th Annie Awards". Annie Awards. February 1, 2014. Archived from the original on April 1, 2014. Retrieved March 23, 2014.
  19. "Shorty Award winners Cassey Ho and Tara Strong on Fox News Live". Shorty Awards Blog. April 11, 2013. Archived from the original on January 3, 2015.
  20. "3rd Annual BTVA Voice Acting Awards 2013 – General". Behind The Voice Actors. Archived from the original on November 9, 2014. Retrieved January 4, 2015.
  21. "2nd Annual BTVA Voice Acting Awards 2012 – General". Behind the Voice Actors. Archived from the original on November 7, 2014. Retrieved January 4, 2015.
  22. "1st Annual BTVA Voice Acting Awards 2011 – General". Behind the Voice Actors. Archived from the original on December 22, 2014. Retrieved January 4, 2015.
  23. Mitovich, Matt Webb (June 8, 2021). "Loki Review: After a Talky-Talky Start, Disney+'s Third Marvel Series Is a Super Fun 'Time Detectives' Two-Hander". TVLine. Retrieved June 8, 2021.
  24. "TFW2005 Interviews Transformers Animated Voice Actor Tara Strong". Transformer World 2005. February 22, 2008. Archived from the original on January 7, 2015. Retrieved January 7, 2015.
  25. Mulman, Doreen. "Strong Family Photo Album 2004". MKBMemorial.com. Archived from the original on May 11, 2015. Retrieved January 8, 2015.
  26. Moore, Kay (April 22, 2013). "Interview With Voice Actress Tara Strong of Teen Titans Go!". GeekDad. Retrieved January 8, 2015.
  27. "Strong, Tara vs Strong, Craig". UniCourt. January 6, 2020. Retrieved February 27, 2022.
  28. "HORSIN' AROUND: Military 'bronies' love rifles, 'My Little Pony'". Military Times. July 3, 2012. Archived from the original on January 10, 2015. Retrieved January 8, 2015.
  29. Broverman, Aaron (February 15, 2013). "Tara Strong, 'My Little Pony' Voice Actor, Talks Bronies And Evolution Of Twilight Sparkle". HuffPost. Archived from the original on March 27, 2015. Retrieved January 8, 2015.
  30. Jamieson, Amy (April 11, 2017). "'My Little Pony' 's Twilight Sparkle Is a Bunny-Lover, But Says Don't Get One on Easter Morning". People Magazine. Retrieved September 17, 2022.

Sources
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