Voice acting is a rather crucial element of animation. Sure, animating something isn’t easy, but have you tried watching an animated release with nothing but subtitles? Plenty of nuance is lost that way because voice acting provides not just a voice for a character but also infuses life and personality into animated figures on the screen.
And it’s not just about the words the character says; it’s also about the tone, inflection, and emotion behind those words. A talented voice actor can convey their character’s feelings, intentions, and quirks, making them feel real and relatable. And none is better at voice acting than Cree Summer, the queen of voice acting (as dubbed by the fans and critics), who brought more than 100 characters to life with her voice and talent.
Indeed, Cree Summer’s career is a tapestry of some of the most iconic performances that animated cinema and television have ever seen, so we invite you to join us as we explore and highlight her remarkable career and the work she has done thus far. From her iconic role as Freddie Brooks on A Different World to her extensive voice work in animation like Rugrats and Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Summer’s voice is one of the most recognized in all animation, which isn’t all that surprising, considering that most of her work came from Saturday morning cartoons of the ’90s and 2000s.
Cree Summer was born in Los Angeles on July 7, 1969, to Canadian actor Don Francks and Lili “Red Eagle” Francks, nee Clark. Though she was born in LA, she traveled and lived around British Columbia during her childhood. However, they eventually moved to Saskatchewan and Toronto, Canada, where Cree Summer started attending public school at the age of nine. There’s not much publicly available information about her childhood, but we do know that she started acting when she was 14.
Cree Summer’s acting career began when she was cast as Penny in the first season of the original Inspector Gadget series, after which she made frequent appearances in other animated releases, like The Care Bears Movie of 1985 and Ewoks (also 1985), which are part of the Star Wars franchise. However, her breakout role, the one that catapulted her into fame, was that of the free-spirited Winifred “Freddie” Brooks in The Cosby Show spin-off series A Different World. She was cast in 1988 and remained a regular member of the cast throughout the entire series.
But even then, during the run of A Different World, Cree Summer also continued her work in voice acting. A Different World ran for six seasons on NBC from 1987 to July 1993. Following the conclusion of the series, Cree was cast in a rather short-lived series, Sweet Justice in 1994, until its cancelation in 1995. The project she was subsequently hired for was Courthouse, a 1995 series that was canceled two months after it premiered.
Though it may sound like she was out of luck, Cree Summer found work elsewhere during that period. She voiced Elmyra Duff and Mary Melody in WB’s Tiny Toon Adventures and Dulcy the Dragon from Sonic the Hedgehog. Summer also did voice acting for video games; she voiced Tandi in the original Fallout—which now has its own series—and in Fallout 2, where she voiced the First Citizen Lynette. Then, in 1998, Cree voiced Susie Carmichael from the iconic Rugrats cartoon series, as well as Cynder from The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning.
In fact, Cree Summer has at least two dozen video game voice acting credits under her belt. She did work on some of the major gaming franchises, including the previously mentioned Fallout, Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance, Diablo III, Final Fantasy X and X-2, X-Men Legends, Mass Effect, World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria in which she voiced several characters and provided different voiceovers. Oh, and let’s not forget her vocal role as Professor Penelope Young from the legendary Batman: Arkham Asylum video game, part of the universally acclaimed Arkham gaming series.
Cree Summer did voice work for Nickelodeon. Besides the aforementioned Rugrats, Cree also voiced Susie Carmichael in All Grown Up!, Miranda, As Told by Ginger, Danny Phantom, and My Life as a Teenage Robot. She also voiced Princess ‘Kida’ Kidagakash for the franchise of Disney’s Atlantis: The Lost Empire. Summer has regarded the character of Kida as one of her favorite roles and even considers the character among the official Disney Princess line — so do we; Kida rightfully belongs to the official Disney Princess line.
Truly the undisputed queen of voice acting, Cree Summer has become synonymous with some of our favorite cartoon characters. When she’s not lending her many voices, she uses her own to moderate success as a singer-songwriter. Her voice, along with her ability to transform into characters of any type, expands possibilities for Black girls and women everywhere. So, the next time we’re thinking about any of those old cartoons we used to watch as kids, let’s take a moment to think about Cree Summer and her timeless performances.