Voices from the Screen: Tara Strong
Welcome to ‘Voices from the Screen’. In this section of HeadStuff’s animation coverage, our writer Joseph Learoyd will celebrate the careers of famous voice actors.
Tara Strong has provided a voice to a whole plethora of our childhood characters and in our latest entry into Voices from the Screen, where we take a look at these voice actors, we’ll be taking a dive into her life and explore the notable roles that she has under her voice acting belt.
Born in Toronto, Canada in 1973, Tara Lyn Charendoff began her journey in the entertainment industry at a young age. She has lent her voice to countless animated characters in films, television series and games, and has a career that spans over three decades in the industry. At the age of thirteen, she had her first major role as a voice actress, voicing the title character in Hello Kitty’s Furry Tale Theater and took improvisation classes before moving to Los Angeles in 1994.
She has voiced many characters and there is no way that we would be able to cover them all in this short article. Firstly, Tara is known for voicing Bubbles in The Powerpuff Girls, a sweet character that has a softly spoken high pitched voice. In contrast to this, she voiced Raven in Teen Titans, providing the mysterious nature and emotional depth to the character and bringing out a somewhat deeper sound, highlighting Tara’s voice acting range. She would voice Twilight Sparkle in My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic as well as Timmy Turner in The Fairly OddParents once again playing two central characters that couldn’t be more different in their personalities and voices. Through her voice acting talent, she managed to capture the expressive performances of both characters in a way that feels well rounded and believable, adding emotion and character to their voices.
A voice can help to breathe life into a character, and nowhere does Tara Strong do this better than in voicing the immensely popular Harley Quinn in a whole variety of DC animated projects. She adds strength and emotion to the crazy character in film, series and video games and portrays the character with such depth that she isn’t just the Joker’s sidekick and accomplice but a person with her own thoughts and feelings. Tara has voiced the baby, Dil Pickles in Rugrats, characters in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Justice League and Ben 10 as well as giving her voice to Rikku in the Final Fantasy series. She has provided voices to the English dubs of various Studio Ghibli movies and lent her voice to the Metal Gear Solid franchise of video games. Tara Strong is a legend in the voice acting game, and has a talent that is so versatile and distinct that she manages to give each character their own personality with voices that feel fresh and individual.
Due to her work and voicing of much beloved character, Strong has developed a fan base and following that has seen and supported her growth into one of the most well-known and respected voice actors in the world of animation. From X-men to Clifford the Big Red Dog, from Xiaolin Showdown to Gravity Falls, there is a skill there that, although we may not have always been aware of it, has weaved its way through our childhoods and into the vocal chords of some of our most beloved characters. Animation is important, it’s a technically demanding medium with limitless possibilities, and character opportunities, yet so many people overlook the voices that those characters possess and the roundedness that those voices can provide. Tara Strong is a legend in the field and she has been providing those voices, that spark, even if we don’t always realise it.
