Tara Strong

Template:Infobox actor**Tara Lyn Strong** (née **Charendoff**; born February 12, 1973) is a Canadian–American actress who has done voice work for numerous animations and video games and performed in various live-action productions. Many of her major voice roles include animated series such as *Rugrats*, *The Powerpuff Girls*, *The Fairly OddParents*, *Drawn Together*, *Ben 10*, *Chowder*, *Teen Titans* and its spin-off series *Teen Titans Go!* and *My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic*, as well as video games such as *Mortal Kombat X*, *Final Fantasy X* & *Final Fantasy X-2* and the *Batman: Arkham* series. Her portrayals have garnered nominations in the Annie Awards and Daytime Emmys, and an award from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences.

## Biography

Strong was born on February 12, 1973, in Toronto, Ontario, to Syd and Lucy Charendoff. Her family, Jewish people who lived in Russia, had immigrated to Canada after escaping the Anti-Jewish pogroms in the Russian Empire. Her parents ran a candy and novelty store called The Wiz, and Syd had also worked as a pharmacist. She and her older sister Marla were raised in Toronto. At age four, she became interested in acting and volunteered to be a soloist at a school production. She worked with the Yiddish Theater; though she did not know the Yiddish language, she memorized her lines phonetically. She also performed with the Toronto Jewish Theater (TJA), where she acted in A Night of Stars and was featured in an audiotape for "Lay Down Your Arms" with the Habonim Youth Choir, where she sang the lyrics in both English and Hebrew.

Her first professional role was Gracie in Limelight Theater's production of *The Music Man* at age 13. She had a guest role in the action series *T. and T*. Her first major cartoon role was the title role in *Hello Kitty's Furry Tale Theater*. She 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.

Upon arriving in Los Angeles, she quickly made her mark in several TV and film projects, becoming a popular voice actor frequently utilized by Nelvana, Cartoon Network, and Nickelodeon. She is best known for her roles as the voice of Bubbles in *The Powerpuff Girls*, Dil Pickles in *Rugrats* and *All Grown Up!*, Timmy Turner in *The Fairly OddParents*, Tutu in *Little Bear*, Raven in *Teen Titans* and *Teen Titans Go!*, Omi in *Xiaolin Showdown*, Ben Tennyson in *Ben 10*, Truffles in *Chowder*, Twilight Sparkle in *My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic*, Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy in various animated productions of the DC Comics universe and others, as well as minor roles as the voice of Donna in *The Raccoons* episode "Join the Club!", Lynnie Raccoon in the fifth season of *The Busy World of Richard Scarry*, Jenny Lawson in the *Tales from the Cryptkeeper* episode "Pleasant Screams", and Bowser Jr. in *Super Mario Sunshine*. She has done live-action work as well - notably as Gwen in the *Sabrina the Teenage Witch* TV movies - but says that voice acting takes up most of her time.

She frequently co-stars with fellow actress childhood friend Cree Summer; who grew up in Toronto with her. Strong was the roommate of actress Neve Campbell. They both auditioned for the role of Julia in the 1990s TV series *Party of Five*, and Campbell ultimately won the role. She is married to American actor Craig Strong and they have two sons. Together, they founded VoiceStarz, Inc., an Internet-based company which teaches people how to get into the voice-over business, of which Craig is the C.E.O.

## Filmography

### Animation Dubbing

#### Animated Series

* *The Fairly OddParents (Season 0)* (1998-2001) - Timmy Turner (Redub)

* *Da Möb* (2001-2003) - Tara

* *Totally Spies!* (2001-2013) - Honeybees (ep. 17), Cheerleader (ep. 17)

* *Winx Club* (2004-present) - Stella's Guardian, Diana, Arcadia (ep. 74) (Nickelodeon Dub)

#### Animated Films

* *Kaena: The Prophecy* (2003) - Essy

* *Delhi Safari* (2012) - Yuvi

### Anime Dubbing

#### Anime

* *Sailor Moon* (1992-1993) - Additional Voices (DiC Dub)

* *Reign: The Conqueror* (1999) - Philip's Son, Roxanne (ep. 3)

* *Afro Samurai* (2007) - Otsuru, Jiro (ep. 4)

* *Thundercats* (2011-2012) - Young Lion-O (ep. 13)

#### OVAs & Specials

* *Tekkaman Blade II* (1994-1995) - Yumi Francois

#### Anime Films

* *Only Yesterday* (1991) - Naoko

* *Princess Mononoke* (1997) - Kaya, Additional Voices

* *Alexander: The Movie* (2000) - Roxanne

* *Spirited Away* (2001) - Boh

* *The Animatrix* (2003) - Crew Woman, Nurse, Misha

* *Batman Ninja* (2018) - Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy

### Video Game Dubbing

* *Orphen: Scion of Sorcery* (2000) - Mar

* *Final Fantasy X* (2001) - Rikku

* *Kingdom Hearts II* (2005) - Rikku

* *Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams* (2006) - Arin

* *World of Final Fantasy* (2016) - Rikku

## External Links

* Tara Strong at the Internet Movie Database

* Tara Strong at the Wikipedia.org

* Tara Strong at Anime News Network's encyclopedia