One of the most celebrated voice actors is Tara Strong. Whether you realize you’ve heard her performances before or not, she’s provided performances that helped entertain and shape many childhoods throughout the years. Here we will be looking back at the best performances Tara Strong has given, giving critical information on the characters she’s played and her impact on the series those characters were featured in.
10 Dil Pickles – Rugrats
One of the most endearing roles that Tara Strong played early in her career is that of Tommy Pickle’s baby brother, Dil. First introduced in The Rugrats Movie (1998), Dil wouldn’t have many spoken lines, though Tara still provides plenty of interactions despite the limited speech.
Dil would remain in the series for its remainder, maintaining Strong as his voice even as the franchise would turn into All Grown Up!, giving Strong more dialogue to work with and adding more depth to Dil’s relationship with his older brother.
9 Sari Sumdac – Transformers: Animated
The Transformers franchise has seen many iterations in both television and film. In Transformers: Animated, Tara Strong provides various voices but is primarily known for voicing Sari Sumdac, the main human-like character of the series. Sari would act as the group’s healer, using her AllSpark Key to help mend any wounds the Autobots endured.
Sari would also become close friends with Bumblebee. As the two youngest members of the team, they would often encourage one another to get into all sorts of mischief. Tara Strong would also voice Slipstream, Daniel Witwicky, Strika, Red Alert, and Slo-Mo, among others.
8 Truffles – Chowder
Truffles is the wife of chef Mung Daal in Chowder and is often seen intimidating any who crosses her path, including her husband and his young protégé Chowder. While Strong is known for playing much younger characters, Truffles allows her to show off her range, often speaking in a gruff elderly tone.
Some of the show’s best one-liners come from Truffles, owing to Strong’s excellent delivery of the biting insults that Truffles uses. Though not a common occurrence, Truffles has moments of vulnerability where she profoundly cares for Chowder and her husband, allowing Strong to show even more emotional depth in such a character.
7 Omi – Xaolin Showdown
For Xaolin Showdown, Tara Strong would play Omi, the young monk who would be charged with teaching and learning from three new students while working alongside them to save the Shen Gong Wu artifacts from the clutches of Jack Spicer.
Strong is able to convey that Omi is young and with a superiority complex, often attempting to prove himself better than his fellow students. Over time, Omi learned to care for them as friends and often looked to them for comfort or guidance, even his rival in Raimundo. Strong’s inflection and tone performance helps viewers recognize Omi’s character’s growth.
6 Batgirl – DC Superhero Girls
Tara Strong has many notable roles in the superhero genre (with one, in particular, earning a separate spot on this list), but one of her best performances is as Barbara Gordon/Batgirl. First, taking on the role in The New Batman Adventures and reprising it multiple times, we’re focusing on a more modern iteration in DC Superhero Girls.
This show is more focused on a younger female audience, so Tara Strong has a more prominent role than she did in previous projects. This version of Barbara focuses more on school, bonding with her friends, and stopping crime. Batgirl is often seen as the strategic leader of the group, although the show is also very respectful of every member of the team having an equal part to play. This show stands out because it not only gives Tara Strong a chance to play a well-known character, but also allows her to impart important lessons to young girls through her work.
5 Melody – The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea
While it may have been direct-to-video, Tara Strong can say she had the honor of performing alongside a Disney Princess. As Ariel’s daughter, Melody is the next generation of the little mermaid, although due to a war with Morgana, Ariel chooses not to share Melody’s mermaid heritage with her.
As such, Melody spends the film discovering who she is, becoming a mermaid, and meeting all the creatures of the sea. The naive girl would eventually fall for Morgana’s tricks and allow the sea witch to rule the ocean, though working alongside her family, she would ultimately save the ocean. Melody would then break down the barrier that separated the merpeople from humans, allowing both sides of her heritage to coexist.
4 Bubbles – The Powerpuff Girls
Another iconic character for Tara Strong to take on, Bubbles, is the kind, light-hearted sister of The Powerpuff Girls. Often denoted as the “crybaby” of the trio, Bubbles is taken lightly by foes, though they usually realize their mistake when she proves to be just as good a fighter as her sisters.
Bubbles is also known to be the first to try to talk things out, a diplomatic approach that, while not always viable, has proven to work on occasion. Strong’s work with Bubbles has helped to highlight Cartoon Network’s lineup in what was arguably its prime, with the series coming back in 2016, albeit without the original voice cast. There were also plans for a live-action adaptation, though that was recently scrapped.
3 Timmy Turner – The Fairly Odd Parents
From Cartoon Network to Nickelodeon, Tara Strong voiced iconic characters on both channels, this time playing the unlucky 10-year-old boy who is given fairy godparents to help make his life better with wishes. Strong would work in this role for 16 years, helping to craft incredible stories of Timmy attempting to make life better for himself and his loved ones, though his wishes usually have disastrous consequences.
Tara Strong’s performance in this series only adds to her resume and the argument that she was the voice of a generation, contributing to many shows that an entire generation associates with the nostalgia of their childhood.
2 Ben Tennyson – Ben 10
Speaking of 10-year-old boys with extraordinary gifts, we see a young kid who got the Omnitrix stuck to his wrist and used its abilities to transform into ten different aliens. Ben Tennyson would work alongside his grandpa and cousin, Gwen, to save the day on their cross-country road trip.
Whether getting into arguments with his cousin or standing up for the innocent, Tara Strong gives Ben the voice of a naive yet passionate young boy. This would fit the character and allow room for growth over the original series’ four seasons.
1 Raven – Teen Titans
Easily the best performance from Tara Strong, and also the most different from everything else on this list, is Raven from the Cartoon Network show which was a hit with kids and adults alike, Teen Titans. The daughter of a demon, Raven, is often indifferent, constantly keeping her emotions in check for fear of losing control of her magical powers.
Sometimes her teammate, Beast Boy, can cause her to become enraged, though she has shown that she deeply cares for her team and will go to any lengths to protect them, even if she feels she has to protect them from herself. Much like the rest of the main cast, Tara Strong would be asked to reprise their roles in the alternate universeTeen Titans Go!, though many still say that the original series is the superior showcase.
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
