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Tress MacNeille

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Tress MacNeille
Tress MacNeille in 2007
Born (1951-06-20) June 20, 1951 (age 73)
California, United States
OccupationVoice actress
Years active1979–present

Tress MacNeille (born June 20, 1951) is an American voice actress best known for providing various voices on the animated series The Simpsons, Futurama, Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs, Disney's House of Mouse, Courage the Cowardly Dog, Rugrats, All Grown Up!, Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers, and Dave the Barbarian.

Early life

MacNeille was born in California. She loved cartoons as a child and wanted to be a voice actress from the age of eight, but instead chose a "practical" career, feeling she would never be able to realize her ambition. She graduated from the University of California, Berkeley and attended broadcasting school, becoming a disc jockey.[1]

Career

MacNeille worked in a variety of jobs and had numerous minor voiceover roles before becoming a regular on an animated TV show. In her words, "I had been doing radio spots, some TV, demos, sound-alikes, industrial narrations -- anything that came my way for about two years."[1] She was also a member of the improvisational comedy group The Groundlings for ten years.[2] MacNeille took acting workshops and worked as a casting assistant for voice acting talent agent Bob Lloyd in what she calls "The University of Voice-over." Lloyd and fellow agent Rita Vennari got MacNeille her first role on an animated show: a part in a 1979 episode of Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo.[1]

She sang and appeared in the music video (as Lucille Ball) for "Weird Al" Yankovic's song "Ricky" (1983), which was based on the I Love Lucy television show and parodied the song "Mickey" by Toni Basil.[2] MacNeille also appeared on Yankovic's 1999 album Running with Scissors, on the track "Jerry Springer."

MacNeille was cast as Babs Bunny in Tiny Toon Adventures (1990–1995). Writer Paul Dini said that MacNeille was good for the role because she could do both Babs's voice and the voices of her impressions.[3] MacNeille commented: "The best part of doing Babs is that she's a mimic, like me...In the show I do Babs doing Billie Burke, Hepburn, Bette Davis, Madonna and Cher. I even have her doing Jessica Rabbit."[2] The success of Tiny Toon Adventures led to the series Animaniacs. MacNeille was brought in to voice Dot Warner, one of the show's three main characters, because Dot's character was very similar to Babs Bunny.[4] Andrea Romano, the voice director and caster for Animaniacs, said that the casters had "no trouble" choosing the role of Dot: "Tress MacNeille was just hilarious (...) And yet [she had] that edge."[5] MacNeille was nominated for an Annie Award for her performance on the show in 1995.[6]

She has provided voices for numerous films, television shows, video games and commercials, garnering over 200 credits.[1] MacNeille says "the characters that I do all come from people in my own life--as well as the material I've stolen from my friends!"[1] Her TV roles include characters on The Simpsons, where she voices Agnes Skinner, Brandine Spuckler and Lindsey Naegle, and Futurama, in which her main role is the character Mom.[1] MacNeille has provided voices on many other television shows and cartoons such as Rugrats (as Charlotte Pickles), Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers (as Chip and Gadget),[1] Histeria!, Hey Arnold!, as well as dubbing work on English language anime translations.

She is the current voice of Daisy Duck and Wilma Flintstone.[1] MacNeille also appeared as an angry anchorwoman in Elvira, Mistress of the Dark and served as the voice of Elvira's Great-Aunt Morganna Talbot.

Characters voiced by Tress MacNeille

Voices on The Simpsons

Voices on Futurama

  • Mom, the owner of Mom's Friendly Robot Company and series antagonist.
  • Linda, the cohost of Good Morning, Earth
  • Hattie McDoogal, the crazy, old cat lady
  • Tinny Tim, a Tiny Tim-esque child robot first seen in "Xmas Story"
  • Munda, Turanga Leela's long-lost mother
  • Fanny, wife of Donbot
  • Deep Blue
  • Monique, a fembot who appears in All My Circuits
  • Ndnd, Lrrr's wife, from Omicron Persei VIII (pronounced nn-NN-da prior to season two, and nn-da NN-da in season three)
  • Vyolet
  • Petunia
  • The Slurm Queen
  • Guenter, the hyper-intelligent monkey from the episode "Mars University."
  • Various one-shot characters

Disney character roles

Other roles

Video game roles

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Alexis Uribes (2008-12-18). "Nancy Cartwright Chats with Tress MacNeille". Animation World Network. Retrieved 2011-03-23.
  2. ^ a b c Meisler, Andy (July 8, 1990). "Television; Steven Spielberg Promises: 'Th-Th-That's Not All, Folks'". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 June 2010.
  3. ^ Miller, Bob (1990). "NEW TOONS ON THE BLOCK: They're attending Acme Looniversity & hoping to graduate as classic cartoon characters". Comic Scene. No. 15. pp. 33–39, 68.
  4. ^ Ross, Curtis (1996-01-19). "It's time for Animaniacs! - The Kids' WB network cartoon has gained a huge adult following and several Internet sites, with its zany stories, hip references and irreverent attitude". The Tampa Tribune. p. 18.
  5. ^ Maurice LaMarche et al. (2006). Steven Spielberg Presents Animaniacs: Volume 1. Special Features: Animaniacs Live! (DVD). Warner Home Video. {{cite AV media}}: Explicit use of et al. in: |authors= (help)
  6. ^ Legacy: 23rd Annual Annie Award Nominees and Winners (1995), Annie Award Database, retrieved 2007-05-19

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