Cree Summer
Cree Summer is an actor, born 1969.
Cree Summer Francks is a Canadian-American actress and singer who has been working in animation for four decades, which in practice means several generations of viewers have grown up with her voice without ever learning her name. The catalogue here reaches back to Penny on the 1983 Inspector Gadget and runs forward to live-action work in Abbott Elementary and Ironheart.
Two roles anchor the rest. Elmyra Duff in Tiny Toon Adventures is pitched at a frequency that should be unbearable and somehow is not, a performance of pure unhinged affection. Susie Carmichael in Rugrats is the opposite discipline: a child character played with patience rather than squeak, the smart kid who is never written as a scold, and it won Summer an NAACP Image Award. She carried Susie through the Rugrats features and into All Grown Up, so you can hear the voice age with the character across more than a decade.
What keeps her working is range within the register. Kida in Atlantis: The Lost Empire is a straight dramatic reading with real weight. Foxxy Love in Drawn Together is filthy adult sketch comedy. Hyena in Gargoyles, Max Gibson in Batman Beyond, Valerie Gray in Danny Phantom, Luminara Unduli in Star Wars: Clone Wars and Raishan in The Legend of Vox Machina are all sharp and dangerous rather than cute. Her more recent voice work as Lizard in Spirit Rangers brought two Children's and Family Emmy nominations.
Movies (39)
- The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)
- The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water (2015)
- Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001)
- Barbie as Rapunzel (2002)
- Atlantis: Milo's Return (2003)
- The Rugrats Movie (1998)
- An Extremely Goofy Movie (2000)
- Bambi II (2006)
- Rugrats in Paris: The Movie (2000)
- LEGO DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League - Attack of the Legion of Doom! (2015)
- Wonder Woman: Bloodlines (2019)
- Superman: Doomsday (2007)
- Rugrats Go Wild (2003)
- Teen Titans Go! & DC Super Hero Girls: Mayhem in the Multiverse (2022)
- The Wild Thornberrys Movie (2002)
- The Tidal Zone: SpongeBob Universe Special (2023)
- Curious George 2: Follow That Monkey! (2009)
- Hellboy Animated: Blood and Iron (2007)
- Codename: Kids Next Door: Operation Z.E.R.O. (2006)
- The Land Before Time XI: Invasion of the Tinysauruses (2005)
- Tiny Toon Adventures: How I Spent My Vacation (1992)
- Clifford's Really Big Movie (2004)
- The Drawn Together Movie: The Movie! (2010)
- Codename: Kids Next Door: Operation I.N.T.E.R.V.I.E.W.S. (2008)
- Curious George: A Halloween Boo Fest (2013)
- Rugrats: Tales from the Crib: Three Jacks & A Beanstalk (2006)
- DC Showcase: Catwoman (2011)
- The Care Bears Movie (1985)
- Kermit's Swamp Years (2002)
- Nerdland (2016)
TV (96)
- Teen Titans Go! (2013)
- Rugrats (1991)
- The Legend of Vox Machina (2022)
- Robot Chicken (2005)
- The Tom and Jerry Show (2014)
- Abbott Elementary (2021)
- Animaniacs (1993)
- Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake (2023)
- Ben 10 (2005)
- The Wild Thornberrys (1998)
- A Different World (1987)
- Batman Beyond (1999)
- Lilo & Stitch: The Series (2003)
- The Patrick Star Show (2021)
- WordGirl (2007)
- Gargoyles (1994)
- Drawn Together (2004)
- Danny Phantom (2004)
- Dawn of the Croods (2015)
- Captain Planet and the Planeteers (1990)
- Pepper Ann (1997)
- Pound Puppies (2010)
- Voltron: Legendary Defender (2016)
- Marvel's Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur (2023)
- The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack (2008)
- As Told by Ginger (2000)
- Tiny Toon Adventures (1990)
- The Spectacular Spider-Man (2008)
- 101 Dalmatians Series (1997)
- All Grown Up! (2003)
Where to start with Cree Summer
Everyone should come in through Rugrats, where Susie Carmichael is the best single argument for her: funny, unpatronising, and never played as the boring responsible one. Follow it into The Rugrats Movie and All Grown Up! to hear the same voice grow with the character.
For the other pole, Tiny Toon Adventures has Elmyra, a screech of a performance that is far more controlled than it sounds. Atlantis: The Lost Empire is her best straight dramatic work and the one to play for anyone who thinks voice acting is all funny noises. Drawn Together is where the adult register lives and it is not for children in any sense.
Completists should add Batman Beyond and Gargoyles, both of which cast her against the warm-kid type entirely.
The nineties cartoons
The decade she defined. Elmyra in Tiny Toons and Susie in Rugrats are the two roles a generation carries around, and they share almost nothing vocally. Gargoyles is the best-written show on this list by some distance.
The Disney and feature work
The film side, where Atlantis is the standout: a Disney feature that flopped and has been steadily reappraised since, with a genuinely strange design sensibility. The rest are direct-to-video sequels, which is where a great deal of voice work actually happens.
The recent and adult animation
The later career, which is broader than the children's work suggests. Drawn Together is the crudest thing on it, The Legend of Vox Machina is the best made, and Abbott Elementary is a rare live-action appearance.