We heard about white actors recently stepping down from non-white roles like Missy in Big Mouth, Molly in Central Park, and Cleveland Brown in Family Guy.
Prior to this, there was some conversation surrounding shows that have also hired white actors to play minority roles, such as The Simpsons and BoJack Horseman.
With all of this news finally coming to light, it’s easy to focus on all these characters and forget about the characters that were actually voiced by black actors and actresses.
So, let’s take a look at characters that are, and celebrate them.
Kyla Pratt is one of the unforgettable Black voice actors
If you were ever a Disney kid, then you remember the Proud Family. Kyla Pratt is not only known for her role of Penny Proud—but she has also voice acted in The One on One.
You may have even seen her onscreen as Dr. Doolittle series or more recently, Black Ink Crew: Compton.
That’s not all—she has a music background as well, singing previously with Disney for the soundtrack for The Proud Family, and recently in a 2019 Lifetime film, titled There’s No Time Like Christmas.
Penny Proud is the star of the show, and now you can say you know her true voice.
Sanaa Lathan is low-key with it
Just because Mike Henry [aka the guy who voices Cleveland] isn’t black doesn’t mean his costars aren’t. Sanaa Lathan voices Donna Tubbs in Family Guy.
Lathan is both a voice actress and an onscreen one. She has been in films like The Best Man, Best Man Holiday, and Alien V. Predator and the Netflix original Nappily Ever After.
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Other notable titles she’s acted in are Contagion and Now You See Me 2. She’s even acted on Broadway and was nominated for a Tony award for her performance in A Raisin in The Sun.
Cree Summer has so. many. voices.
Chances are, you have definitely heard Cree Summer’s voice. Watched Rugrats? What about Kids Next Door? Clifford the Big Red Dog? Buzz on Maggie? Teen Titans GO?
If you have watched any of these shows, then you have definitely heard Cree Summer in action. Not in the background, either. She played Susan Carmichael, Numbah Five, Cleo The Poodle, Rayna Cartflight, and Beast Girl in all the shows listed above.
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Summer is a prolific voice actress, voicing characters in video games like Professor Penelope Young in Arkham Asylum, Auriel in Diablo 3, and Storm in Marvel Super Hero Squad.
Without question, she is one of the most well-known voices in animation today. She sings as well. You can see this in some of her character work, such as Numbah Five who would sing a lullaby to lull babies to sleep.
Nadji Jeter bodies all things, Marvel
What about a more recent example? Consider Nadji Jeter, the voice of Miles Morales in both Marvel’s animated Spider-Man TV series, and the most recent Spider-Man video game, which was released in 2018.
He voices characters in other video games as well, such as Sam from The Last Of Us. He was also in films such as Grown Ups and Grown Ups 2.
Khary Payton is a voice acting icon
Khary Payton is another prolific voice actor. In the past, he has done over dozens of roles, both in animation and in video games. One of his best-known characters is Cyborg, whom you may have heard of– who am I kidding, you should have definitely heard of Cyborg.
But on the off chance you haven’t, you might have heard him voice Manny and Hex in Ben Ten, Slapmaster in the Proud Family, or Grimlock in Transformers: Robots in Disguise.
Maybe you don’t like cartoons (in which case, I have so many questions as to why you picked this article).
But you still might’ve heard Payton in video game roles like Wasabi No-Ginger in Kingdom Hearts III, several characters in the Batman Arkham series like Azrael and even Killer Croc in Batman: Arkham Origins.