Uh-oh! It looks like this article is split in half! This article is a stub. You can help the Amazing Everything Wiki by expanding it. |
Cree Summer Francks (born July 7, 1969), best known as Cree Summer, is a Canadian-American actress, musician and voice actress.
She is best known for her role as college student Winifred "Freddie" Brooks on the NBC sitcom A Different World. As a voice actress Summer provided the voices for Penny in Inspector Gadget during Season 1, Elmyra Duff in Tiny Toon Adventures, Susie Carmichael on Rugrats and All Grown Up, Princess Kida in Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Valerie Gray in Danny Phantom, Foxxy Love in Drawn Together, Numbuh 5 in Codename: Kids Next Door, Yvonne and Gordon in Mrs. Munger's Class, and Cleo the Poodle in Clifford the Big Red Dog. She also voices Wuya in Xiaolin Chronicles.
Early life and family[]
Summer (born Los Angeles, California on July 7, 1969) grew up on the Red Pheasant Reserve in Saskatchewan. She is the daughter of Canadians Don Francks and Lili Red Eagle, who was a member of the Plains Cree First Nations. Her brother, Rainbow Sun Francks, is a former MuchMusic VJ. Summer and her husband, Angelo Pullens, have two daughters: Brave Littlewing (born March 2011) and Hero Peregrine (born February 2013). Cree is a dual American and Canadian citizen.[1]
Acting and voice acting career[]
Summer's career began in 1983 when she was cast as niece Penny on the original cartoon version of Inspector Gadget. Her unique, throaty voice was instantly recognizable to casting agents, as well as viewers, who began frequently casting her in animated programs. Many of these were part of cult franchises, like The Care Bears Movie (1985) and Ewoks (1985, part of the Star Wars franchise).
Audiences were able to match Summer's voice to a face when she was cast as the freespirited Winifred "Freddie" Brooks in The Cosby Show spin-off A Different World.[2] She remained a regular cast member of the show from 1988 through its end in 1993.
During the run of A Different World, Summer continued working in voice acting. She was cast in the short-lived television series Sweet Justice in 1994 until its cancellation in 1995. Apart from guest appearances on other live-action television shows such as Living Single and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Summer's professional work since has been limited to voice acting.
At the start of the third season of "A Different World" in 1988, the cartoon series The Real Ghostbusters episodes were expanded from their original half-hour format to an hour. The show was changed to be more youthful. Episodes had a lighter tone designed to be less serious and frightening. In these lighter episodes, Cree voiced the sweet and helpful Chilly Cooper, the neighborhood ice-cream woman and innocent love interest of Slimer.
Summer voiced over 100 animated characters between 1983 and 2006. These have spanned video games, cartoon television series, animated films and commercials. Among her most famous roles was in Inspector Gadget (Season 1) as Penny (a role she reprised in the Robot Chicken episode "Adoption's an Option"), Tiny Toon Adventures (1990) as Elmyra Duff (which she reprised for Pinky, Elmyra & the Brain) and Mary Melody, Aka Pella in Histeria!, Susie Carmichael in Rugrats and its spin-off All Grown Up!, Cleo the Poodle in Clifford the Big Red Dog, Foxxy Love in Drawn Together, Dulcy the dragon in Sonic the Hedgehog, Princess 'Kida' Kidagakash for Disney's Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Valerie Gray in Danny Phantom (2004), Numbuh 5 (Abigail Lincoln) and Cree Lincoln in Codename: Kids Next Door, Penelope in Barbie As Rapunzel and Miranda from As Told by Ginger, Tiff on My Life as a Teenage Robot, octogenerian villain Granny May on WordGirl and Blackarachnia in Transformers Animated (2008).
In the first season DVD commentary of Drawn Together, she stated that she was originally hired to do the voice of Meg Griffin on Fox's animated series Family Guy, but the producers fired her.
Summer is a frequent co-star of Canadian-American actress Tara Strong, the two are childhood friends, both having grown up in Toronto, Ontario.[3]
Summer is also the voice of the Green spokescandy for M&M's.
Video game voice acting[]
She voiced-over in the games Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance and BLACK. She voiced Tandi in Fallout and was also the voice of Tatjana in Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits; Lady Belgemine, Young Tidus and additional voice-overs in Final Fantasy X; Lenne/Calli in Final Fantasy X-2; Storm in Marvel Super Hero Squad; Cynder in The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning and Magma in X-Men Legends, and the voice of Catalina Thorn, the leader of the Cell in Crackdown 2. She also had a small role in Mass Effect. She also voices Medusa in the game Kid Icarus: Uprising for the Nintendo 3DS. She also voiced the Inca Princess Micay in Pitfall: The Lost Expedition. She also did miscellaneous voices in World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria. She also reprised her voice of She-Hulk in Marvel Super Hero Squad: The Infinity Gauntlet.
Music career[]
Summer sang since an early age and joined her first band at 13. In 1985, she recorded the theme song for OWL/TV. In 1990, she sang background vocals on two tracks for fellow A Different World cast member Jasmine Guy's self-titled LP. In 1993 she released an album (as lead singer) with her band Subject to Change. Capitol Records did not officially release the album because of creative differences; the records that were produced were distributed as promotions and are considered a rarity. The band, with an aggressive political message and rock-soul fusion sound, remained popular as a co-headlining act with other performers. In 1999, Summer released her solo album Street Faërie produced by and featuring guest artist (and friend) Lenny Kravitz, but the album was a moderate success. Although Summer toured as Kravitz's opening act, her label dropped her and a planned spot with Lilith Fair was canceled. The label continued to promote the album, however, sending out a four-track sampler to radio and issuing remix singles of the track "Revelation Sunshine" in Europe, with a special single specifically for Austria.
Summer recorded a song titled "Savior Self" for which she directed a music video co-starring Zoe Kravitz, daughter of actress Lisa Bonet and rocker Lenny Kravitz. The video was screened online, but the track was never made available commercially, nor was it distributed to radio.
A number of Summer's portrayed characters (animated or otherwise) are singers or sing songs within the soundtrack of a show. The character of Susie in All Grown Up! was portrayed as a singer with real talent, allowing Summer to sing in the role.[4] Summer also sings the opening theme song for All Grown Up!. The character of Foxxy Love in Drawn Together was a singer, with songs like "La-La-La-La-Labia" and "Crashy Smashy", Numbuh 5 from Codename: Kids Next Door sang a lullaby to lull babies to sleep. Elmyra Duff as she sang in many times on Tiny Toon Adventures. She co-performed lead vocals in the song "Cool Kitty" with Tara Strong, which accompanied a cartoon called Class of 3000, directed and written for Cartoon Network by André 3000.
Filmography[]
Animated film roles[]
Movie | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|
An Extremely Goofy Movie | Co-Ed (girl at Club) | Direct-to-video |
Atlantis: The Lost Empire | Princess Kida | Theatrical |
Atlantis: Milo's Return | Princess Kida | Direct-to-video |
Bambi II | Mena | Theatrical (non-USA) |
Barbie as Rapunzel | Penelope | Direct-to-video |
Blizzard | Penelope | Theatrical |
Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (and Don't Come Back!!) | Woodstock (speakable voice) | Theatrical |
Bratz: Genie Magic | Zell | Direct-to-video |
Bratz Forever Diamondz | Mandy | Direct-to-video |
Care Bears Movie II: A New Generation | Christy | Theatrical |
Clifford's Really Big Movie | Cleo | Theatrical |
Curious George 2: Follow That Monkey! | Mrs. Fisher | Direct-to-video |
DC Showcase: Catwoman | Lily | Direct-to-video |
Emily & Reyna | Reyna | Voice; born | May 10, 1993 (age 20); DJ on 102 Jamz Orlando/Daytona Beach
Hellboy: Blood and Iron | Hecate | Direct-to-video |
Kermit's Swamp Years | Pilgrim, Kermit's Mom, Star | Direct-to-video |
Strange Frame: Love & Sax | Reesa Abi Kiran Ariana Livingston the Third | Theatrical |
Superman: Doomsday | Mercy Graves | Direct-to-video |
The Care Bears Movie | Kim | Theatrical |
The Drawn Together Movie: The Movie | Foxxy Love, Suck My Taint Girl, Network Head's Wife | Direct-to-video |
The Rugrats Movie | Susie Carmichael | Theatrical |
Rugrats in Paris: The Movie | Susie Carmichael | Theatrical |
Rugrats Go Wild | Susie Carmichael | Theatrical |
All Growed Up | Susie Carmichael | Television film |
The Wild Thornberrys Movie | Phaedra (Elephant) | Theatrical |
Tiny Toon Adventures: How I Spent My Vacation | Elmyra Duff, Mary Melody | Direct-to-video |
Turok: Son of Stone | Sepinta | Direct-to-video |
Animated series roles[]
- 101 Dalmatians: The Series: Princess
- All Dogs Go to Heaven: The Series: Cat, "Active News" Anchor
- The Amazing World of Gumball: Teri, Andrea
- Angelica and Susie's Pre-School Daze: Susie Carmichael
- Animaniacs: Elmyra Duff (one episode)
- As Told by Ginger: Miranda Killgallen
- Batman Beyond: Maxine "Max" Gibson, Tigress, Tayko, Dottie, Marinna Loez
- Batman: The Brave and the Bold - Vixen
- Ben 10: Frightwig
- Betsy's Kindergarten Adventures: Sarah
- Beware the Batman: Bethanie Ravencroft
- Big & Small: Ruby/Dr. Ruby
- Bonkers: Alto, Young Toon Saxophone (one episode)
- Bratz: Aloncè
- Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: Savy SL2 (one episode)
- The Buzz on Maggie: Rayna Cartflight
- California Raisins: Crystal
- Camp Candy: Robin
- Captain Planet and the Planeteers: Karen
- ChalkZone: Sonny
- Celebrity Deathmatch: Missy Elliott
- Class of 3000: Kaylie ("Prank Yankers"), Tanya (singing voice)
- Clifford the Big Red Dog: Cleo
- Codename: Kids Next Door: Numbuh Five, Cree Lincoln, DCFDTL
- Cro: Soolie
- Dan Vs.: Becky, Woman with baby
- Danny Phantom: Valerie Gray (starting from "Shades of Grey")
- Dave the Barbarian: Mona, Sheebor (one episode)
- DJ & the Fro: Cecilia
- Doc McStuffins
- Drawn Together: Foxxy Love, Strawberry Sweetcake, Super Nanny, Ni-Pul, Xandir's Girlfriend, Captain She-Ro, Letta Lame, the other Foxxy Five members, Queen of Mexico, Georgina
- Four Eyes!: Miss Doager
- Freakazoid!: Jill (one episode)
- Garbage Pail Kids: Clogged Duane, Heartless Hal, Trashed Tracy, Squishy, Plain Jane
- Garoyles: Hyena
- Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles: Hyena
- Good Vibes: HJ Kuntz, BJ Kuntz, Tang, Wanda
- The Goode Family: Souki
- The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy: Cave Witch (one episode)
- Horrible Histories: Mo, additional voices
- Hello Kitty's Furry Tale Theater: Catnip
- Hercules: Anaxerete
- The High Fructose Adventures of Annoying Orange: Promegrante
- Histeria!: Aka Pella
- The Incredible Hulk (1996 TV series): She-Hulk (season 2)
- Inspector Gadget: Penny (season 1, Gadget's Greatest Gadgets)
- Johnny Bravo: Amy Elephant (two episode), Puppy
- Johnny Talk: Herself
- Jungle Cubs: Louie (season 2)
- Justice League Unlimited: Female Singer (one episode)
- Karas: Yurine
- Kid 'n Play: Marika, Downtown
- Kim Possible: Additional Voices
- The Land Before Time: Tippy (TV Series), Lizzie (The Land Before Time 11)
- Lilo & Stitch: The Series: Lana (one episode)
- The Little Mermaid: Pearl and Gabriella
- Loonatics Unleashed: Little Kid
- The Looney Tunes Show: Additional Voices
- MAD: Sam Puckett, Thumper, Neytiri
- The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack: Diver, Buff Delinquent (one episode)
- The Mask: The Animated Series: Jennifer Peenman, Gorgonzola, Cookie BaBoom, Davida Steelmine
- Men in Black: The Series: Vonda
- Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm: Princess Kitana
- Mrs. Munger's Class. Yvonne and Gordon (voices)
- Mummies Alive!: Nefer-Tina
- My Gym Partner's a Monkey: Mrs. Tusk, Kerry, Mrs. Loon, Latanya Hippo, Eddie Panther
- My Little Pony and Friends: Medley
- My Life as a Teenage Robot: Stephanie (one episode), Tiff, Vicky, and QT2
- The New Adventures of Beany and Cecil: Additional Voices
- The New Adventures of Captain Planet: Georgina Cabor (one episode)
- The New Batman Adventures: Ice Maiden #2 (one episode)
- The New Kids on the Block: Additional Voices
- The New Woody Woodpecker Show: Additional Voices
- The New Yogi Bear Show: Additional Voices
- No P in the OOL: Numbah 5
- Ozzy and Drix: Mayor Sartonni
- Pepper Ann: Tessa James, Vanessa James
- Peter Pan and the Pirates: Tiger Lily
- Pinky and the Brain: Bunny, Receptionist
- Pinky, Elmyra and the Brain: Elmyra Duff
- The Plucky Duck Show: Elmyra Duff
- Pound Puppies (2010): Cupcake (recurring role), Various guest roles
- Problem Child: Spencer
- Project G.e.e.K.e.R.: Lady MacBeth
- The Proud Family: Peabo
- Slimer! and the Real Ghostbusters: Chilly Cooper
- The Replacements: Nature Activist (one episode)
- Robot and Monster: Spitfire, Globetha
- Robot Chicken: Penny, Evil Little Girl (one episode) (a reprisal of her original role in Inspector Gadget)
- Rocket Power: Crystal Bianca (one episode)
- Rugrats, All Grown Up!, and Rugrats Pre-School Daze: Susie Carmichael
- Sabrina, the Animated Series: Chloe Flan
- Sonic the Hedgehog (TV series): Dulcy the Dragon
- The Spectacular Spider-Man: Glory Grant
- Spider-Man: The New Animated Series: Professor Williams, Joana
- The Super Hero Squad Show: Storm
- Star Wars: Ewoks: Princess Kneesaa (season one)
- Star Wars: Clone Wars: Luminara Unduli
- Star Wars: Droids: Princess Gerin
- Static Shock: Candide
- Superman: The Animated Series: Rainsong, Natasha Irons
- Superman of Tokyo: Jemmy
- Sylvanian Families: Jessica, Donny
- Teacher's Pet: Additional Voices
- Thunder and Lightning: Thunder
- Tiny Toon Adventures: Elmyra Duff, Mary Melody
- Totally Spies!: Model and Tuesday Tate (one episode)
- Transformers: Animated: Decepticon Blackarachnia
- The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat: Master Cylinder, Sheba Beboporeba (one episode)
- The Wacky World of Tex Avery: Khanie
- ThunderCats: Panthera
- Wayside: Bebe Gunn
- The Weekenders: Penny DeCartes, Todd DeCartes, Carver's Mom
- What-a-Mess: Additional Voices
- Widget the World Watcher: Additional Voices
- The Wild Thornberrys: Feral Girl, Panther (one episode)
- W.I.T.C.H.: Ember
- Word Girl: Granny May
- Xiaolin Chronicles: Wuya
- Young Justice: Madame Xanadu, Mary West, Tula/Aquagirl, Mattie Harcourt, Highway Patrolman
- The Zeta Project: Skye Hoaps
Live-action TV show roles[]
TV Show | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|
Courthouse | Danni | Guest |
A Different World | Winifred "Freddie" Brooks | Regular role |
Big & Small | Ruby | Supporting role |
The Fresh Prince of Bel Air' | Lisa Adams | Guest |
Living Single | Summer | Guest |
Night Heat | Karen Simmons | Guest |
Sweet Justice | Reese Daulkins | Guest |
Video game roles[]
- Atlantis: The Lost Empire - Kida, Atlantean Child
- Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits - Tatjana
- Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance - voices
- Batman: Arkham Asylum - Dr. Penelope Young
- Black - MacCarver
- Bratz Forever Diamondz - Mandy
- Broken Age - Teledoor[5]
- Cartoon Network Universe: FusionFall: Numbuh Five
- Codename: Kids Next Door – Operation: V.I.D.E.O.G.A.M.E. : Numbuh 5, Delightful Children From Down the Lane, Cree Lincoln
- Crackdown 2: Catalina Thorn
- Clifford the Big Red Dog: Phonics: Cleo
- Diablo 3: Auriel
- Dragon Age: Origins: violent elf female (Grey Warden) voice
- Driver: Parallel Lines: voices
- Fallout: Tandi
- Fallout 2: Lynnette
- Fantastic Four: Alicia Masters
- Freelancer: Dr. Kendra Sinclair
- Final Fantasy X: Belgemine, Young Tidus
- Final Fantasy X-2: Lenne, Calli
- inFamous: Various Voices
- Kid Icarus: Uprising: Medusa Goddess of Darkness
- Knights Contract: Straeggele
- The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning: Cynder
- Lords of Everquest: Solruua
- Mass Effect: Additional voices
- M&M's The Lost Formulas: Green
- Marvel Super Hero Squad: Storm
- Marvel Super Hero Squad: The Infinity Gauntlet: She-Hulk
- Pitfall: The Lost Expedition: Micay
- Rugrats: Royal Ransom: Susie Carmichael
- Rugrats Go Wild: Susie Carmichael
- Run Like Hell: Hunt or Be Hunted: Samantha
- Skylanders: Swap Force: Roller Brawl
- Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty: Executor Selendis
- Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster and the Beanstalk: Elmyra Duff
- Tiny Toon Adventures: Defenders of the Universe: Elmyra Duff
- Tiny Toons Adventures: Toonenstein: Dare to Scare!: Elmyra Duff
- Tony Hawk's American Wasteland: Mindy
- X-Men Legends: Magma
- Young Justice: Legacy: Aquagirl, Rocket
Discography[]
Albums[]
- Appeared on the Juno Award-nominated album I Lost My Pet Lizard (1979)
- Appeared as Debbie in the Canadian Sesame Street album Big Bird & Oscar the Grouch: Camping in Canada (1981)
- Womb Amnesia - (1993) (with her band Subject to Change)
- Street Faërie - (1999)
- ===Singles===
- "Revelation Sunshine"