Cree Summer

Person Score

 
9.3 Superb
126 votes

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Biography

Recent Role:
Lil' Falcon on The Super Hero Squad Show
Gender:
Female
Born:
7-7-1969
Birthplace:
Los Angeles, California
Birth Name:
Cree Summer Francks
AKA:
Cree Summer-Francks, Cree Summers
Cree Summer Francks was born July 7, 1969 in California to actor Don Francks. Her father didn't want to raise Cree in Hollywood so he moved them to a Plains Cree reserve in Canada, where they lived in a house made of mud. She later lived in a bus, a horse stable as well as a commune. Cree has had an extensive career in voiceover work. Her career started early in her teens when she got the part of the voice of Penny on "Inspector Gadget". It led to many, many more voice roles. In 1988 Cree joined the cast of "A Different World" as Freddie Brooks, a role which she kept for the next 5 years. InMore 1999 Cree released her first CD, produced by Lenny Kravitz (they met thanks to mutual friend actress Lisa Bonet). Cree continues to work as a voiceover actress in movies and TV as well as building her career as a singer.

Her father is famed Canadian actor Don Francks, and her mother is Lili Red Eagle , a member of the Plains Cree First Nation. Her brother is former Much Music VJ Rainbow Sun Francks of Stargate Atlantis. She was born in Los Angeles, California, but grew up on an Indian reserve in Saskatchewan, Canada.

Summer's career began in 1983 when she was cast as the voice of niece Penny on the original cartoon version of Inspector Gadget. Her unique, throaty voice was instantly recognizable to casting agents (as well as viewers even today), 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 finally had a chance to put Summer's voice to a face when she was cast as the afrocentric Winifred "Freddie" Brooks in the Cosby Show spin-off A Different World. Summer, a multiracial woman (of Caucasian, Black, and Native American descent) who wears her hair in a large afro-style, proved to have an appearance as unique as her voice. 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; it went off air in 1995. Barring numerous 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.

In all, Cree Summer has voiced over 70 animated characters between 1983 and 2004, many of them were African-American girls. These have spanned the realm of video games, cartoon television series, animated films and commercials. Among her most famous roles was in Tiny Toon Adventures (1990) as Elmyra Duff (which she reprised for Pinky, Elmyra and the Brain), Aka Pella in Histeria!, Dulcy the dragon in Sonic the Hedgehog, and Cleo the poodle in Clifford the Big Red Dog (2000-2003). Among her more recent roles are Susie Carmichael in All Grown Up! (itself a role carried over from Rugrats), and the Lincoln sisters Abby/Numbuh 5 and Teen Ninja Cree (formerly Numbuh 11) in Codename: Kids Next Door. In 2001, she did the voice of Princess 'Kida' Kidagakash for Disney's Atlantis: The Lost Empire. She also does voices in M&M's advertisements as the voice of the female green M&M.

Summer has also ventured into the realm of music. 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. The album was not officially released by Capitol Records because of creative differences; the records that were produced were distributed promotionally 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 the solo album Street Faerie produced by and featuring guest artist (and friend) Lenny Kravitz, the album was not hugely successful. Summer toured as Kravitz's opening act, but her label dropped her and a planned spot with Lilith Fair was cancelled. The label continued to promote it, however, sending out a four-track sampler to radio and issuing remix singles of the track "Revelation Sunshine" in Australia and Europe.

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  •  
    9.5 Superb
    She is a very talented voice actress and singer. hide show

    I really enjoy Cree Summers work. I think that she is a very talented voice actress and singer. I have heard her work on codename kids next door, the rugrats, my life as a teenage robot, and atlantis. I enjoy her work and feel like she realy puts life into her character. I have heard some people complain that she only has one voice and that all of her characters sound the same. While I do not agree that all of her characters sound the same I do think that it is ok for some characters voiced by voice actors/actresses to have the same voice every once and awhlie. Even Tara Strong and Mel Blanc have used the same voice now and again.

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  •  
    3.5 Bad
    It boggles me how she seems to end up in everything. hide show

    Cree Summer is in just about everything. The main problem with her acting, plain and simple, her voices are all completely transparent. Instead of seeming like she voices multiple characters, it seems like she's doing one character with a slight variation. Anytime you hear one of her characters, you can tell it's her, and not in a good way. For example, in Drawn Together, the voice that she uses for Foxxy talking in a British accent is exactly the same as the voice she uses for an actual British woman. Any character with an accent just sounds like the same character with an accent. She's only capable of one real voice, and that just doesn't work when she uses it for every character she does. Compare to Tara Strong, who is in just as many things as Ms. Summer, yet she's very talented. You wouldn't know that she's doing all the different characters that she does. Cree Summer lacks variety completely, and it seems like the same voice is in almost every single animated show. While she does that one single voice well, her total lack of variety just makes her totally overrated, and as a result she's in way more cartoons than she really should be.

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  •  
    10 Perfect
    Beyond incredible!!!! hide show

    Probably the most awesome person ever! She is very creative and can play pretty much any role you can imagine; from serious to just plain stupid. I personally love her as Foxxy Love in Drawn Together simply because she is adaptable and cause you cant help but love how she interacts with the other characters. Her voice over acting is just pure genius. Just watch her yourself; As numbah 5 and her sister Cree (funny right! She plays a character named after herself!) she is amazing!
    Plus she's black! We need more black voice overs anyway, to play black characters. Dont get me wrong, i aint hatin on white voice over actors. They just dont capture the black characters essence. I love everybody who can do a good voice over anyway.

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  •  
    10 Perfect
    One of my favorite popular voices voice young charactors. hide show

    Ever since I was little, I've been watching different kid shows that Cree Summer voices in. I think she does very well voicing young charactors. I think her cutest voice is the one she does for Elmyra Duff in 'Tiny Toon Adventures' because it sounds like alot like a little kid. I also think she does real well with Suzy in 'Rugrats', Abby Lincon (Number 5) in 'Codename: Kids Next Door', Cleo in 'Clifford the Big Red Dog' and Dulcy in 'Sonic the Hedgehog' (or as many Sonic fans call it, SatAM). She is defenitly one of the best of the popular voice actors for young charactors in American shows in my opinion.

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  •  
    10 Perfect
    One of the best. hide show

    Cree Summer is one of my favorite voice actresses. I first heard her work when I was little and watching The Rugrats. She voiced Susie Carmichael, who just so happens to be one of my favorite characters. She also does the voice of Susie in All Grown Up. I didn't like that show as much as Rugrats, but it was still pretty good. Cree also voiced the Princess in Atlantis. That movie was really good. Another favorite show of mine was Rocket Power. Cree voiced a woman named Crystal in one of the TV movies for that show. She also voiced Frightwig from Ben 10. My two favorite voicings of hers have to be Miranda from As Told By Ginger and Valerie Gray from Danny Phantom.

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