March 1 - Kat Cressida

Image courtesy giantbomb.com

On this day, in 1968, Kathryn Cressida was born in Long Beach, California.

After spending her formative years at the University of California, Berkeley studying Shakespeare (a move she admits is unlikely to generate any income, in case anyone else is considering it), Kat graduated cum laude and moved to San Francisco to continue her education at the American Conservatory Theatre. Once she was released to the world in 1993, she began picking up bit parts in regional theater productions and on television.  Her biggest splash in those early years was a guest spot on Babylon 5, which resulted in a collector’s card of her character being produced (not quite an action figure, but she’ll take it). In 1997, Kat (or rather her voice) made her big screen debut in the Jewish refugee documentary The Long Way Home. Not only could she now say she’d been in something with Morgan Freeman, Home also opened her eyes to the possibilities of a voice acting career.

Image copyright Cartoon Network

Kat began residing in the land of voices full time in 2000 and she does it all. She’s one of the few women who narrate trailers (you might have heard her promoting Bad Moms or Magic Mike XXL). She’s starred in animated series like Dexter’s Laboratory (Dee Dee) and Archer (Uta). She’s done dozens of characters in dozens of video games like Everquest II, Skylanders and Quake 4. And she is one the top voice matchers in the industry. What does that mean? Just like big name actors have stunt doubles for dangerous scenes in movies, a lot of them have voice doubles, or matchers, who can dub lines for them during the editing process, like when they’re not available due to other projects (or when it might be cost prohibitive to bring in an expensive A-lister for just a couple of minutes work). And voice matchers become really important to studios if someone passes away before the picture is ready to be released. If a matcher is good at what they do, like Kat, the audience never has a clue that they’re not hearing the voice they think they are. Kat is a voice matcher for (pardon me while I drop names all over the floor here) Julia Roberts, Angelina Jolie, Nicole Kidman, Jodie Foster, Helena Bonham-Carter, Anne Hathaway, Kate Beckinsale, Scarlett Johansen and Penelope Cruz.

Image copyright Disney

Another way voice matchers get gigs is when a studio wants to make a new project using an existing character but doesn’t want to pay big bucks to make it happen. This happens a lot in the video game world and is one of the ways Kat became part of the Disney family: she is Joan Cusack’s match for Jessie in a whole bunch of the offshoots of the Toy Story films. For instance, it’s Kat’s voice you hear when you ride Toy Story Midway Mania or play Disney Infinity, not Joan’s. She’s also done various voices for Phineas and Ferb, was Mrs. Darling in the 2008 Tinkerbell movie, voices Elektra in the Marvel Heroes app and narrated parts of the Disney’s Storyteller series.

Image copyright Disney

Kat’s most constant contribution to Disneyana comes in the area of attractions. Not only is she Jessie for the Toy Story ride, she’s also redubbed stuff for Wendy in the Peter Pan ride, Alice in her ride at Disneyland and is the voice of Little Girl Lost in the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. Her most enduring attraction role is fairly high profile, however. It’s not often classic rides get expanded casts, like when Jack Sparrow was added to Pirates of the Caribbean after the film series, but Kat holds the distinction of being the only addition to The Haunted Mansion. You see her as your doom buggy heads into the attic and you become aware of Constance Hatchaway (yes, that’s her name), the Black Widow Bride who’s looking for her next husband.

These days, you can regularly find Kat announcing events on ESPN (she was the first woman to cover the NFL Draft) and appearing on Pardon the Interruption. She is also one of the voices of Professional Bull Riding (again, the first woman) and can be heard everywhere from Radio Disney to promo spots on TNT. And now, every time you see Julia Roberts or Helena Bonham-Carter in something, you’re going to wonder if it’s really them or if it's Kat you’re hearing. You’re welcome.