Cree Summer
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Cree Summer, or Cree Summer Francks (born July 7, 1969) is a Canadian actress and voice actress. Her father is famed Canadian actor Don Francks, and her mother is Lili Red Eagle, a member of the Plains Cree First Nation. She was born in Los Angeles, California, but grew up on an Saskatchewan Indian reservation in 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 spinoff 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 to 1993, but her character was not one of the more popular ones.
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, Summer has appeared as over 70 animated characters between 1983 and 2004. These have spanned the realm of video games, cartoon telvision series, animated films and commercials. She has most recently starred in Tiny Toon Adventures as Elmyra Duff and Mary Melody and as Susie Carmichael in All Grown Up! (itself a role carried over from Rugrats), she also appeared in Codename: Kids Next Door as Numbuh Five and Cree, and can be heard in advertisements as the voice of the female green M&M.
Summer has also ventured into the realm of music. In 1993 she released an album (as lead singer) with her band Subject to Change. The album was not offically released by Capitol Records because of creative differences; consequently, its sales were low, although it can still be found at used-music stores. The band, with an aggressive political message and rock-soul fusion sound, reamined 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 Lillith 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 Austria and Europe. Her musical talent has had an influence on Summer's portrayal of Susie, played as a "singer with real talent" [1] (http://www.rugratonline.com/tweens2.htm), and the character has sung in a few episodes.
In 2004 Summer began portraying the voice of cartoon character Foxxy Love on the Comedy Central series Drawn Together. The character is a sexually promiscuous spoof of Josie and the Pussycats's Valerie Brown.