To anyone going through their formative years during the 1990s, the career of voice actress Christine Cavanaugh was an important one, even if the name isn’t instantly familiar. Sadly, Cavanaugh died on December 22 at the age of 51. Let us all pause our cartoons for a moment of silence.
The Utah-born Cavanaugh, who went to Utah State University and the University of Hawaii, was arguably most popular for voicing the ginger-haired Chuckie Finster on the Nicktoons series Rugrats, as well as the film The Rugrats Movie and its sequels. Here’s a clip of some of her Chuckie-isms.
Almost as instantly recognizable is Cavanaugh’s work on the Cartoon Network series Dexter’s Laboratory, in which she added a nasal spin to the voice of central inventor extraordinaire Dexter for the show’s first two seasons. (She was replaced by Candi Milo.) Those were hardly her only TV parts, however, as she was also known for voicing the son Marty Sherman on Fox’s The Critic, the big-lipped Oblina on Aaahh!!! Real Monsters, and Gosalyn Mallard on Darkwing Duck. As well, she provided supporting roles on series such as Powerpuff Girls, Hercules: The Animated Series, Recess, King of the Hill and many more.
On the feature side of things, Cavanaugh voiced parts in Aladdin and Beethoven, but was most memorable in the title role of Babe, the cutest talking pig there ever was. Check out the clip below in which Babe is trying to be a sheepdog.
Not that she only did voiceover work. Cavanaugh had live-action roles in shows like Salute Your Shorts, The X-Files, Everybody Loves Raymond and ER, among others. Unfortunately for fans, we haven’t heard or seen her on the small screen in over a decade, as she retired in the early 2000s to spend more time with her family.
We at CinemaBlend would like to offer our condolences to Christine Cavanaugh’s family and friends during this time of mourning. We like to think she and Casey Kasem are having quite an animated discussion somewhere. For more information, read her thoughtfully written obituary here.
