When it comes to spooky programming intended for younger audiences, there are usually two different approaches. You could play the horror (mostly) straight — like the Twilight Zone-esque Are You Afraid of the Dark? or the ‘80s cult classic, The Monster Squad — or follow in the tradition of The Munsters or Halloweentown by making iconic horror figures seem more relatable. The new Nickelodeon original cartoon Monster High falls very much under the second category.
The latest animated series based on the popular toy line from Mattel follows a young group of classmates dealing with detention, bad cafeteria food, magic spells gone out of control, discrimination for being only “half-monster,” and other typical teen drama. Before you (or your younger family members) meet these cool, school-bound ghouls, meet the actors who are bringing them to life in the Monster High cast in our breakdown below.
Gabrielle Nevaeh Green (Clawdeen Wolf)
As half-human, half-werewolf Clawdeen, we have Gabrielle Nevaeh Green, who is already a major Nickelodeon star after joining the All That cast in 2019, appearing in a few episodes of Danger Force in 2020, leading the cast of That Girl Lay Lay since 2021, and hosting a few editions of Nick News this year. She made her acting debut as a guest on the ABC sitcom, Speechless, in 2018, appeared in a JoJo Siwa music video (“D.R.E.A.M.”) the same year, and you will also hear her voice when Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai premieres on HBO Max in 2023.
Courtney Lin (Draculaura)
As Dracula’s daughter, Draculaura, we have Courtney Lin, who is already a very accomplished voice actor known for animated series like Rainbow High — another coming-of-age TV show — or non-DC-or-Marvel-inspired superhero show, Crash: The Animated Series, as well as video games like Neon White or Cookie Run: Kingdom. You may also recognize her voice from the English-language dubs of Netflix’s anime series Ghost in the Shell SAC_2045 and of the platform’s live-action movie adaptations of the popular anime, Fullmetal Alchemist.
Iris Menas (Frankie Stein)
Yet another young, accomplished voice actor in the voice cast is Iris Menas, who — before playing a “teen” built in a lab named Frankie Stein — was known for voicing Odee Eliot on Madagascar: A Little Wild for Hulu and Fred on Ridley Jones for Netflix. Audiences may also recognize them in person as Anybodys from Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story remake, or as the lead of the web-based music drama, Way Down.
Tony Revolori (Deuce Gorgon)
Another actor audiences will likely recognize in person is Tony Revolori, who is best known from the MCU’s Spider-Man movies as Flash Thompson, the 2015 indie comedy Dope, and acclaimed Wes Anderson movies The Grand Budapest Hotel and The French Dispatch more recently. Medusa and Lyra’s snake-headed son, Deuce Gorgon, is only the actor’s latest voice acting role — following his recurring spot on Cartoon Network’s OK K.O.! Let’s Be Heroes and main character on FXX’s Poorly Drawn Lines — and Monster High marks his latest “horror-centric” credit after Apple TV+’s Servant.
Kausar Mohammed (Cleo De Nile)
Playing a mummy named Cleo De Nile is Kausar Mohammed, whose previous voice acting credits include anime series like Cannon Busters, video games like Gears 5, the Disney Junior mystery series Mira, Royal Detective, Cartoon Network’s Craig of the Creek, and Netflix’s animated Jurassic Park franchise spin-off, Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous. Her most notable live-action credits include two gender-swapped comedy remakes from 2019 (What Men Want and Little), two CW originals (the Arrowverse’s The Flash and a recurring role on the new 4400 cast), and a guest spot on Netflix’s hit biographical dramedy, Mo.
Valeria Rodriguez (Lagoona Blue)
Playing sea monster Lagoona Blue is Courtney Lin’s Mermaze Mermaids and Cookie Run: Kingdom co-star Valeria Rodriguez, who is one of the more accomplished voice actors in the Monster High cast, having also leant her voice to anime series like Tamayomi: The Baseball Girls, To Your Eternity, and I’m Standing on a Million Lives. In addition to her other dramatic, non-anime credits (like the short animated web series Lotl & Pega) she has led a very successful video game acting career defined by roles in 2020’s Wasteland 3 and Lost Ark from this year, to name a few.
Alexa Kahn (Toralei Stripe)
Also known for her sizable video game credits (including League of Legends, Guitar Hero Live, Star Wars: Uprising, and a few Call of Duty games) is Iris Menas’ Madagascar: A Little Wild co-star, Alexa Kahn, who voices an elitist werecat named Toralei Stripe. The actor’s other non-video game credits include playing Hyrax in the fourth of the Ice Age movies (Continental Drift), playing Stephanie on multiple editions of the Lego Friends series, voicing Tug Duluth on Netflix’s Trolls: The Beat Goes On!, and playing two roles in an episode of Nickelodeon’s The Loud House.
Alexander Polinsky (Heath Burns)
One of the more prolific voice actors on the Monster High voice cast — as Hades’s son, Heath Burns — is Alexander Polinsky, who has played everything from DC characters (most notably Control Freak on Teen Titans and Teen Titans Go!), to aliens (such as Argit on Ben 10), alien hunters (on Roughnecks: The Starship Troopers Chronicles), robots (on Transformers: Animated), violent elves (in Krampus), and various characters in Minions. He got his start, however, playing Adam Powell on the hit sitcom Charles in Charge and later appeared in live-action horror movies like Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings in 1993 and the 2014 anthology, Locker 13.
Debra Wilson (Headmistress Bloodgood)
Another prolific voice actor in the Monster High voice cast (as the headless Headmistress Bloodgood) who first gained notoriety from a live-action TV comedy is Debra Wilson — a founding member of the MADtv cast who last starred in an animated parody of classic horror characters when she leant her voice to the Hotel Transylvania movies as “Additional Voices.”
The comedian also has several things in common with her co-stars, such as an Ice Age movie (the second one), Illumination Entertainment movies (including Sing 2, among others), DC characters (most notably Amanda Waller in the video games Batman: The Enemy Within and the upcoming Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice), and countless other video games including Halo Infinite, World of Warcraft, and a few we have already mentioned (such as Gears 5).
Also in October 2022, Paramount+ released a live-action, feature-length adaptation of the same spooky Mattel toy line. However, what the movie cannot claim is a legendary and prolific ensemble like the animated Monster High voice cast.
