| past_member_of = Subject to Change

| instrument = Vocals

| label = Work

Cree Summer Francks (born July 7, 1969) Her parents are Canadian actors Don Francks and Lili "Red Eagle" Francks (née Clark). She and her family travelled and lived around British Columbia during her childhood, and she started public school at the age of nine in Toronto. Her brother, Rainbow Sun Francks, is an actor and a former MuchMusic VJ.

Career

Acting

Summer's acting career began in 1982, when she appeared on the Canadian children's program Mr. Dressup. The following year, she was cast as Penny in the first season of the original version of Inspector Gadget. She appeared frequently in animated programs, including The Care Bears Movie (1985) and Ewoks (1985, part of the Star Wars franchise).

In 1988, Summer was cast as the free-spirited Winifred "Freddie" Brooks in The Cosby Show spin-off A Different World. She remained a regular cast member of the show from 1988 through its end in 1993. Apart from guest appearances on other live-action television shows such as Living Single, Better Things, and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Summer's professional work since has mostly been limited to voice acting.

At the start of the third season of A Different World in 1988, the cartoon series The Real Ghostbusters episodes were expanded from their original half-hour format to an hour. The show was changed to be more youthful. Episodes had a lighter tone designed to be less serious and frightening. In these lighter episodes, she voiced Chilly Cooper, the neighborhood ice-cream woman and innocent love interest of Slimer.

She appeared as herself in "It Was All a Dream", the final episode of Atlanta, in 2022, following a voice cameo in the first-season episode "B.A.N.".

Summer has a recurring guest role as librarian Rosalyn Inez on the ABC sitcom Abbott Elementary.

Voice acting

Summer voiced more than 101 animated characters between 1983 and 2006, spanning video games, cartoon television series, animated films, and commercials. Among her most famous roles was in Inspector Gadget (Season 1) as Penny (a role she reprised in the Robot Chicken episode "Adoption's an Option"), WB's Tiny Toon Adventures (1990) as Elmyra Duff (which she reprised for Pinky, Elmyra & the Brain) and Mary Melody, Aka Pella in WB's Histeria!, Susie Carmichael in Nickelodeon's Rugrats and its spin-off All Grown Up!, Cleo the Poodle in PBS Kids' Clifford the Big Red Dog, Mo in the US Dub of Horrible Histories, Miranda from Nickelodeon's As Told by Ginger, Foxxy Love in Drawn Together, Dulcy the Dragon in Sonic the Hedgehog, Valerie Gray in Nickelodeon's Danny Phantom, Numbuh 5 and Cree Lincoln in Cartoon Network's Codename: Kids Next Door, Penelope in Barbie as Rapunzel, octogenarian villain Granny May on WordGirl, Tiff from Nickelodeon's My Life as a Teenage Robot, and Blackarachnia in Transformers: Animated. She also voiced Princess 'Kida' Kidagakash for the franchise of Disney's Atlantis: The Lost Empire. Summer has regarded the character of Kida as one of her favorite roles and even considers the character among the official Disney Princess line. She also played a role in Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated as Lady Marmalade in the episode "The Haunting". In December 2016, Summer reprised her role as Penny from Inspector Gadget in an episode of the web-series, Nostalgia Critic. She later joined SpongeBob SquarePants spinoff The Patrick Star Show, where she voices Patrick Star's mother and Squidward Tentacles' grandmother.

Video game voice acting

She performed voice over for the games Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance, Black, as well as Tony Hawk's American Wasteland. She voiced Auriel in Diablo III, and reprised the role for Heroes of the Storm. She was the voice of Tandi in Fallout and First Citizen Lynette in Fallout 2, Tatjana in Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits, Lady Belgemine, Young Tidus and additional voice-overs in Final Fantasy X, Lenne/Calli in Final Fantasy X-2, Storm in Marvel Super Hero Squad, Cynder in The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning, Magma in X-Men Legends, and the Inca Princess Micay in Pitfall: The Lost Expedition. Summer sings the opening theme song for All Grown Up!. The character of Foxxy Love in Drawn Together was a singer, with songs like "La-La-La-La-Labia" and "Crashy Smashy", Numbuh 5 from Codename: Kids Next Door sang a lullaby to lull babies to sleep. Elmyra Duff sang many times on Tiny Toon Adventures. She co-performed lead vocals in the song "Cool Kitty" with Tara Strong, which accompanied a cartoon called Class of 3000, directed and written for Cartoon Network by André 3000. She provided the voice of a recurring pomegranate singer in The High Fructose Adventures of Annoying Orange, who usually sang during montage sequences. Her character Priscilla on Sheriff Callie's Wild West sings many times, as well.

In 2008, Summer appeared on The Frank Zappa AAAFNRAAA Birthday Bundle, performing a cover of Frank Zappa's song "Dirty Love" with Dweezil Zappa on guitar and backup vocals by Ahmet Zappa, produced by Linda Perry.

Summer's musical influences include Frank Zappa,

Personal life

Summer has dual American and Canadian citizenship. She was married to producer Angelo Pullen for nearly ten years; they announced the dissolution of their marriage in May 2022. They have two daughters, who were born in 2011 and 2013.

Filmography

Animated film roles

{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"

|+ List of voice performances in films <!-- major movies -->

|-

! Year

! Title

! Role

! class="unsortable"| Notes

! class="unsortable"| Source

|-

|1984

|Strawberry Shortcake and the Baby Without a Name

|Orange Blossom

|Television film

|

|-

|1985

|data-sort-value="Care Bears Movie, The" | The Care Bears Movie

|Young Kim

| rowspan="2" |Feature film

|

|-

| rowspan="2" |1986

|Care Bears Movie II: A New Generation

|Christy

|

|-

|2016–18

|Voltron: Legendary Defender

|Witch Haggar

|34 episodes

|

|-

|2016–19

|Ben 10

|Shasta, Betts McCabe, Hildie

|3 episodes

|

|-

| 2022–present

| data-sort-value="Proud Family: Louder and Prouder, The" | The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder

| Bufferina, Rochelle, Make Up Boy Fan, Peabo

|

|

|-

|Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur

|Aragorn

|Episode: "The Devil You Know"

|

|}

<!--

  • ALVINNN!!! and the Chipmunks: Ginger
  • All Dogs Go to Heaven: The Series: Cat, "Active News" Anchor
  • Angelica and Susie's Pre-School Daze: Susie Carmichael
  • Big & Small: Ruby/Dr. Amy Ruby
  • Bratz: Aloncè
  • Bob and Margaret: Peaches (one episode)
  • The Boondocks: Vanessa's Friend
  • California Raisins: Crystal
  • Chowder: Additional voices
  • Celebrity Deathmatch: Missy Elliott
  • Danny Phantom: Valerie Gray (starting from "Shades of Grey")
  • Dave the Barbarian: Mona, Sheebor (one episode)
  • Doc McStuffins
  • El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera: Additional voices
  • Ewoks: Princess Kneesaa (season 1)
  • Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends: Additional voices
  • Gravity Falls: Additional voices
  • The High Fructose Adventures of Annoying Orange: Promegrante
  • If You Give a Mouse a Cookie: Museum Guard
  • Johnny Talk: Herself
  • Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil: Additional voices
  • Kid vs. Kat: Additional voices
  • MAD: Sam Puckett, Thumper, Neytiri
  • Mrs. Munger's Class. Yvonne and Gordon (voices)
  • Muppet Babies: Skeeter
  • My Little Pony and Friends: Medley
  • The New Adventures of Beany and Cecil: Additional voices
  • The New Adventures of Captain Planet: Georgina Cabor (one episode)
  • The New Kids on the Block: Additional voices
  • The New Woody Woodpecker Show: Additional voices
  • The New Yogi Bear Show: Additional voices
  • No P in the OOL: Numbah 5
  • Noonbory and the Super Seven: Kikibory, Evil Kikibory, Whiskers, Evil Whiskers
  • Ozzy & Drix: Mayor Sartonni
  • Phineas and Ferb: Additional voices
  • Poochini's Yard: Additional voices
  • Pound Puppies (2010): Cupcake (recurring role), Various guest roles
  • The Powerpuff Girls: Additional voices
  • Problem Child: Spencer
  • Puppy Dog Pals: Ana/Hero (one episode)
  • Slimer! and the Real Ghostbusters: Chilly Cooper
  • The Replacements: Nature Activist (one episode)
  • Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fire Yokai/Mrs. Stockboy/Jessica Jaclyne
  • Rocket Power: Crystal Bianca (one episode)
  • Rocko's Modern Life: Additional voices
  • Rugrats, All Grown Up!, and Rugrats Pre-School Daze: Susie Carmichael
  • Sheriff Callie's Wild West: Priscilla Skunk
  • Solar Opposites: Rebecca Jones (season 6)
  • Star Wars: Droids: Princess Gerin
  • Sylvanian Families: Jessica, Donny
  • Teacher's Pet: Additional voices
  • Wayside: Bebe Gunn
  • What-a-Mess: Additional voices
  • Widget the World Watcher: Additional voices
  • My Singing Monsters (TV Series): Tweedle, Petite, Pompom, Hoola

-->

Live-action film roles

{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"

|+ List of performances in live-action films

|-

! Year

! Title

! Role

! class="unsortable"| Notes

! class="unsortable"| Source

|-

| rowspan="3" |1987

|Wild Thing

|Lisa

|Feature film

|

|-

|Bay Coven

|Jazz Singer

|Television film

|

|-

|Hearts of Fire

|Colt's Band Member

|Feature film

|

|-

|1991

|Perfect Crimes

|Cheryl

|Television film

|

|-

|1995

|Tuesday Morning Ride

|Unknown

|Short film

|

|-

|2002

|Kermit's Swamp Years

|Pilgrim, Kermit's Mom, Star (voice)

|Direct-to-video

|

|-

|2026

|Breathe Again

|Vanessa

|Television film

|

|}

Live-action television series roles

{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"

|+ List of performances in live-action television

|-

! Year

! Title

! Role

! class="unsortable"| Notes

! class="unsortable"| Source

|-

|1985

|Night Heat

|Karen Simmons

|Episode: "Crossfire"

|

|-

|1986

|Seeing Things

|Unknown

|Episode: "Optical Illusion"

|

|-

|1988–93

|data-sort-value="Different World, A" | A Different World

|Winifred "Freddie" Brooks

|Seasons 2–6

|

|-

| rowspan="2" |1994

|Living Single

|Summer

|Episode: "Love Thy Neighbor"

|

|-

|data-sort-value="Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, The" | The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air

|Lisa Adams

|Episode: "The Harder They Fall"

|

|-

|1994–95

|Sweet Justice

|Reese Daulkins

| Nominated – NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series (1996)

|

|-

|1995

|Courthouse

|Danni

|4 episodes

|

|-

|2016, 2022

|Atlanta

|Kid #1/Kid #2 (voices) / Cree

|Episodes: "B.A.N.", "It Was All a Dream"

|

|-

|2019–22

|Better Things

|Lenny

|8 episodes

|

|-

|2019

|Queen Sugar

|Dr. Octavia Laurent

|2 episodes

|

|-

|2020

|Woke

|Paper Bag (voice)

|2 episodes

|

|-

|2021

|What We Do In The Shadows

|Jan

|Episode: "The Wellness Center"

|

|-

|2022

|Cosmic Love

|The Astro Chamber (voice)

|10 episodes

|

|-

| rowspan="2" |2023

|Swarm

|Rashida's mom

|Episode: "Only God Makes Happy Endings"

|

|-

|Run the World

|Dr. Monica Mitchell

|Episode: "My New Therapist Says..."

|

|-

|2024–present

|Abbott Elementary

|Rosalyn Inez

|Season 3–present

|

|-

|2025

|Ironheart

|Madeleine Stanton

|2 episodes

|

|}

Video games

{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"

|+ List of voice performances in video games

|-

! Year

! Title

! Voice Role

! class="unsortable"| Notes

! class="unsortable"| Source

|-

|1996

|Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster and the Beanstalk

|Elmyra Duff

|

|

|-

|1997

|Fallout

|Tandi

|

|

|-

|Lichdom: Battlemage

|Witch, Alchemist

|

|

|-

|Broken Age

|Morelia, Drumstick Maiden, Teledoor

|

|

|-

|Skylanders: Trap Team

|Roller Brawl

|

|

|-

| rowspan="4" |2015

|StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void

|Selendis

|

|

|-

| 2024

| Outstanding Guest Performance in a Comedy Series

|Abbott Elementary

|

| style="text-align:center;"|

|-

! scope="row"|Daytime Emmy Awards

| 2001

| Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program

|Clifford the Big Red Dog

|

| style="text-align:center;"|

|-

! scope="row" rowspan="9"|NAACP Image Awards

| 1996

| Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series

|Sweet Justice

|

| style="text-align:center;"|

|-

| 2002

|rowspan="2"|Outstanding Performance by a Youth

|A Rugrats Kwanzaa

|

| style="text-align:center;"|

|-

| 2004

|All Grown Up!

|

| style="text-align:center;"|

|-

| 2022

|rowspan="5"| Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance (Television)

| rowspan="4"|Rugrats

|

| style="text-align:center;"|

|-

| 2023

|

| style="text-align:center;"|

|-

| 2024

|

| style="text-align:center;"|

|-

| rowspan="3"| 2025

|

| style="text-align:center;" rowspan="3"|

|-

| Spirit Rangers

|

|-

| Outstanding Guest Performance

| Abbott Elementary

|

|-

! scope="row" rowspan="2"| Children's and Family Emmy Awards

| 2023

|rowspan="2"|Outstanding Voice Performance in a Preschool Animated Program

|rowspan="2"|Spirit Rangers

|

| style="text-align:center;"|

|-

| 2024

|

| style="text-align:center;"|

|}

Notes