Cree Summer

Cree Summer is a highly versatile voice actress who has also appeared in sitcoms and worked as a singer-songwriter. An only child, she later credits long periods of time playing by herself as what spurred her ability to create characters with just her voice. Her first notable role was as Penny, the hero's plucky niece on the cartoon "Inspector Gadget." As the 1980s progressed, Summer appeared in "The All New Ewoks," "The Care Bears Family," and several "Strawberry Shortcake" TV movies, among many others. She also appeared as Winifred "Freddie" Brooks on the NBC sitcom "A Different World," from '88 to the show's end in '93. She continued to work in animation; among her other notable roles are Atlantean Princess "Kida" Kidagakash in Disney's "Atlantis: The Lost Empire" (2001), animal-loving Elmyra Duff on "Tiny Toon Adventures," no-nonsense junior heroine Numbuh 5 on "Codename: Kids Next Door," and Foxxy Love on "Drawn Together." Summer is also a recording artist; she's contributed background tracks on fellow "Different World" alum Jasmine Guy's LP, worked with her own band (Subject to Change), and released a solo album--the Lenny Kravitz-produced "Street Faërie" ('99).