Emmanuelle Chriqui and her sought-after voice

Chriqui as Cheetara

Treasured memories are often drawn from happy times in our childhood, and it recently came to my attention that Montreal-born film and television actress Emmanuelle Chriqui has lent her voice to the animated character Cheetara in a reboot of the cult-classic cartoon series Thundercats.

Airing weekday afternoons for four seasons beginning in 1985, the original focused on a group of cat-like humanoid aliens, survivors of a home planet torn asunder from a dying sun (much like the story of Superman). They fought for their survival against the forces of evil.

In 2011, America’s Cartoon Network brought the cats back to the small screen, introducing Lion-O, Snarf, Cheetara, Tigra, Panthro Wiley-kit and Wiley-kat to a new generation. Canada is set to receive it this fall on the Teletoon network, but the run won’t be quite as long as that of the original cult classic, which is now – amazingly – almost three decades old.

The new version was initially planned for 52 episodes, but art director Dan Norton confirmed earlier this year that the Cartoon Network cut it short, only granting it a single season after its ratings weren’t as high as hoped.

Grid enforcer Paige

Most unfortunate for Chriqui, she followed up her voice work on Thundercats with another animated series that was also short lived, a prequel to the Tron sequel Tron Legacy, entitled Tron Uprising. Chriqui voiced the Grid enforcer Paige.

We certainly hope the fact these two major animated roles ended before they had a chance to really take off won’t deter Chriqui from future voice work. With a long list of ongoing dramatic and feature film roles, her recognizable voice will undoubtedly be heard coming through from future animated notches on her belt, to be added to work heard also on Robot Chicken and American Dad! to the popular vidoe game series Call of Duty Black Ops.