Christine Cavanaugh

Christine Josephine Cavanaugh was an American actress and voice actress, who had a distinctive speaking style and had provided the voices of a large range of cartoon characters. She was best known for her voice roles as the titular character in the 1995 comedy-drama film, Babe, Oblina in the Nickelodeon series Aaahh!!! Real Monsters, Bunnie Rabbot in the SatAM version of Sonic the Hedgehog, Bunny in the Cartoon Network series The Powerpuff Girls, and as the original voices of Chuckie Finster in the Nickelodeon series Rugrats and Dexter in the Cartoon Network series Dexter's Laboratory. In 2001, she retired from voice acting. On December 22, 2014, she died of undisclosed causes at the time that would later be confirmed to be leukemia.

Early life and education[]

Christine Josephine Sandberg was born in Layton, Utah, on August 16, 1963, to Waldo Eugene Sandberg and Rheta Sandberg (née Mason). Cavanaugh was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Career[]

In 1991, Cavanaugh voiced Gosalyn Mallard, the title character's adopted daughter on Disney's Darkwing Duck as well as Chuckie Finster on the Nickelodeon cartoon Rugrats, and later in 1994, Oblina on Aaahh!!! Real Monsters.

Cavanaugh could also be heard on The Critic as the voice of Marty, Jay Sherman's son. Her voice credits also include the animated series Sonic the Hedgehog, 101 Dalmatians: The Series, Hercules: The Animated Series, The Powerpuff Girls, The Wild Thornberrys, and Recess, as well as the voice of Birdie in McDonald's commercials. In the early 1990s, Cavanaugh also served as an announcer for The Disney Channel for "coming up next" bumpers.

In 1995, Cavanaugh lent her voice to the live-action film Babe in the starring role of Babe the Gallant Pig. She was offered to reprise her role for the sequel, Babe: Pig in the City, but decided against it when contract negotiations fell through, so the role was instead played by her Rugrats co-star Elizabeth Daily. Also in 1995, Cavanaugh started doing the voice of boy-genius Dexter on Dexter's Laboratory, which began as a short under Cartoon Network's What a Cartoon! show, and later became the first short to be adapted into its own series for Cartoon Network. She later won an Annie Award in 2000 for her voice performance as Dexter in the hour-long TV special Dexter's Laboratory: Ego Trip.

Cavanaugh also guest starred on several TV shows including Salute Your Shorts, Cheers, Empty Nest, Wings, The X-Files, Everybody Loves Raymond, and ER, and had supporting roles in the feature films Soulmates and Jerry Maguire. Cavanaugh retired from voice acting in 2001, although some TV episodes and films with her recordings continued to be released until 2003. After her retirement, she was replaced by Candi Milo as the voice of Dexter and by Nancy Cartwright, her co-star in The Critic, as the voice of Chuckie in Rugrats.

Death[]

On December 22, 2014, Cavanaugh died at her home in Cedar City, Utah of unknown causes. She was 51 years old. She was cremated and her ashes scattered into the Great Salt Lake.

Because of Cavanaugh's death, Genndy Tartakovsky, creator of Dexter's Laboratory, cited her death as one of the reasons as to why he refuses to create a revival of the series.^[1]