After the incredible hype following Disney’s Encanto, it seemed impossible for anything to top it, but Pixar’s newest release, Turning Red, proved the assumptions wrong when it became the latest craze on Disney+. Domee Shi’s feature directorial debut followed the life of Chinese-Canadian 13-year-old Meilin, who unexpectedly discovered her family’s curse after she transformed into a red panda.
Meilin navigated her teenage years in the early 2000s, despite her tendencies to transform, and her mother’s initial disapproval of her obsession with the boy band “4*Town.” It was Pixar’s first film that featured a solo female director, which also included several high-profile voice actors who have starred in various film productions.
8 Sandra Oh Is The Forgotten Star Of The Princess Diaries
Sandra Oh voices Ming, Mei’s overprotective mother in Turning Red, who frequently embarrasses her throughout the film. For example, when she confronts Devon after she finds Mei’s drawings of him. Ming is also capable of transforming into a red panda, and viewers witness her gigantic form at the 4*Town concert.
Sandra Oh lends her voice to Ming and is best recognized for her former role as Cristina Yang on ABC’s long-running medical drama Grey’s Anatomy. Although, her most iconic film role occurred during the classic early 2000s rom-com The Princess Diaries as Principal Gupta, despite only appearing in the film for a few minutes.
7 Robaire’s Voice Actor Appeared In A Netflix Rom-Com
Robaire is the lead singer of the boy band 4*Town. He’s also the namesake of Mei’s Tamagotchi, “Robaire Jr.” Jordan Fisher is behind the voice-acting of Robaire and has recently made a name for himself on and off-Broadway. Fisher plays John Ambrose McClaren in Netflix’s To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You, arguably his best film role. John Ambrose is one of Lara Jean’s letter recipients, but their potential romance ends quickly when Lara Jean realizes she still has feelings for her ex-boyfriend, Peter.
6 Ava Morse Lends Her Voice To Miriam And Another Animated Character
Miriam Mendelsohn is another one of Mei’s closest friends obsessed with 4*Town. Mei thinks she’s a little on the strange side, but embraces her as a best friend anyways. She wears braces and is more on the tomboy side than her other friends.
Ava Morse lends her voice to Miriam for Pixar’s Turning Red. She is also only 16 years old and hails from Naperville, Ill. She hasn’t appeared in many productions, but her most notable is her minor voice-acting role as Ava in the 2021 film Ron’s Gone Wrong.
5 Finneas And Billie Eilish Wrote Three Songs For Turning Red
Jesse is the eldest member of 4*Town and wears a gold hoop earring on his left ear. Finneas O’Connell, known by his stage name FINNEAS, is behind the voice-acting for Jesse. Finneas is best recognized as the award-winning singer Billie Eilish’s brother. Along with his voice-acting role, the sibling duo also wrote three songs for the film.
The three songs are “Nobody Like U,” “U Know What’s Up,” and “1 True Love.” Finneas also appeared in film productions other than Turning Red, like the 2013 independent film Life Inside Out, which was about Finneas’s character’s life as an aspiring songwriter.
4 Orion Lee Had A Minor Role In Zack Snyder’s Justice League
Jin Lee is Mei’s father, who is much more laid-back than her mother, but still cares for her. One of Jin’s most iconic scenes is when he makes dinner for his family, which is one of the best food sequences in Pixar history and rivals Ratatouille. Orion Lee is the voice behind Mei’s father.
He has appeared in smaller roles in many film and television productions, like as Canady’s First Order Monitor in Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi and Star Labs Scientist in Zack Snyder’s Justice League. One of his best major roles was as King Lu in the 2020 western-drama First Cow, which features two men on the run during the 1820s.
3 James Hong Has Been Acting Since The 1950s
Mr. Gao is a local elder and close family friend to the Lee family. He assists in the red panda ritual in the film’s ending scenes when Mei’s mother attacks the concert venue, and the Lee family tries to revert her back to human form. Viewers also see him with his jaw-open reaction to when Mei hops over the gate in panda-form.
James Hong lends his voice to Mr. Gao, but is widely known for many other voice-acting roles. Hong lent his voice to Chi-Fu in Disney’s Mulan, Azmorigan in Star Wars Rebels and Mr. Ping in the Kung Fu Panda franchise. With Hong’s extensive film career, it’s hard to pick his best role, but his voice-acting as Chi-Fu in Mulan is nostalgic and hilarious.
2 James Hong Is Known For More Than Just Voice-Acting Roles
Considering Hong has spent around 70 years in the acting industry, his repertoire goes beyond voice-acting roles in animated pictures. Hong appears in over 650 film and TV productions, but one of the more notable roles outside voice-acting occurs in the 1982 film Blade Runner.
Hong plays the minor role of Hannibal Chew in the Ridley Scott film. The character was based on Hannibal Sloat from Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Hong also reprises his role in the 1997 video game, which may get an enhanced edition sometime in the future.
1 This Is The First Animated Film On Sandra Oh’s Résumé
Turning Red wasn’t Oh’s first venture into the animated film universe. She also lends her voice in the 2021 Disney film Raya and the Last Dragon. The film focuses on ancient Southeast Asian culture and features Kelly Marie Train in the lead role, best known for part as Rose Tico in the Star Wars sequel trilogy films.
Oh plays the character of Virana in Raya and the Last Dragon, the chief of Fang and the mother of Namaari. She initially turns to stone in the beginning of the film, but returns in the end. Raya and the Last Dragon is an often forgotten Disney film considering the release of Encanto, but it is still worth watching.
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