Tara Strong, a prolific voice actress who is best known for playing Bubbles on “The Powerpuff Girls,” has always been a proud Jew. Growing up in Toronto, she went to Hebrew school and sang in the children’s choir at her synagogue.
Before Oct. 7, Strong’s Instagram – where she has over 650,000 followers – was filled with pictures of her meeting fans at Comic Cons across the country, videos of her doing different voices and posts showing her life in Los Angeles. But once that tragic day hit, she knew she couldn’t stay silent; her feed also became pro-Israel and pro-Jewish, and she advocated on behalf of the hostages.
“Because I have a voice, I need to speak out, even when it’s scary,” said Strong. “My goal is to keep spreading the truth.”
“Because I have a voice, I need to speak out, even when it’s scary.”
– Tara Strong
Strong has kept on supporting her people even as she faced backlash for it. Shortly after Oct. 7, before Israel went into Gaza, she posted on X, “This is only the beginning. They were smart to start with a country people love to hate. This is only the beginning.”
Her detractors said she was being Islamophobic, and she was panned in some left-leaning media outlets. The creator of a show she was set to work on, “Boxtown,” fired her for her post.
“He said he was a big fan, and I connected him with my agent to get him a SAG waiver,” Strong said. “And then I did a Kickstarter for him to help him raise money for his project. He quoted my post and said, ‘This is a disappointment.’ He told his followers I was saying this about the people of Palestine, but I was talking about Hamas terrorists murdering Israelis. To have my words twisted and made to seem like I don’t have sympathy for the innocent Palestinians was devastating to me.”
Even though Strong lost the job, she gained support from the Jewish community and pro-Israel people alike. “So many people were saying, ‘You were my childhood, I loved you for so long, and thank you for speaking out,’” she said. “I lost half my family in the Holocaust. Every Jewish person is here because their ancestors survived being hunted.”
Strong, who wears a Star of David necklace, grew up in a family that was actively involved in their Judaism. Her grandfather was a cantor, and her grandmother ran a catering business inside of Beth Radom Congregation in Toronto, where her mom also worked. “We had a kosher kitchen and kept the traditions, which were very important to us,” she said. “We’d light candles every Friday night and do big Passover seders. The traditions brought my family together.”
“We’d light candles every Friday night and do big Passover seders. The traditions brought my family together.”
– Tara Strong
The voice actress sang in the Yiddish theater in the seventh grade, and when she was 13, she landed her first agent. She soon voiced Hello Kitty and worked on projects with Mr. T and Anjelica Huston. When she was 16, she went on the March of the Living and sang on an album that was recorded at Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.
“I felt so proud to be Jewish on the march,” she said. “Elie Wiesel was with us, and he started to cry. He said it was so nice to see all these young people there.”
Strong moved to L.A. when she was 20 and started racking up credits in animation. Along with her role as Bubbles on “The Powerpuff Girls,” she also played Dil from “Rugrats,” Timmy Turner on “The Fairly OddParents,” Barbara Gordon/Batgirl on “The New Batman Adventures” and Raven on “Teen Titans.”
She frequently appears at Comic Cons, where she interacts with fans.
“A lot of people come out to Comic Cons, pull out their Jewish stars from underneath their shirts and say, ‘Am Yisrael Chai,’” she said. “They’re afraid to show their Star of David.”
Strong hopes that by continuing to speak up, she can make the world a safer place not just for Jews, but for everyone.
“It starts with undoing years of antisemitism and this cycle of hate,” she said. “It takes everybody to do that. I feel like I can’t stop being compelled to help. I want us all to come together and live in peace. That’s the truth.”
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