didyaknowanimation:

Today’s Black History Month profile is actress Roz Ryan. Roz is known for everything from acting to singing to comedy, but she’s also a fairly prolific voice actress in animation.

Born in Detroit, Roz has a still thriving career in both the stage and the screen. She’s been in Broadway productions such as Chicago,  Dreamgirls and Ain’t Misbehavin’. She’s known for her unique voice in both singing and speaking, but has had many regular live action acting roles as well. Roz played Amelia in the television series Amen, and has been in live-action films such as I Think I Love My Wife and Waiting for Forever. She was a main character in the brief WB series All About the Andersons. 

Along with this, Roz is known to many for her voices in cartoons. Her voice is often simultaneously motherly but highly suited to comedy, which shows in many of her roles. perhaps her most famous is Thalia, the muse of comedy in the Disney movie Hercules. She has also played minor roles in Disney shows like Kim Possible and Buzz Lightyear of Star Command.

Her resume in animation has grown quite a bit within the last few years, however. She gained a new degree of fame when she starred in Cartoon Network’s The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack as Flapjack’s whale guardian, Bubbie. She plays the role of Jake’s cat counterpart, Cake, on Adventure Time. She played the character of witch Lezah on the recent Looney Tunes reboot, as well as the voice of Cyborg’s grandmother on Teen Titans Go! 

Most recently, Roz portrayed the character of TempBot (whose voice changes by the episode) for the Cartoon Hangover series Bee and Puppycat.

Roz is slated to perform in the broadway musical All that Glitters about the musician Liberace. She is currently on The Ricky Smiley Show as Aunt Sylvia.

See Roz behind the scenes at Bee and Puppycat
See a clip of Roz playing Mama Morton in Chicago
See Roz’s theatrical reel