Renae Jacobs

Renae Jacobs
Born February 1, 1957
Lansing, Michigan
Occupation Voice actress
Years active 1984-1996, 2014-present

Renae Jacobs (born February 1, 1957) is an American voice actress who is perhaps best known for voicing fictional journalist and reporter April O'Neil in the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series.

Early life

Renae Jacobs was born February 1, 1957 in Lansing, Michigan, moving to Los Angeles in the early 1980s to pursue a career as a voice actress.[1]

Ninja Turtles

While working in Los Angeles in 1986, she received a call to audition for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.[1] She was directed through the audition by Stu Rosen. The first day Rosen made it clear he didn't approve of her for the role, and had waited to show her audition after exhausting all the others.[1]

Every one I played, the producers said 'No, no, no, that’s not April,' and finally I was out of people to show them, so I pulled your audition out and played it for them and they said 'That's April!'
—Stu Rosen[1]

She has said that developed her initial personification of O'Neil after reading the description in the casting material, not the comics themselves:

There was a very good character description of her, so I looked at that and I kind of built her based on me. I felt that she should be a very strong character with very good convictions, she should be a loyal friend; she should be serious about her work and she wanted to be taken seriously, not just looked at as another pretty face.[1]

It was also the first role she was awarded that wasn't a "crazy little made up fantasy character".[1]

In June 2014, it was announced that Jacobs would guest-star on season three of Nickelodeon's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.[2] She played April's mother and an alien in the episode, Buried Secrets.[3]

Voice work, appearances

She appeared as a contestant on the NBC game show Sale of the Century in late 1985 but did not win her game though she did win almost $900 in cash & prizes.

She was also the "Lady of the Maze" in the first season of the Family Channel game show Masters of the Maze.

She has also done voices in other animated series and films including The Glo Friends Save Christmas, It's Punky Brewster!, The Adventures of Don Coyote and Sancho Panda, Moon Dreamers, My Little Pony and all films of Rose Petal Place.

Personal life

She has been married since the 1980s and has two children.[4]

Brief Filmography

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 "Chatting with April O’Neil – An Interview With Renae Jacobs". TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles.com. April 9, 2013. Retrieved 2013-04-11.
  2. ↑ Kondolojy, Amanda (June 17, 2014). "'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' Renewed for Fourth Season by Nickelodeon". TV By the Numbers. Retrieved July 8, 2014. Fans of Nickelodeon’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles can expect to see newly reimagined original and franchise characters and villains, and an ooze of guest stars including Danny Trejo, J.B. Smoove, Fred Tatasciore, Jon Heder, Robert Englund and Renae Jacobs in new episodes of season two and three. Roseanne Barr will reprise her role as Kraang Prime.
  3. ↑ Nicholson, Max (October 18, 2014). "TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: "BURIED SECRETS" REVIEW". IGN. Retrieved October 18, 2014.
  4. ↑ "Interview with Renae Jacobs". Ziggo.

External links

Interviews