Christine Josephine Cavanaugh (née Sandberg; August 16, 1963, Layton, Utah, USA – December 22, 2014, Cedar City, Utah, USA) was an American voice actress and actress who had a distinctive speaking style and provided the voice for a large range of cartoon characters. She starred as the voice of Bunnie Rabbot from the Sonic the Hedgehog Saturday-morning cartoon on ABC, Babe from the 1995 film of the same name, Gosalyn Mallard in Darkwing Duck, and served as the original voices of Chuckie Finster in Nickelodeon's Rugrats and the title character in Cartoon Network's Dexter's Laboratory. In 2001, she retired from voice acting and died on December 22, 2014, from undisclosed causes.
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, one of the three main monster-students 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 due to personal matters, so the role was instead played by her Rugrats co-star Elizabeth Daily, the voice of Tommy Pickles. 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 and public life in general in 2003, wanting to spend time with her family. 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.
On December 22, 2014, Cavanaugh died at her home in Cedar City, Utah, of undisclosed causes. She was 51 years old. She was cremated and her ashes scattered into the Great Salt Lake.
| Year | Image | Character | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996-2002 | 
|
Dexter | Dexter's Laboratory |
| 1991-2002 | 
|
Chuckie Finster | Rugrats |
| 1995-2001 | 
|
Dexter | What A Cartoon! |
| 1997-1998 | 
|
Whizzer | 101 Dalmatians: The Series |
| 1994-1997 | 
|
Oblina | Aaahh!!! Real Monsters |
| 1994-1995 | 
|
Marty Sherman | The Critic |
| 1993-1994 | 
|
Bunnie Rabbot | Sonic the Hedgehog (TV series) |
| 1993 | 
|
Stoney | A Flintstone Family Christmas |
| 1991-1992 | 
|
Gosalyn Mallard | Darkwing Duck |