Laura Bailey

Lauren Dawn Bailey (born May 28, 1981) is an award-winning American actress who has provided voices for many anime series licensed by Funimation, as well as numerous video games and animated series. She is the English voice of Tohru Honda, the main protagonist of Fruits Basket.

Biography
Bailey was inspired to act after watching a making of Dawson's Creek special, where they interviewed Katie Holmes. She attended the theatre program at the Collin County Community College (Quad C) in Plano, Texas, where she participated in productions of Suburbia, Through a Glass Onion, and Don't Rock the Jukebox. Kent Williams, who was working as an actor for Funimation on Dragon Ball Z, spotted Bailey at one of the plays and invited her to audition.

Personal life
In 2007, she moved to Los Angeles. In 2011, she married fellow actor Travis Willingham. They currently live in Los Angeles. The two also enjoy playing the video games in which they act, such as Street Fighter, in which Bailey voices Chun-Li.

Their son, Ronin, was born on July 2, 2018.

Career
Bailey has voiced more than 200 characters. Beginning her voice acting with Funimation, her first roles were in Dragon Ball Z as Dende, Kid Trunks, and Marron. Later, she would voice characters in the 2001 dub of Dragon Ball, including Chi-Chi. Coincidentally, she would later play Trunks's father, Vegeta (as a child), in Dragon Ball Z Kai.

She later voiced the starring character Marlene Angel in Blue Gender, Keiko Yukimura in YuYu Hakusho, Maka in Soul Eater, Lust in Fullmetal Alchemist and Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, and Sana Kurata in Kodocha.

Bailey had been working with Funimation for about four years before she became an ADR director. The first major series she directed was Gunslinger Girl, in which she also voiced Henrietta. She also co-directed parts of Kodocha. She directed Blue Gender: The Warrior and some episodes of Detective Conan (dubbed under the title Case Closed). She became a line producer for Shin-Chan, where she voices the title character Shinnosuke "Shin" Nohara. For Shin-Chan, Bailey won the 2008 Best Voice Actress Award in English from the Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation.

While in Los Angeles, Bailey has continued to voice characters in numerous anime: Schrödinger in Hellsing: OVA; Anko Mitarashi, Kushina Uzumaki, and others in Naruto; and Hiyori Sarugaki, Mashiro Kuna, Tier Halibel, and others in Bleach.

Also in Los Angeles, Bailey has acted in numerous United States animated series: the Black Widow Natasha Romanoff in Avengers Assemble and other Marvel and Disney animated series and video games; Lagoona Blue in Monster High; and numerous roles in various DC Comics animated films. She also dubs Tressa and Serena in Winx Club and voices Amber in RWBY.

Bailey has an extensive career in video games, acting in more than 100 video games. Her roles include Rayne in BloodRayne, Chun-Li in Street Fighter, the Female Protagonist and Rise Kujikawa in Persona, Blaze the Cat in Sonic the Hedgehog, Lucina in Fire Emblem Awakening, Serah Farron in Final Fantasy XIII, Serana in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – Dawnguard, Spartan Olympia Vale in Halo 5: Guardians (which included motion capture of Bailey), and Jaina Proudmoore in World of Warcraft.

Bailey also has appeared in numerous live-action television series, films, and web series. She co-stars with her husband Travis Willingham in the 2003 film Prison-A-Go-Go!, a low-budget, action-comedy B-movie, and the web series Critical Role.

Fruits Basket Voicing
Bailey voices the protagonist of the first Fruits Basket anime series, Tohru Honda. Bailey is currently the only English voice actor for the character; reprising her role once again in the 2019 anime adaption of Fruits Basket.

Trivia

 * Kent Williams, who saw Bailey in a play and encouraged her to audition for Dragon Ball Z, is also the English voice for Hatori Sohma.
 * She is born as year of the Rooster.
 * Bailey said that Tohru's character has helped her be more positive: "I was so inspired by her character by her, joy, and outlook on life that, you know, you wanna emulate that."
 * While working at Funimation, Bailey was roommates with Colleen Clinkenbeard, who is the English voice artist for Akito Sohma.
 * Laura has stated that Tohru Honda is up there as one of her favorite roles of all time.