Laura Bailey (voice actress)

Biography

Bailey was inspired to go into acting 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 spotted her at one of the plays, invited her to audition for Funimation, who had been working on Dragon Ball Z. Her first major role on Dragon Ball Z was Kid Trunks, which she portrayed with a raspy voice. She voiced the starring character Marlene Angel in Blue Gender, which was the first project Funimation did outside of the Dragon Ball world, and Keiko Yukimura in Yu Yu Hakusho, which ran on Cartoon Network.

Bailey was cast for the starring role of Tohru Honda in the anime Fruits Basket. 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." She later voiced Lust, one of the villains in Fullmetal Alchemist, and Sana Kurata in Kodocha.

Bailey had been working with Funimation for about four years before she started ADR directing. She worked on Blue Gender: The Warrior and some episodes of Case Closed. Her first major ADR Directing project was Gunslinger Girl, in which she also voices Henrietta. She also co-directed parts of Kodocha. She became a line producer for the Funimation dub of Shin-Chan and also voiced the title character.

Personal life

Bailey and anime voice actor/director Colleen Clinkenbeard were once roommates while working at Funimation. In 2007, she moved to Los Angeles, California. In 2011, she married fellow voice actor Travis Willingham. They currently live in Los Angeles.