Returning To The Proud Family Was A No-Brainer For The Series’ Voice Actors

Every ’90s and 2000s kid’s favorite animated family is back on Disney+’s The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder, and so are the voice actors you know and love. Click through to see how each beloved character and their IRL counterpart has evolved since the original series’ 2001 premiere.

Picking up where 2005’s The Proud Family Movie left off, Penny Proud is now 16 years old on Louder and Prouder, but she’s still got the same bright-eyed spunky personality, eclectic group of friends, and overprotective parents from when viewers met her at 14 on The Proud Family.

Kyla Pratt was also 14 years old when she started voicing Penny. At the time, her resume was already packed with starring roles in the Dr. Dolittle series and guest spots on Friends and Sister, Sister. In 2001, Pratt also landed a leading role on the hit UPN sitcom One on One.

“I didn’t realize until after the fact how much of an impact [The Proud Family] had on everyone and how much it molded me as a young woman,” Pratt recently told HuffPost. “I’m just so excited that a newer generation also gets to enjoy what we had back in the day.”

Oscar Proud, Penny’s father, remains as overbearing, immature, and caring as ever on the series’ reboot. He’s still concocting nasty new food products for his company, Proud Snacks, which somehow continues operating as a questionably successful business.

Having starred on In Living Color, Tommy Davidson was already an established TV actor when he landed the role of Oscar at 41 years old. The comedian has since published a memoir, 2020’s Living in Color, and continuously performed stand-up sets since The Proud Family premiered.

“We are so happy and so relieved, because we put so much work into this project initially,” Davidson recently told ScreenRant of joining Louder and Prouder. “And to have a 20-year lull? It means a lot to be back, because the work that we do is actually demanding.”

Proud family breadwinner Trudy Proud continues to be a successful veterinarian and a soft, loving, supportive parent to Penny on Louder and Prouder — all while putting up with Oscar’s chaotic antics.

Paula Jai Parker was a decade into her acting career, including roles in Friday and The WB’s The Wayans Bros., before lending her voice to Trudy as a 32-year-old. Since the original series wrapped, she’s acted on NCIS: Los Angeles, Criminal Minds, Insecure, and other projects.

“Now that I have my own son ... It’s a whole new world,” Parker recently said. “I'm proud — pun intended — that I finally have something on my resume again that's not so... R-rated. Thank you, Disney, for not judging a girl and allowing me to be Trudy. It’s a blessing.”

Proud family matriarch Suga Mama hasn’t changed a bit in 20 years. Oscar’s hip and stubborn mother is still in a dysfunctional relationship with Papi Boulevardez, supporting Penny against her son’s wishes, and holding her poodle, Puff, by her side everywhere she goes.

Before voicing Suga Mama at 51 years old, Jo Marie Payton was already well-known as Harriette Winslow on Perfect Strangers and its iconic spin-off, Family Matters. Most recently, she appeared alongside Matthew McConaughey and Snoop Dogg in 2019’s stoner comedy The Beach Bum.

“[Penny] was practice for me with my granddaughter who is 13 — who wasn't born 20 years ago,” Payton recently said. “It’s a blessing to have somebody you can talk to about [topics] you can't talk to your parents about... That’s the relationship Penny and Suga Mama have.”