After Inside Out’s critical and commercial success, filmmaker Pete Docter was trying sequel ideas when the film was nominated for an Academy Award back in 2016. Development began in 2020 after director Kelsey Mann revisited photos of one of his childhood birthday parties. To utilize “truthful” worldbuilding, Mann used Docter’s “5 to 27 emotions” idea from the first film he pitched during production. Mann’s final pass included 9 new emotions to make Joy feel all overwhelmed with them all showing up. But felt that the story couldn’t keep track with taking up the spotlight or not adding to the story. So he decided to simplify the number. The production team frequently consulted psychologists Lisa Damor and David Keltner, using the former’s book as guidance on accurately portraying teenagers’ emotions change during puberty. While Pixar selected 9 teenagers dubbed as “Riley’s Crew” to provide feedback on the film to ensure that it accurately portrayed teenage life. Mann and producer Mark Nielsen were also inspired by their own daughters when making the film. Initially the plot was to involve a talent show but that idea got scrapped. As Nielsen, Mann, and screenwriter Meg LaFaurve decided it was best to center the plot on Riley playing hockey, feeling it was the most unique aspect of her character. Due to the 2023 Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA strikes, the production team struggled against the clock to finish Inside Out 2 in the final stages in “the largest crunch in the studio’s history.” Lightyear and Elemental’s underperformance at the box office also added stress. Upon its 2024 release, Inside Out 2 received positive reviews and $1.699 billion at the box office.

              The initial inception of Moana 2 began as a long-form musical comedy series comprising of 5 episodes and released on Disney+. Yet as it entered development alongside the live action Moana, the director and writers began receiving feedback such as We love this story. Why is it not going on the biggest screen you can possibly imagine?” At the start of 2024, Walt Disney Studios president Alan Bergman “informed the team that they needed to shift rapidly from making a five-episode streaming series to a second Moana feature film.” And considering that Moana 2 came out near the end of the year, this was a real last-minute decision. We should also consider that nearly all the animation work for Disney animated films isn’t done until the final year before the official release date. Animation was handled at Disney’s Vancouver studio who was already charged with the job while Moana 2 was a series. But this outsource was highly controversial since the Animation Guild reported that this move resulted in California losing 817 jobs, $87 million in wages, and $178 million in the state’s gross domestic product. In addition, while the first Moana movie had songs written by Lin Manuel Miranda, Miranda was working on Mufasa at the time. So songwriting duties landed on Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear. Upon its 2024 release, Moana 2 opened to a 61% Rotten Tomatoes score and grossed $1.059 billion at the box office. In this post, we’ll meet the voices behind Disgust, Envy, Ennui, Embarrassment, Bloofy, Pouchy, Foreman, Margie, Loto, and Kele.

591. Liza Lapira

Dates: 1981-present

Early Life and Career: Born in Queens, New York City. Began her career acting on stage and in independent films. Moved to Los Angeles to work in television in 2004.

Movies and Cartoons: Inside Out 2 (2024) as well as the show Dream Productions.

Characters: Disgust

Also Known For: Actress best known as Kianna in 21, Special Agent Michelle Lee in NCIS, Ivy in Dollhouse, Shaquan in The Parkers, and “Mel” Bayani in The Equalizer. Film appearances include Autumn in New York, Brown Sugar, Domino, The Big Bad Swim, Cloverfield, Fast & Furious, Repo Men, See You in September, Marmaduke, Crazy, Stupid Love, Someone Marry Barry, All I Wish, The Samuel Project, and The Fabulous Filipino Brothers. TV appearances include Traffic Light, Don’t Trust the B—- in Apartment 23, Super Fun Night, 9JKL, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Law & Order, The Education of Max Bickford, Sex and the City, Without a Trace, The Sopranos, Huff, Grey’s Anatomy, NCIS, Monk, ER, Dexter, Psych, Drop Dead Diva, Royal Pains, Blue Bloods, Power, Battle Creek, Con Man, Cooper Barrett’s Guide to Surviving Life, The Good Doctor, NCIS: New Orleans, and Nancy Drew.

Personal Life: Can’t find anything about her personal life.

Later Life: Is an avid supporter of LA’s Best, which provides school services to 28,000 children in 189 schools the neighborhoods with the highest needs around Los Angeles. Also participates in the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles Triathlon each fall in Malibu. Is currently working with The Impact Theatre in Harlem while living on the east coast.

Trivia: None.

592. Ayo Edebiri

Dates: 1995-present

Early Life and Career: Born in Boston and grew up in its Dorchester neighborhood. Mother’s from Barbados. Father’s from Nigeria. First became interested in comedy through her 8^th grade drama class, leading her to join an improv club at Boston Latin School. Went to New York University where she initially intended to study teaching before switching her major to dramatic writing. During her junior year, she began pursuing a comedy career with the Upright Citizens Brigade. Made her screen debut in 2014.

Movies and Cartoons: Inside Out 2 (2024)

Characters: Envy

Also Known For: Actress, comedian, and television writer best known as Sydney Adamu in The Bear. Film appearances include Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, Theater Camp, Bottoms, Cicada, Shithouse, The Sweet East, Omni Loop, and Opus. TV appearances include Big Mouth, Dickinson, The Premise, Abbott Elementary, History of the World Part II, I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson, Black Mirror, Clone High, Mulligan, Saturday Night Live, Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Everybody Still Hates Chris. Has written episodes for Big Mouth, What We Do in the Shadows, Sunnyside, Craig of the Creek, and The Eric Andre Show.

Personal Life: Identifies as queer.

Later Life: Is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America and has canvassed with the organization.

Trivia: Has won an Independent Spirit Award, Emmy, Golden Globe, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a Critics’ Choice Award for The Bear as well as a Directors Guild of America nomination for the episode “Napkins.”

593. Adele Exarchopoulos

Dates: 1993-present

Early Life and Career: Born in Paris, France. Grew up in its 19^th arrondissement near the Place des Fetes. Father’s a restaurant manager at the Palais omnisports de Paris-Bercy, film producer, and president of the company 1660 Productions. Mother’s a nurse. In 2006, she was spotted by an agent and made an appearance on a French cop show. Made her film debut in 2007.

Movies and Cartoons: Inside Out 2 (2024)

Characters: Ennui

Also Known For: French actress best known as Adele in Blue Is the Warmest Colour. Film appearances include All Your Faces, Mandibles, Zero Fucks Given, Racer and the Jailbird, The White Crow, Sibyl, The Five Devils, Passages, Boxes, Trouble at Timpetill, The Round Up, Turk’s Head, Pieces of Me, I Used to Be Darker, Insecure, Les Anarchistes, Down by Love, The Last Face, Orphan, Back Home, BAC Nord, Smoking Causes Coughing, The Animal Kingdom, A Real Job, Wingwomen, Beating Hearts, and Planet B. TV appearances include R.I.S. police scientifique, La Flamme, La Flambeau, les adventuriers de Chupacabra, and LOL: Qui, rit, sort!.

Personal Life: Has been in 2 long-term relationships. First with actor Jérémie Laheurte from 2012-2015. Second with rapper and L’entourage member Mamadou Coulibaly a.k.a Doums from 2016-2021. They have a son born in 2017.

Later Life: During Variety’s 2013 Actresses Roundtable, Exarchopoulos expressed frustration over losing a role that went to a “brown girl” after an audition. She replied, Yeah, but it’s cinema, you can make me brown.” In November 2020, after director Abdellatif Kechiche was accused of sexual assault by an unnamed 29-year-old actress, Exarchopoulos told French Elle magazine: He’s someone I’ll love all my life. I think of him often, I hope he is happy. My meeting with him was decisive in my desire to make cinema. Certainly, Abdellatif is a complex being. But it upsets me because I really know him.” She even thanked him in a Cesar Awards speech in 2024. That same year, she signed a petition addressed to President Emanuel Macron that France officially recognize the State of Palestine.

Trivia: Played Ember Lumen in the French dub of Elemental (2023). Has won 2 Cesar Awards. Was the youngest person to be awarded the Cannes Film Festival’s Palme d’Or.

594. Paul Walter Hauser

Dates: 1986-present

Early Life and Career: Born in Grand Rapids, Michigan and raised in Saginaw. Father’s a Lutheran minister. Attended Valley Lutheran High School and Concordia University Chicago before dropping out from the latter to pursue an entertainment career. Made his screen debut in 2005.

Movies and Cartoons: Inside Out 2 (2024) as well as the live-action Cruella.

Characters: Embarrassment

Also Known For: Actor and wrestler best known as Stingray in Cobra Kai, the title character in Richard Jewell, and Larry Hall in Black Bird. Film appearances include Super Troopers 2, Beats, Adam, Old Dads, Virginia, iSteve, I, Tonya, BlacKkKlansman, Late Night, Da 5 Bloods, Eat Wheaties!, Songbird, Silk Road, Queenpins, Delia’s Gone, Americana, Orion and the Dark, The Instigators, and The Luckiest Man in America. TV appearances include Too Late with Adam Carolla, Community, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Key & Peele, Betas, Kingdom, Superstore, A Midsummer’s Nightmare, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, WWE Smackdown, Reno 911!, I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and The Afterparty.

Personal Life: Married to Amy Elizabeth Boland since 2020. They have 2 sons: Harris Boland Hauser born in 2021 and Jonah Maverick Hauser born in 2023.

Later Life: He and his wife were featured in the Christian multimedia movement I Am Second.

Trivia: Has won a Primetime Emmy and a Golden Globe. Is also an occasional professional wrestler signed to Major League Wrestling.

595. Ron Funches

Dates: 1983-present

Early Life and Career: Born in Carson, California. Spent his early life with his social worker mother and sister in the Woodlawn neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. Moved to Salem, Oregon to be with his pipefitter father. Graduated from Salem’s Douglas McKay High School where he took English courses and was inspired by authors William Faulkner, J. D. Salinger, Moliere, and Erich Maria Remarque. After high school, Funches moved to Portland where he worked a variety of jobs including at a bank call center and as a clerk at a Grocery Outlet store. Began pursuing stand-up comedy at 23. Moved to Los Angeles in 2012 after appearing in Portlandia in 2011.

Movies and Cartoons: Inside Out 2 (2024) as well as the series Ariel along with The Lion Guard and the film Noelle.

Characters: Bloofy

Also Known For: Comedian and actor best known as Cooper in the Trolls franchise, King Shark in Harley Quinn, Ron in Hoops, Fox in Final Space, and Kevin in Poorly Drawn Lines. Film appearances include Get Hard, Donald Trump’s The Art of the Deal: The Movie, Once Upon a Time in Venice, Killing Hasselhoff, Jexi, 6 Underground, Lucky, Sylvie’s Love, The One and Only Ivan, Golden Arm, Dark Web: Cicada 3301, Cheaper by the Dozen (2022), 80 for Brady, Under the Boardwalk, and Good Burger 2. TV appearances include @midnight, Mulaney, Kroll Show, Undateable, BoJack Horseman, The Adventures of Puss in Boots, Adventure Time, Transparent, Black-ish, Portlandia, Crash & Bernstein, New Girl, Selfie, Bob’s Burgers, Drunk History, Cougar Town, Great Minds with Dan Harmon, Cupcake Wars, Home: Adventures with Tip & Oh, The Goldbergs, Powerless, We Bare Bears, A.P. Bio, OK K.O.! Let’s Be Heroes, Man with a Plan, Twelve Forever, Crank Yankers, Central Park, The Last Blockbuster, Match Game, The Great North, Nailed It!, Chopped 420, Jellystone!, Inside Job, A Tale of Dark & Grimm, Loot, Rock Paper Scissors, and After Midnight.

Personal Life: Married to Christina Dawn from 2020 to their separation in 2022. Has 2 sons: Malcolm whom he fathered at 20 and has autism and a son with Dawn born in 2022. Once weighed 360 lbs but has since lost 140 lbs.

Later Life: Took classes at a wrestling school for a few months and made his debut in the ring at GCW in 2021. Started a wrestling podcast in 2022 called One Fall with Ron Funches.

Trivia: Is an avid video game and wrestling fan.

596. James Austin Johnson

Dates: 1989-present

Early Life and Career: Born in Nashville, Tennessee. During childhood, he appeared in various productions by Lifeway Christian Resources. Began performing stand-up comedy as a teenager. Attended Davidson Academy and Trevecca Nazarene University in 2011. Regularly performed at open mics in Nashville before moving to Los Angeles in 2013. Began his acting career in independent Christian films. In 2016, he appeared in a Direct TV ad alongside Peyton Manning. In August 2020, his impression of Donald Trump went viral in a video uploaded to Twitter, amassing a million views. Joined the cast of Saturday Night Live in 2021.

Movies and Cartoons: Inside Out 2 (2024)

Characters: Pouchy

Also Known For: Comedian and actor best known as a current cast member on Saturday Night Live since 2021. Film appearances include October Baby, Blue Like Jazz, Hail, Caesar!, She Said, and A Complete Unknown. TV appearances include Adam Ruins Everything, Future Man, Better Call Saul, All Rise, Tuca & Bertie, Fairview, The G View, Barry, and John Mulaney Presents: Everybody’s in LA.

Personal Life: Married to Rebekah Lain and they have a child together.

Later Life: Still actively working as of 2025.

Trivia: None.

597. Kirk Thatcher

Dates: 1962-present

Early Life and Career: Born and raised in Los Angeles. At 10, he was making films all involving creatures, space ships, and broad comedy. While attending Harvard-Westlake Upper School, he met Star Wars production designer Joe Johnston. Began his career at 18, leaving UCLA Film School to work at George Lucas’ special effects facility Industrial Light and Magic where he was a technical assistant for Return of the Jedi and a production designer for David Fincher’s first music videos. Later hired by Leonard Nimoy to associate produce Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home where he also plays a punk rock fan that Kirk and Spock encounter.

Movies and Cartoons: Inside Out 2 (2024)

Characters: Foreman

Also Known For: Writer, producer, director, and production designer known for his many collaborations with the Muppets and the Jim Henson Company. Has written episodes for Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends, Lazytown, Sid the Science Kid, and Crank Yankers.

Personal Life: Can’t find anything on his personal life.

Later Life: Still actively working as of 2025.

Trivia: Was once a power lifter in high school and college where he was known for his ability to lift cars. Also knows how to play the ukulele. Directed The Muppets’ “Bohemian Rhapsody” video that later won a Webby Award.

598. Sarayu Rao Blue

Dates: 1975-present

Early Life and Career: Born in Madison, Wisconsin to a Telugu family from India. Parents are article and short story writers Narayana Rao and Nidadavolu Malathi. Attended West High School. Earned her Master of Fine Arts degree in acting in 2005 from the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. Made screen debut in 2002.

Movies and Cartoons: Inside Out 2 (2024) as well as a few series.

Characters: Margie

Also Known For: Actress best known as Angela in Sons of Tucson and Dr. Sydney Napur in Monday Mornings. Film appearances include Leela, Lions for Lambs, Dealin’ with Idiots, Blockers, To All the Boys: P. S. I Still Love You, Happiest Season, To All the Boys: Always and Forever, Hollywood Stargirl, and A Million Miles Away. TV appearances include Bones, The Big Bang Theory, Life, Hawthorne, Outsourced, Harry’s Law, In Plain Sight, Franklin and Bash, NCIS: Los Angeles, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Grey’s Anatomy, Two and a Half Men, The Real O’Neals, Veep, Rizzoli & Isles, No Tomorrow, Station 19, The Unicorn, Medical Police, The Shrink Next Door, Never Have I Ever, History of the World Part II, XO, Kitty, Velma, Expats, and Good American Family.

Personal Life: Married to Jonathan Blue who’s Director of the Creative Development at ReKon Productions.

Later Life: Still actively working as of 2025.

Trivia: None.

599. Rose Matafeo

Dates: 1992-present

Early Life and Career: Born in Auckland, New Zealand. Father’s Samoan who joined the Polynesian Panthers when he was a teenager and later worked an administrative role at the Rastafarian Church. Mother’s a teacher who moved to Kampala, Uganda to teach English in the 2010s. Grew up in Ponsonby, Auckland and attended Auckland Girls’ Grammar School where she was head girl. At 15, she began doing stand-up comedy through the platform of the “Class Comedians” program put on by the New Zealand Comedy Trust. Went on to win the “Nailed It on the Night” award at the New Zealand International Comedy Festival in 2007. She’s been a regular at the festival since. Since graduating from the “Class Comedians” program, Matafeo went on to host the popular comedy show “Fanfiction Comedy” in 2012. Made her screen debut in 2010.

Movies and Cartoons: Moana 2 (2024)

Characters: Loto

Also Known For: New Zealand comedian, actress, and TV presenter. Film appearances include The Breaker Uppers and Baby Done. TV appearances include 7 Days, Pocket Protectors, Best Bits, Funny Girls, W1A, Jon Richardson: Ultimate Worrier, Squinter, Taskmaster, Golden Boy, Richard Osman’s House of Games, QI, Dead Pixels, Starstruck, Pointless, and The Great Stand Up to Cancer Bake Off.

Personal Life: Has dated comedian Guy Williams and was in a relationship with British comedian James Acaster during the mid-2010s where they shared an apartment with comedian Nish Kumar in London from 2015-2017.

Later Life: Still actively working as of 2025.

Trivia: None.

600. David Fane

Dates: 1966-present

Early Life and Career: Born in Auckland, New Zealand. Educated at St. Pauls College in Grey Lynn. Got into acting quite late and trained at the New Zealand Drama School Toi Whakaari, graduating with a Diploma in Acting in 1992, which he upgraded to a Bachelor of Performing Arts (in Acting) in 2003. Made his screen debut in 1993.

Movies and Cartoons: Moana 2 (2024)

Characters: Kele

Also Known For: New Zealand actor. Film appearances include Tongian Ninja, The Legend of Johnny Lingo, Sione’s Wedding, Eagle vs Shark, The Tattooist, Love Birds, Sione’s 2: Unfinished Business, Gary of the Pacific, and Next Goal Wins. TV appearances include Target, Revelations – The Initial Journey, The Strip, Bro’Town, The Market, Outrageous Fortune, Diplomatic Immunity, Island Wars, 800 Words, Westside, and Our Flag Means Death.

Personal Life: Married to Bronwyn Bradley. They have 3 children.

Later Life: During the 2010 inaugural Radio Roast, Fane pushed insult comedy boundaries when roasting advertising executives in front of a celebrity audience. Said that “Hitler had a right,” people living with HIV deserve to be “roasted,” and “Jews were expendable.” Taking his routine out of context, the media suggested it as a drunken tirade rather than in line with the theme of the night. Fane later apologized to the New Zealand AIDS Foundation and the New Zealand Jewish Council.

Trivia: Has been nominated for a Peabody Award. Received the Order of New Zealand Order of Merit in 2023.