Acting

Summer's acting career began in 1983 when she was cast as Penny in the first season of the original version of Inspector Gadget. She appeared frequently in animated programs. She appeared in The Care Bears Movie (1985) and Ewoks (1985, part of the Star Wars franchise).^[6][7]

In 1988, Summer was cast as the free-spirited Winifred "Freddie" Brooks in The Cosby Show spin-off A Different World.^[8] She remained a regular cast member of the show from 1988 through its end in 1993.^[7]

During the run of A Different World, Summer continued working in voice acting. She was cast in the short-lived television series Sweet Justice in 1994 until its cancellation in 1995. In the fall of that same year, Summer and her A Different World co-star Jenifer Lewis starred in the prime time drama Courthouse, which was cancelled two months after it premiered.^[9] Apart from guest appearances on other live-action television shows such as Living Single, Better Things, and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Summer's professional work since has mostly been limited to voice acting.^[10]

She appeared as herself in "It Was All a Dream", the final episode of Atlanta, in 2022, following a voice cameo in the first season episode "B.A.N.". At the start of the third season of A Different World in 1988, the cartoon series The Real Ghostbusters episodes were expanded from their original half-hour format to an hour. The show was changed to be more youthful. Episodes had a lighter tone designed to be less serious and frightening. In these lighter episodes, she voiced Chilly Cooper, the neighborhood ice-cream woman and innocent love interest of Slimer.^[11]

Summer voiced over 101 animated characters between 1983 and 2006. These have spanned video games, cartoon television series, animated films and commercials. Among her most famous roles was in Inspector Gadget (Season 1) as Penny (a role she reprised in the Robot Chicken episode "Adoption's an Option"), WB's Tiny Toon Adventures (1990) as Elmyra Duff (which she reprised for Pinky, Elmyra & the Brain) and Mary Melody, Aka Pella in WB's Histeria!, Susie Carmichael in Nickelodeon's Rugrats and its spin-off All Grown Up!, Cleo the Poodle in PBS Kids' Clifford the Big Red Dog, Miranda from Nickelodeon's As Told by Ginger, Foxxy Love in Drawn Together, Dulcy the Dragon in Sonic the Hedgehog, Valerie Gray in Nickelodeon's Danny Phantom, Numbuh 5 and Cree Lincoln in Cartoon Network's Codename: Kids Next Door, Penelope in Barbie as Rapunzel, octogenarian villain Granny May on WordGirl, Tiff from Nickelodeon's My Life as a Teenage Robot, and Blackarachnia in Transformers: Animated. She also voiced Princess 'Kida' Kidagakash for the franchise of Disney's Atlantis: The Lost Empire.^[12] Summer has regarded the character of Kida as one of her favorite roles and even considers the character among the official Disney Princess line. She also played a role in Scooby Doo Mystery Incorporated as Lady Marmalad in the episode "The Haunting". In December 2016, Summer reprised her role as Penny from Inspector Gadget in an episode of the web-series, Nostalgia Critic. She later joined SpongeBob SquarePants spinoff The Patrick Star Show, where she voices Patrick Star's mother and Squidward Tentacles' grandmother.^[13]

Music

Summer has been a singer since an early age^[when?] and joined her first band at 13. In 1985, she recorded the theme song for OWL/TV. In 1990, she sang background vocals on two tracks for fellow A Different World cast member Jasmine Guy's self-titled LP. In 1993, she recorded an album (as lead singer) with her band Subject to Change. Capitol Records did not release the album because of creative differences.^{[citation needed]} In 1999, Summer released a solo album, Street Faërie, produced by and featuring Lenny Kravitz.

A number of Summer's portrayed characters (animated or otherwise) are singers. The character of Susie in All Grown Up! was portrayed as a singer with real talent, allowing Summer to sing in the role.^[15] Summer sings the opening theme song for All Grown Up!. The character of Foxxy Love in Drawn Together was a singer, with songs like "La-La-La-La-Labia" and "Crashy Smashy", Numbuh 5 from Codename: Kids Next Door sang a lullaby to lull babies to sleep. Elmyra Duff sang many times on Tiny Toon Adventures. She co-performed lead vocals in the song "Cool Kitty" with Tara Strong, which accompanied a cartoon called Class of 3000, directed and written for Cartoon Network by André 3000. She provided the voice of a recurring pomegranate singer in The High Fructose Adventures of Annoying Orange, who usually sang during montage sequences. Her character Priscilla on Sheriff Callie's Wild West sings many times, as well.^[16]

In 2008, Summer appeared on The Frank Zappa AAAFNRAAA Birthday Bundle, performing a cover of Zappa's song "Dirty Love" with Dweezil Zappa on guitar and backup vocals by Ahmet Zappa, produced by Linda Perry.^[17]

Summer's musical influences include Frank Zappa,^[18][19] Al Green^[19] and Dinah Washington.^[19]

Animated film roles

Animation roles

Live-action film roles

Live-action television series roles

Video games

Albums

• Appeared on the Juno Award-nominated album I Lost My Pet Lizard (1979)
• Appeared as Debbie on the Juno Award-nominated Canadian Sesame Street album Big Bird & Oscar the Grouch: Camping in Canada (1981)
• Womb Amnesia – (1993) (with her band Subject to Change)
• Street Faërie – (1999)

Singles

• "Revelation Sunshine"