Kari's first paid voiceover job was on her 11th birthday. She was touring the studio of a popular radio drama and it just so happened that the producers were looking for someone her age to do a voice for a couple of episodes. Kari: They literally pulled me into the studio, auditioned me, and we recorded the part right then and there! It was one of those surreal experiences that really sticks with you!
Kari is the voice of the villain, Magness in the Jetix/Toon Disney animated series, A.T.O.M. - Alpha Teens On Machines.
Kari's first video game voice role was for Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Chaos Bleeds, where she played the voice of Willow.
Kari: (describing the reality of voice over work) It’s very unglamorous and a lot of times with video games or anime you’re the only person in a very small booth — a small dark booth. In the room next to you sometimes there’s only a director and an engineer. You could spend two, three, four days really not talking to anyone which is kind of ironic. You’re just in a small dark room recording lines with only an engineer and a director behind thick glass to talk to. It’s a very bizarre world. It’s very strange.
Kari, well known as the voice of Fuu for the hit anime Samurai Champloo, also provided her voice for the PlayStation2 game, Samurai Champloo: Sidetracked, a hack-and-slash fighter based on the series.
Kari is most known for providing the voices of female characters who are mature young women and teenage girls.
Kari provides the voice for Zatanna in the Justice League Heroes game.
Her first name, Kari, is pronounced like the word sorry.
After successfully doing radio spots and voiceovers in Kansas City, Kari moved to Los Angeles to further pursue her voice acting career.
Disney animation influenced Kari when she was little and she had an obsession with Disney Princesses as a child. If she could be the voice of any Disney Princess character, she said she would like to be Belle from Beauty and the Beast.
Kari will be the voice of Sparkles in the Nickelodeon animated pilot, Sparkles and Gloom.
In addition to voice acting, Kari does some singing as well.
Kari is a 1999 graduate of the University of Kansas, where she was a theatre major. The Kari Wahlgren Theatre Scholarship is set up there in her honor.
Kari had an actual acting role as Tinkerbell in the 2003 independent feature film, Neverland, a dark, modern retelling of the childhood classic Peter Pan. The movie portrays Peter as a juvenile delinquent and Tinkerbell as an alcoholic drug addict.
Other names she's been credited under for voice work are Renee Emerson, Jan Irving, Jennifer Jean, and Kay Jensen.
Kari is the voice of Raine Sage in the hit RPG game Tales of Symphonia, available on PlayStation2 and GameCube.
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