Who Is Marinette and Why Is Everyone Talking About Her?
Beloved children’s animation Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir is on its fifth season, with seasons 6 and 7 reportedly in the works. Following the adventures of Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Adrien Agreste, also known as Ladybug and Chat Noir, Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir is a superhero meets magical girl story, complete with family drama, highschool hijinks, and Superman-style secret identity love triangles. Armed with Miraculous Jewels that let them transform into superheroes, it’s up to the two teens to protect the citizens of Paris from supervillains—including Adrien’s father, who uses the Butterfly Miraculous to create akumas, corrupted energy butterflies that turn ordinary people into supervillains when they experience negative emotions.
The leader of the French Miraculous heroes, and one of the two protagonists of the show, Marinette Dupain-Cheng is a 13-year-old girl (she turns 14 in later seasons) who wants to have her own fashion house one day. Possessor of the Ladybug Miraculous, Marinette is able to transform into Ladybug and access the power of creation by allowing the cosmic spirit Tikki to inhabit her body. (She’s held other Miraculous Jewels and allowed their spirits to inhabit her as well, granting her different powers and identities.)
At first shy and anxious, Marinette grows and becomes more confident and comfortable with herself after she gets the Ladybug Miraculous, and while she sometimes acts out of jealousy and insecurity she always learns from and fixes her mistakes. Described as kind, honest, and fair by her friends, Marinette always tries to do the right thing no matter what.
Marinette is voiced by actress Cristina Vee Valenzuela, better known by her stage name Cristina Vee. A well-established voice actress with an impressive resume, Valenzuela has worked on over 400 video games, cartoons, and animated shows since she started working in 1989. Perhaps best known as the voice of Rei Hino, a.k.a. Sailor Mars from the iconic anime—and originator of the entire magical girl genre—Sailor Moon, it only makes sense that she’s voicing another magical girl now with Marinette. However, Valenzuela’s range extends far beyond that, from playing a young Donald Duck in Ducktales to Wednesday Addams in The Addams Family: Mansion Mayhem video game, so if you enjoy animation or gaming there’s a good chance you’ll have heard her somewhere before.
Valenzuela’s most recent work outside of Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir involves voicing characters in Resident Evil: Death Island, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, and Minecraft Legends games, showing her career is just as jam-packed as ever. However, if things ever do slow down, or she just wants a change of scenery, she could always go back to hosting Jungle Cruises at Disneyland —the job she had before breaking into voice acting.
(featured image: Disney+)
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