Grey DeLisle Bio
Erin Grey Van Oosbree, known professionally as Grey DeLisle, is an American voice actress, comedian, and singer-songwriter. Born on August 24, 1973, in Fort Ord, California, she has also been credited as Grey DeLisle-Griffin and Grey Griffin across her long career. She is widely recognized for voicing Daphne Blake in the Scooby-Doo franchise and for memorable performances in animated series such as Avatar: The Last Airbender and Clifford the Big Red Dog. Beyond voice work, DeLisle has pursued a parallel career in stand-up comedy and country and electronic music, earning recognition including a Grammy Award for her contribution to the 2005 compilation album Beautiful Dreamer.
With a career that began in the early 1980s, Grey DeLisle has become one of the most prolific voice performers in American animation. Her body of work spans television series, direct-to-video films, theatrical features, and anime dubs, and she has remained active across voice acting, music, and live performance.
Early Life and Background
Grey DeLisle was born on August 24, 1973, in Fort Ord, California, to truck driver George Van Oosbree and singer Joanna Ruth. Her parents separated when she was young, and she was raised in a Mexican-American household, a background she has described publicly, saying she considers herself a 75 percent white woman raised by her Mexican grandmother. Her maternal grandmother, Eva Flores, was a vocalist who performed with salsa musician Tito Puente, and her mother’s conversion to Pentecostal faith shaped much of her early home life.
She credits her father’s love of country music as the biggest influence on her musical taste, and in her late teens she began singing old gospel tunes. After a friend encouraged her to try comedy, she started performing a routine built around voice impressions, which caught the attention of a casting director who suggested she pursue voice acting. She attended Chula Vista High School in California, graduating in the same class as television personality Mario Lopez. While nurturing musical ambitions, she took formal classes in voice-overs and soon began working with talent agent Sandy Schnarr.
Path to Celebrity
DeLisle’s entry into the entertainment industry began in 1983, when she started performing and laying the groundwork for a career that would eventually span voice acting, music, and stand-up comedy. Her early comedy impressions of voices and characters proved pivotal, as the talent who noticed her encouraged her to study voice-over craft professionally. Training in voice classes and her partnership with agent Sandy Schnarr helped her transition from stage impressions to booked animation auditions.
Throughout the 1990s she built a foundation of small roles, music performances, and stand-up appearances, sharpening a vocal range that allowed her to portray children, teens, villains, and adults with equal ease. That range positioned her to step into a flagship animation role in the early 2000s and establish herself as a leading voice performer in American television.
Grey DeLisle Career
Early Career (1983–1999)
DeLisle began her professional career in 1983, focusing initially on music and stand-up comedy. She developed an act built around voice impressions and live performance, which gave her early exposure to industry contacts. She took voice-over classes and signed with talent agent Sandy Schnarr, using the late 1990s to audition and accumulate experience in front of the microphone.
Her persistence during this period prepared her for a wave of opportunities that arrived with the expansion of cable animation in the following decade, when her comedic timing and vocal versatility would find a natural home in animated television.
Breakthrough (2000–2010)
Grey DeLisle’s breakthrough came in 2000 when she inherited the role of Daphne Blake in the Scooby-Doo franchise, beginning with the direct-to-video film Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase in 2001. She took over the character from her friend and teacher Mary Kay Bergman, who had died, and DeLisle has spoken publicly about the responsibility of continuing Bergman’s performance, saying Bergman set the bar very high. She would go on to voice Daphne across numerous Scooby-Doo productions for years.
She quickly became a defining voice of the era, taking on Emily Elizabeth Howard in Clifford the Big Red Dog, Lorraine MacQuarrie in The Weekenders, Vicky and Tootie in The Fairly OddParents, Kimiko Tohomiko in Xiaolin Showdown, Sam Manson in Danny Phantom, and Azula in Avatar: The Last Airbender. In film, she voiced Tomoe in Afro Samurai: Resurrection and earned a Grammy Award for her contributions to the 2005 traditional folk compilation Beautiful Dreamer.
Notable Works and Milestones
Among Grey DeLisle’s signature works, the role of Daphne Blake in the Scooby-Doo franchise stands as her longest-running and most recognized performance. Her portrayal of Azula in Avatar: The Last Airbender has also become a defining villain voice in modern animation, while her work on The Fairly OddParents, Clifford the Big Red Dog, and The Legend of Korra has cemented her reputation as a versatile lead and supporting voice across children’s programming.
Grey DeLisle Award Nominations
Across her career, Grey DeLisle has received recognition from major industry awards bodies. In 2022, she was nominated for the Children’s and Family Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice Performance in an Animated Program for her work on the Nickelodeon series The Loud House, reflecting her continued impact in children’s animation.
Grey DeLisle Awards Won
Grey DeLisle was a winner of the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album in 2005 as one of the contributing musical artists on the compilation album Beautiful Dreamer. The award recognized her work alongside other folk performers on the project, marking a major milestone in her parallel music career.
Grey DeLisle Family
Grey DeLisle was born to truck driver George Van Oosbree and singer Joanna Ruth, and she has two brothers. Her parents separated when she was young, and she was raised in part by her maternal grandmother, Eva Flores, a vocalist who performed with salsa musician Tito Puente. Her niece is YouTuber Anna Brisbin.
Personal Life
Grey DeLisle’s first marriage was to Christopher DeLisle from 1992 to 1993. In 2002, she married Murry Hammond of the alt-country band Old 97’s, and their courtship and wedding were featured in an episode of A Wedding Story. They welcomed a son, Jefferson Texas Hammond, in 2007 before divorcing in 2010. She later married Jared Griffin on June 27, 2012, after the two met through Twitter. With Griffin she had a son, Harlan, in 2014 and a daughter, Mariposa, in 2016; the couple later separated in 2017.