Also known by her original stage name Jessie Flower, young actor and voice actor Michaela Murphy has enjoyed her biggest career successes to date behind the microphone, providing the voices for Toph in Nickelodeon’s Avatar: The Last Airbender and Chaca in Disney’s The Emperor’s New School. She has also provided for voices for characters in several children’s films, including Finding Nemo, Night at the Museum, Meet the Robinsons, Ant Bully, Over the Hedge, and Brother Bear 2.
Murphy was born in Indiana but moved to Los Angeles when she was four years old and almost immediately began her acting career, most notably in adverts for Barbie and Mitsubishi. After further adverts and television cameo appearances, she began contributing voices to animated films and series, her first being as an additional voice in 2003’s hugely successful Finding Nemo. In 2005, aged just 11, she got her first major break when she was cast to voice Toph, a blind 12-year-old, who is also the most powerful Earthbender ever born, in Avatar: The Last Airbender. The show ran for three seasons and became hugely popular with both young and adult audiences alike. It also won several awards, including two Annie Award for Best Television Production, a Nickelodeon Kid’s Choice Award for Favourite Cartoon, and a prestigious Peabody Award. Two episodes were also nominated for Primetime Emmys.
More recently, Murphy has been focusing on her studies, which have involved graduating with a double major in Theatre and Film from Yale, one of the most prestigious universities in the world.
