Pamela Adlon

Pamela Adlon (/ˈædlɒn/ AD-lon; née Segall; born July 9, 1966) is an American actress. She is known for voicing Bobby Hill in the animated comedy series King of the Hill (1997–2010, 2025–present), for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award. She also voiced Baloo in Jungle Cubs (1996–1998), the title role in the Pajama Sam video game series (1996–2001), Lucky in 101 Dalmatians: The Series (1997–1998), Margaret "Moose" Pearson in Pepper Ann (1997–2000), Ashley Spinelli in Recess (1997–2001), Otto Osworth in Time Squad (2001–2003), Vidia in the Tinker Bell franchise and Brigette Murphy in Milo Murphy's Law (2016–2019), among numerous others.

Pamela Adlon is also known for her roles in the comedy-drama series Californication (2007–2014) and Louie (2010–2015), the latter of which she additionally wrote and produced alongside Louis C.K. Her work on Louie garnered her four Primetime Emmy Award nominations. From 2016 to 2022, Pamela Adlon starred as Sam Fox on the acclaimed FX comedy-drama series Better Things, which she also co-created, wrote, produced, and directed. The series won a Peabody Award, and she was nominated twice for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series.

Pamela Adlon has appeared in numerous films since making her acting debut in Grease 2 (1982). Her most notable films include Say Anything... (1989), Bed of Roses (1996), Lucky 13 (2005), Conception (2011), First Girl I Loved (2016), I Love You, Daddy (2017), Bumblebee (2018), and The King of Staten Island (2020). She made her feature film directorial debut with the comedy Babes (2024).

Adlon was born in New York City. She is the daughter of Marina Lucy (née Leece) and Donald Maxwell "Don" Segall, who was a television comedy writer-producer and author of comic books and science fiction pulp novels. Her father produced The Dave Garroway Show, which became AM New York and then The Today Show. He was a page at NBC with Gilbert Cates and wrote erotic fiction under various pseudonyms, including Troy Conway. Adlon's mother is English, while her father, an American, was from Boston. Her father was born to a Jewish family of Russian-Jewish and Ukrainian-Jewish descent, and her mother, originally an Anglican, converted to Judaism. Adlon has said that her parents met at a USO event in Paris.

As a child, Adlon lived in the Carnegie House at 100 West 57th Street. She has said that she and her family lived bi-coastally, moving between Los Angeles and New York because her father was a journeyman writer and producer for TV. She began performing at age nine; one of her father's friends had a radio studio, so she would do voice-over work there. While in Los Angeles she did TV and film acting work. She attended Sarah Lawrence College for a semester. After moving to Laurel Canyon, Los Angeles, she shared a house with Anna Gunn.

Adlon made her acting debut as Dolores Rebchuck in the 1982 musical sequel film Grease 2. She had a recurring role as Kelly Affinado in the sitcom The Facts of Life (1983–1984). This was followed by appearances in Bad Manners (1984), Night Court (1984), Willy/Milly (1986), Star Trek: The Next Generation (1989), Say Anything... (1989), Sgt. Bilko (1996), and Plump Fiction (1997). Although Adlon was successful as a child actress, she struggled to find acting roles in her 20s. It led her to develop a substantial voice-over career which she cited as saving her career.

Adlon gained further acclaim and recognition for voicing the starring role of Bobby Hill in the animated comedy series King of the Hill (1997–2010), for which she received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance in 2002. Adlon also gained recognition for voicing Margaret "Moose" Pearson in Pepper Ann (1997–2000), Ashley Spinelli in Recess (1997–2001), Brigette Murphy in Milo Murphy's Law (2016–2019), and the voice of newborn Halley Wolowitz in The Big Bang Theory.

Adlon is recognizable for her husky voice, which led to her voicing young boys in numerous animated series and films. She voiced Baloo in Jungle Cubs (1996–1998), the title role in the video game series Pajama Sam (1996–2001), Lucky in 101 Dalmatians: The Series (1997–1998), Hector McBadger in Jakers! The Adventures of Piggley Winks (2003–2007), and Andy in Squirrel Boy (2006–2007), among numerous others. She was nominated for an Annie Award for her role as Otto Osworth in the Cartoon Network animated comedy series Time Squad (2001–2003). She continued to voice characters in films, such as The Animatrix (2003) and as Vidia in the Tinker Bell film series (2008–2015).