Who Is Seth MacFarlane's Sister? New Details On Rachael MacFarlane And Her Book About Toxic Masculinity
You know her voice.
Getty Images Chances are when you watch your kids' favorite cartoons with them, or maybe even your OWN favorite cartoons, you aren't really thinking very much about the men and women who voice the characters you see in animated form. But the truth of the matter is that your favorite characters are voiced by insanely talented people who do a whole lot more than just talk in funny voices. Rachael MacFarlane is the perfect example of just this. The voice actor and sister of Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane is a supremely gifted voice actor, but her skills don't stop there. She's also a gifted author penning children's books designed to uplift and inspire. Here's everything you need to know about her. Who is Seth MacFarlane's sister?
1. Getting Started
Usually, when you're the brother or sister of someone famous, you have to rely on them if you want to get anything close to a "big break" in the industry. It actually wound up being the total opposite for Rachael MacFarlane. When her brother Seth MacFarlane was just getting started, he asked his sister to help him out on a new TV pilot. That TV show? Yeah, it would go on to be Family Guy, and it would catapult them both into fame. Rachael moved from New York to Los Angeles at her brother Seth's request after proving indispensable to him as a voice actor on the show. Rachael worked on Family Guy for years, and when her brother launched his next animated hit American Dad she worked on that too! she finally was upgraded from bit parts to a leading lady role as the voice of main character Hayley Smith, daughter to Stan Smith, government agent and over the top patriot. But this was just the beginning!
2. Voice Work
Sure, Rachael may have gotten her voice-acting feet wet performing roles in her brother's hit animated comedies, but that was far from all she was going to get done as a voice actor. In fact, once she started working for her brother, it didn't take very long for other major studios to notice her skills and put her to work. Before too long Rachael's voice could be heard just about everywhere. She began working for the Hanna Barbera company as well as Disney, two of the biggest names in the world when it comes to working in animation. She didn't just land decent roles in the world of animation either. She actually met her husband Spencer Laudiero, an animator, while on the job.
3. Children's Books
But these days doing voice work and helping out in other ways in the wacky world of animation isn't the only area that's been taking up her time. Rachael is the mother of two young daughters, and in her time as a parent, she has taken to writing children's books, ones that promote diversity, love and acceptance. Her newest book is called, Harrison Dwight: Ballerina & Knight. “We thought, this is a topic that really still needs to be looked at and if we can create a children’s book that is bright and fun about a little boy who feels his feelings with pride, who loves pink, loves purple, loves to dance, is very sensitive and emotive, it could be a really great opportunity not only for kids to be exposed to this idea at a young age but also, eye-opening for parents,” Rachael said.
4. Toxic Masculinity
In her newest book, Rachael is tackling an issue that is everywhere you look these days: toxic masculinity. It's a challenging subject for even adults to talk about in a formal setting, so it's pretty exceptional that Rachael and her life partner Spencer decided to make it a subject that even children could understand. "There’s such a buzz phrase right now about this toxic masculinity and that is for a reason. But so much of what we see in terms of violence, school shootings, I feel like it can be traced back to just that complete and utter suppression of emotion and who you are. Spencer and I are just trying to tackle these things in a small way in the form of children’s books to introduce these concepts at an early age," she said.
5. Her Father
Harrison Dwight: Ballerina & Knight has a touching dedication. Rachael dedicated the book to her father, who she says was a very positive role model for her growing up, in more ways than one. While many people are raised by fathers who have their own issues with masculinity, that wasn't something Rachael experienced with her father. “While my dad was a very classically masculine figure — he built our house by hand as a child, carved every timber and was sort of a Connecticut mountain man — he was also phenomenally sensitive and emotional. He never shied away from letting us see him sad or cry or be moved by something or just be melancholy or just a whole array of emotion, whereas my mother was much tougher and she wasn’t as emotional," shared Rachel.
Rebecca Jane Stokes is a writer living in Brooklyn, New York with her cats, Batman and Margot. She's an experienced generalist with a passion for lifestyle, geek news, pop culture, and true crime. For more of her work, check out her Tumblr.