The Actors Who Play Bluey’s Mom and Dad Met Way More Recently Than You Think
The Australian voice actors appeared on The Tonight Show together just days after their first IRL intro.
Don't tell your kids, but the parents on Bluey didn't meet in real life until it had already been on for four years.
Dave McCormack and Melanie Zanetti, who play the dogs Bandit and Chilli Heeler respectively, appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on November 21, 2022 to promote the Australian cartoon phenomenon. During their chat with Jimmy Fallon, they revealed they'd only met IRL two days before, despite the show having premiered in 2018.
"We record separately," Zanetti explained. "We live in different cities, and I travel a lot for work. So this was the first time! It was wild — in New York!"
McCormack said the remote setup was a surprise to him when he began recording.
"I thought it would be all of us sitting around a table, you know, like in the movies when they're making a TV show," he said. "Everyone is sitting around the table with coffee and salads and rolls and stuff. But we're just isolated in our booths."
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Dave McCormack's real kids were "confused" by Bandit Heeler's voice
Because the actors' iconic roles on the show only involve voices, they shared that they also have complicated relationships with children who are fans of the show. McCormack's own children were "confused" when they first started watching.
"They'd look at the TV and Bandit speaking, and look at me, and look at the TV like, 'What's going on?'" he said. "It's a connection."
It also means that parents are often disappointed when they try to get their kids excited about meeting an actor from Bluey.
"It's weird when parents say, 'Come and meet my kid. They love the show,'" he explained. "I'm like, 'Oh, don't, they normally burst into tears.' They think I've eaten Bandit, whose voice is coming out."
And when they ask him to do the voice, all he can do is speak in his normal voice.
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The voice actors for Bluey and Bingo are not credited to protect the childrens' privacy
Bandit and Chilli are, of course, the parents of the show's real stars: Bluey and her little sister Bingo. But Bluey, Bingo, and the other kid characters are voiced by the children of the show's production crew and their names are kept private to keep them out of the public eye.
Several grown-up celebrities have voiced other adult characters, however. Eva Mendes, Rose Byrne, Robert Irwin, Natalie Portman, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and even one of The Wiggles have all lent their voices to the show.
Mendes joined Fallon on The Tonight Show in September 2024 and shared that while her kids have not been impressed by any of her other roles, they loved when she voiced a yoga instructor on Bluey.
"Now that impressed them," she said. "It's so deep, right?"
