Tress MacNeille is an American voice actress with an extensive career in animation, including providing voices for English-language adaptations of anime films. Born Teressa Claire Payne in Chicago, Illinois, in 1951, she developed an early interest in voice acting. She graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, and worked as a disc jockey before pursuing voiceover work full-time. MacNeille was also a member of the improvisational comedy group The Groundlings for ten years, a background that contributed to her vocal versatility and comedic timing.

MacNeille's career in voice acting began in the late 1970s with minor roles in various animated series. Her breakthrough came with prominent roles in major American animated series, such as Babs Bunny in Tiny Toon Adventures and Dot Warner in Animaniacs, the latter earning her an Annie Award nomination in 1995. Her vast body of work includes long-standing roles on The Simpsons and Futurama, as well as being the voice of Disney's Daisy Duck since 1999.

In the realm of anime, MacNeille has contributed to English dubs of several notable films. One such role is Shige, the maternal grandmother, in the Studio Ghibli film My Neighbors the Yamadas (1999). In this English-language version produced by Walt Disney Home Entertainment, she joined a cast that included Molly Shannon and James Belushi to voice this central character in the slice-of-life story about a Japanese family. Her other work in English anime dubs includes voicing a character in the 1984 film Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind.

Throughout her decades-long career, Tress MacNeille has been recognized as a prolific and influential figure in voice acting, known for her ability to create a wide array of distinct and memorable characters across both Western animation and Japanese anime adaptations.