Oakville's Marieve Herington is more than just a pretty voice

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“I'd like mine extra well-done,” a quote from Emmy-nominated Marieve Herington’s award-winning character, Tilly, of the Disney Channel’s animated series Big City Greens.

While her character might be referring to the preparedness of her steak, Herington’s life and career define a job well done.

Born and raised in Oakville, Marieve had her first acting role at the age of nine on the Oakville Centre for Performing Arts stage when she played Tiny Tim in a production of A Christmas Carol. She remembers that it was then that the acting bug firmly bit her.

Her newly obtained agent tested her abilities in various industry parts, falling into voice acting quite by accident. Denied access from viewing cartoons as a child, Marieve had no reference and approached each audition by character creation, never mimicking another.

Her beginnings were with Disney, and Herington was naturally cast in comedic roles. Many will remember her recurring character Winnie in the beloved Disney Channel series Good Luck Charlie.

During her career, Marieve snagged lead voice-over opportunities in Anime for Nozomi in Yes! Procure 5, Honoka in Love Live! School Idol Project, and Tsuruno in the 2020 series of Magic Record. Procuring numerous supporting roles, Herington is also known for her voice-over appearance as Celestia Ludenberg in an installment of Danganronpa the video game Trigger Happy Havoc, and as Vivian in the Seven Deadly Sins. Not without mention was her role as Yizhimei in the 2016 Final Fantasy XV game.

In her later teens, comedy became her chosen genre when she discovered her ability to make people laugh. Her talent landed her a notable role as Betty in CBS’s Emmy Award-winning series How I Met Your Mother.

Over several years, Herington has earned voice credits in the Alpha and Omega franchise, as well as many other popular animated films like The Bigfoot Family, Pippi Longstocking, Ice Age, and Monster High.

To date, her favourite opportunity has been to voice the adored character Tilly from Disney Channel’s Big City Greens, receiving Emmy nominations for her character three years in a row, as well as an Annie Award nom. As Disney Channel’s highest-ranked program for children, the success has drawn a lot of interest from A-listers for cameo spots throughout the series. With Season 4 now behind them, the show’s Creators and Executive Producers, Shane and Chris Houghton, have comfortably dubbed Big City Greens a family sitcom.

“The show is really special to me. I’m so invested. I was excited to contribute to a fun series that has such a well-written script,” shares Herington in response to her voice directing debut for last season. “I’m equally as thrilled for the upcoming release of Big City Greens, the Movie Musical.” 

Multi-talented, Marieve also sings. Her voice is light and airy, with a rhythmic quality that makes your toes tap and your face smile. Herington explains, “There is a real musicality to animation. The ability to sing was a necessary skill. I love it so much that I couldn’t resist putting together The Marieve Herington Band. I went on the jazz circuit doing covers.”

In 2021, Marieve and her husband, Jeffrey Jones, became first-time parents, and both wrote, produced and starred in their independent film Not Yet.

Herington divides her time infusing her and her husband’s parenthood escapades into weekly sketches on their tik tok account, Large and in Charge, written and produced under We are Large and In Charge Productions. What started as a relatable journey as a newly pregnant, first-time mom evolved into their lives as a new family unit, which has since garnered a community of 1 million followers. The skits are also available to watch on Instagram.  

The two wrote and produced the award-winning comedy short series, Instagrammie. More recently, Herington and Jones’ independent film, Not Yet, dramatizing the pressures of starting a family, has been screened in several film festivals and will have its Canadian festival premiere at the Montreal Independent Film Festival from March 23 to 26, where it is nominated in the categories, Best Narrative Short as well as Best First Time Filmmaker. Best efforts are being made for a guest appearance by Marieve at the 10th Anniversary event for Oakville Festivals of Film & Art this June.

They also shot a dark comedy short, Baby Steps, which Marieve wrote, produced and starred in under her husband’s direction. The story centres around a new mother deep in the chaos of the postpartum phase, taking her first steps towards reclaiming herself. This film has a release date of fall 2023. 

Herington just filmed her role in a scene alongside Rose Byrne in the upcoming Season 3 of the award-winning dark comedy Physical on AppleTV+—airing date is to be announced.

You can watch Herington in the part of Donna in a March 2023 release of Funny Face, a comedy short directed by Jude Harris, also being premiered at the South by Southwest Film Festival.

NHL has teamed up with Disney Channel to televise the first-ever animated hockey game on ESPN on March 14 at 7 pm ET, during which Marieve will do live improv as Tilly—delighted at another opportunity for Tilly to be characterized as a positive role model. The intention is to get young children excited about hockey and to encourage more participation by youths in the sport. Animated versions of actual NHL players will skate alongside some characters from Big City Greens.

Though Herington loves being part of Big City Greens, she has a soft spot for her time spent on set with Good Luck Charlie. She remembers the whole experience being so positive, from the writers to how supportive the director was and how well he had treated the actors.

She admits that her dream role would be to have the opportunity to play the mom of a next-generation version of Good Luck Charlie. With all of her experience since playing Winnie, she feels it would be a natural and credible transition.

Ultimately, Marieve’s significant goal is to create and star in her show. With her own production company, acting in and shepherding her shows that are funny, heartfelt, that feels good in empowered female-driven stories. 

She expressed a dream opportunity to work with the two talented women, Mindy Kaling and Sharon Horgan, in a feature film or made-for-television comedy film.

Herington shares, “The trick for memorizing lines, no matter how diverse the opportunities that come are and how close the timelines are, is to know your story that you’re telling, the character, and the point of view; then the lines will come easily."