The character may sound like a toddler.
The performer may be an experienced adult actor.
And sometimes, that performer has to create every sound the toddler makes.
The Strange Relationship Between Acting and Physiology
The Tara Strong story also highlights something fascinating about acting in general.
A good performance doesn't just communicate information.
It can trigger reactions.
A sad movie can make someone cry.
A suspenseful scene can raise a viewer's heart rate.
A frightening sound can make someone jump.
A familiar song can instantly evoke memories.
And an extremely realistic infant cry can activate caregiving-related responses in listeners.
These reactions are not necessarily signs that someone has been “fooled” in a simplistic sense.
They are evidence that the human nervous system is constantly interpreting sensory information and deciding how important it might be.
For a parent, a baby's cry can mean: Pay attention.
For a breastfeeding mother, it can sometimes mean: The baby may need to feed.
For the brain, the sound is therefore much more significant than an ordinary noise.
Strong's performance apparently tapped into that system.
A Funny Story With a Serious Biological Foundation
It is tempting to repeat the anecdote as though Tara Strong's voice literally made a woman start producing breast milk on command.
The reality is more nuanced.
Milk production and milk ejection involve several interacting hormones and physiological processes. Prolactin plays an important role in milk production, while oxytocin is central to milk ejection. A cry or other feeding-related cue can contribute to oxytocin release in lactating mothers, but responses vary from person to person.
In other words, the scientific evidence supports the possibility of an auditory trigger, but it does not independently verify exactly what happened to the particular woman Strong described.
That part remains Strong's personal recollection of an unusual studio incident.
What can be established separately is that the underlying physiological mechanism is real.
And that makes her story much more believable than it might initially sound.
The Legacy of an Unforgettable Recording Session
More than two decades after The Rugrats Movie, the story continues to circulate because it combines several things people rarely associate with one another:
Hollywood animation, celebrity casting, voice acting, breastfeeding physiology, and a moment of unexpected comedy.
Strong walked into the recording session to perform a fictional baby's sounds.
She didn't know that her performance would become part of her own professional story.
She certainly didn't expect the producers to stop the session because someone in the studio was experiencing a physical response to the sound.
And she probably didn't expect that the strange incident would eventually become one of the most memorable anecdotes connected to her role as Dil Pickles.
Yet that's precisely what happened.
More Than Just a Funny Voice-Acting Anecdote
The story also demonstrates how much work can go into creating something audiences hear for only a few seconds.
A baby's cry in an animated movie may seem simple.
It isn't.
The performer has to understand what kind of cry the scene requires.
Is the baby frightened?
Angry?
Hungry?
Frustrated?
Surprised?
Tired?
Is the cry beginning quietly and building in intensity, or does it erupt immediately?
Where does the performer breathe?