The animated series boasted a star-studded voice cast, featuring talents like the acclaimed Regina King and beloved sitcom actor Ed Asner, alongside numerous renowned comedians. While their faces might not immediately come to mind, their names surely resonate. With such a powerhouse ensemble, it can be challenging to connect the voices to the characters they brought to life. Let’s delve into the real-life appearances of “The Boondocks” key cast members.

Regina King delivered an exceptional performance by voicing both Huey and Riley Freeman, the show’s central characters. Huey, guided by a strong sense of justice, contrasts sharply with his brother Riley, who is enamored with fame and glamor. While Huey’s hero might be Malcolm X, Riley looks up to Snoop Dogg. Despite their differences, King infuses each character with unique identities, showcasing her versatility—a talent that eventually earned her an Oscar for her role in “If Beale Street Could Talk.”

Comedy icon John Witherspoon infused the character of Robert “Granddad” Freeman with both humor and depth. While Granddad often served as a challenging role model for Huey and Riley due to his impulsive actions, he could always be relied upon to protect and support his grandsons when it mattered most.

Witherspoon’s ability to portray these contrasting facets of Robert stemmed from his diverse career. As a stand-up comedian who also appeared in films like “The Jazz Singer,” he mastered the art of combining laughter with thought-provoking moments. His voice acting portfolio included roles such as Franco Aplenty, the temperamental father of Pickles Aplenty, in “Bojack Horseman”; Wayne, Wade’s photographer great-granduncle, in “Kim Possible”; and Oran Jones, Dijonay’s brother, in “The Proud Family.” Sadly, Witherspoon passed away from a heart attack on October 29, 2019, at the age of 77.

Comedy legend John Witherspoon added humor and gravitas to the role of Robert “Granddad” Freeman in “The Boondocks.” Robert could be a frustrating role model for Huey and Riley, often doing foolish things either in a fit of temper or over a woman. But when the chips are down and the stakes high, he can always be counted on to stand up for the boys.

Witherspoon knew how to balance these different sides of Robert due to this wide-ranging career. A stand-up comedian who also appeared in dramas like “The Jazz Singer,” he knew how to make them laugh while making them think. His voiceover resume included playing the temperamental dad of Pickles Aplenty (Hong Chau and Julia Chan), Franco Aplenty, in “Bojack Horseman”; Wayne  – Wade’s (Tahj Mowry) photographer great grand uncle — in “Kim Possible”; and Oran Jones, Dijonay’s (Karen Malina White) brother in “The Proud Family.” Witherspoon passed away from a heart attack on October 29, 2019 at the age of 77.

Tom DuBois is a nice — if very orderly and bland — ally for the Freemans. He loves his family, his job as an attorney, and doesn’t like making waves. One might argue he’s something of a wimp. But he’s a good guy most of the time. Usually, when chaos descends upon him, it’s because of his friends — or his secretly wild wife, Sarah. Tom tries to roll with the punches, but often finds himself taking them right in the face instead.

The man who plays him, Cedric Yarbrough has maintained a very active career behind the microphone. He’s quite recognizable for his role as pimp Chocolate Giddy-Up in the live-action and animated version of “Black Dynamite.” Perhaps because he initially attained fame by playing S. Jones in “Reno 911!,” Yarbrough is frequently called upon to voice police officers and detectives.

Among the actor’s recurrent VA roles is that of Kolax, Tyrannis’ (Richard Ayode) servant in “Krapopolis.” He also has a long history of working for Warner’s animation arm; among many smaller roles scattered across their properties, he voiced Silas Stone for “Batman Unlimited: Monster Mayhem,” and was Firestorm and Black Lightning in “Justice League: Crisis on two Earths.”

Sarah DuBois may seem like a sweet, ordinary, everyday wife and mom — but deep down, she craves adventure and excitement. Her marriage to Tom is stultifying, and sometimes it looks like she couldn’t care less about him, but she remains a loyal and loving spouse to him — most of the time.

Sarah was voiced by Jill Talley, whose voice acting career has made her the stuff of legends. She’s forever been immortalized as Karen Plankton, computer wife of Plankton (Mr. Lawrence), in “Spongebob Squarepants” and all of its ancillary movies and spin-offs. Talley has also played characters like Squidina for the show. Outside of “Spongebob” and “The Boondocks,” Talley is probably best known for playing mom Rita Loud in “The Loud House.” She has also voiced characters in “Sausage Party: Foodtopia,” “Spidey and his Amazing Friends,” “Harley Quinn,” “American Dad!” and “Puppydog Pals,” among many other shows

Talley also maintains a thriving live-action acting career, which branched out from the sketch comedy and improvisational roots she formed working at Second City in Chicago. She was a frequent contributor to “Mr. Show with Bob and David” and its follow-up program “W/Bob and David.” On top of that, she’s been married to Spongebob himself, Tom Kenny, since 1996. They have two children together.

Jazmine DuBois encapsulates the kinder, gentler side of the human experience in “The Boondocks.” She and Huey have a somewhat antagonistic friendship throughout the series, as Huey cannot bear Jazmine’s pampered, sheltered, naïve ways. He often ends up speaking hard truths to her, which leaves her upset and in tears more often than not. Yet he cares about her and often tries to help her out when times get tough.

Two young actors provided voice work for Jazmine. Gabby Soleil played her from Season 1 to Season 3, and Jazmine and a background part on the Nickelodeon series “Catscratch” are her only voiceover roles. Soleil seems to have retired from the Hollywood game in recent years, with no new parts credited to her name since “The Boondocks” ended. But before then she was prolific, appearing in the film “Johnson Family Vacation” as Destiny Johnson, and playing a younger version of Dee Dee (Essence Atkins) in the sitcom “Half and Half.” Soleil also showed up as a younger version of Raven (Raven-Symoné) in an episode of “That’s So Raven.” She accrued guest spots on “My Wife and Kids,” “The Hughleys” and “ER” as well.

Kiarah Pollas picked up the part of Jazmine for Season 4 of “The Boondocks” and, as of this writing, the role remains her only credited animated part. She has a much shorter resume than Soleil’s — so far, Pollas has appeared as seven different characters in a series of short films released by Dhar Mann Studios, was Odie in the TV movie “The White Lighter,” and popped up as a background character in “Antwan Against All Odds.”

Gary Anthony Williams has a long resume behind him for a reason. No one else could voice the cruel, narrow-minded, self-hating Uncle Ruckus — a frequent foil for Granddad and the kids — with such gusto. If there’s something hateful to be done, Uncle Ruckus is always first in line to cozy up to authority figures and sell out the person nearest to him in order to curry favors for himself. 

 Williams has a sprawling resume that goes far beyond “The Boondocks,” including live-action as well as voiceover roles. His total collection of roles is impressive, including dozens of popular series. Different groups of people will recognize him for different projects, but almost everyone will know him from something. 

For instance, the very young viewer will recall him as Mr. McStuffins in “Doc McStuffins,” Mufasa in “The Lion Guard,” a Disney series spun off from “The Lion King,” or as Mr. DOS in “Special Agent OSO.” Teenagers will likely remember him from his video game work, which includes characters in various “Mass Effect” installments. He also portrayed High Councilman Rakim in “Eyes of Wakanda.” Adults will realize he recurred as Don during Season 2 of “Velma” and also voiced Remus and Romulus in Netflix’s animated version of “Good Times.” 

Ed Wuncler and his sons represent everything that’s wrong with America’s power structure — greed, capitalistic decadence, and cruelty, just to name a few. Not that Ed minds being a bad guy. He doesn’t hesitate to take advantage of people younger and more naïve than he is — just look at what he does to poor Jazmine when she launches a successful lemonade stand and refuses to sell to him in “The Block is Hot.” He ends up being the most prolific and powerful foe the Freemans and their neighbors face during the course of the program.

Wuncler is arguably one of Ed Asner’s best onscreen roles, but he was known for many more television and film outings across his long career outside of his work on “The Boondocks.” To filmgoers and the sensitive at heart, he’ll forever be remembered as the voice of the grumpy but kind Carl Fredricksen in Disney’s “Up.” He also spoke out as Hoggish Greedly in “Captain Planet and the Planeteers” and Hudson in “Gargoyles,” among many scattered guest appearances across various animated series. 

He, of course, was also beloved for playing irascible newsman Lou Grant across two legendary series — the much-loved sitcom “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and the drama “Lou Grant.” With 7 competitive Emmys and one honorary award under his belt, he’s the most decorated male actor in the Television Academy’s history as of this writing. Asner died on August 29, 2021 at the age of 91, of natural causes. He left a legend behind.