Sugar Lyn Beard

Born Stephanie Lyn Beard in Cochrane, a town in northeastern Ontario, Canada, she began her performing career as an emcee at dances and parties while attending Pope John Paul II Catholic Secondary School in Scarborough, Ontario. At one such event, Beard's unique speaking voice caught the attention of a radio personality on Toronto's Top 40 radio station KISS 92.5 FM. She made an appearance on the popular "Mad Dog and Billie" program, where she provided the helium-high voice of a persona called "Suga BayBee." The character soon became an audience favorite, and even spawned a local hit single with the song "The Real Suga BayBee," a parody of Eminem's "The Real Slim Shady." In 1991, Beard made her screen acting debut on the popular Canadian comedy series "The Red Green Show" (CBC, 1991-2006), but found more regular work as a voice-over artist for a wide variety of animated series, beginning in 2000 with an English-language dub of the popular "Sailor Moon" anime series for Canada's YTV network. Executives at YTV were impressed by Beard's vocal talent and effervescent personality, and in 2001 hired her to serve as host of "The Zone" (YTV, 1991-), a weekday afternoon block of children's programming. Billed as Stephanie "Sugar" Beard, she hosted numerous segments within the programming block while also penning and performing songs with co-host Carlos Bustamente. During this period, Beard expanded her resume of voice acting roles with regular and guest contributions to English versions of Japanese animated series like "Pecola" (Teletoon/Cartoon Network, 2001-2003), as well as North American cartoon programs and features like "Care Bears: The Big Wish Movie" (2005), while also penning a regular column for Brand New Planet, a youth-oriented insert in the Toronto Star newspaper. Beard left "The Zone" and Canada in 2007 to try her hand at breaking into the acting business in Los Angeles. Guest shots on series like "Weeds" and more substantive roles in independent features soon led to appearances in major projects like the comedy-drama "50/50" with Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Jamie Travis' "For a Good Time, Call " (2012) with Ari Graynor and Justin Long. Beard settled into a string of independent comedies and TV appearances before earning her big break with a supporting role in Cameron Crowe's big-screen comedy "Aloha," with Bradley Cooper and Emma Stone and a voice acting turn in "Sausage Party," an animated comedy featuring the voices of James Franco and Seth Rogen.