Saffron Henderson (born September 25, 1965) is a Canadian voice actress and singer and the daughter of Chilliwack founder and lead vocalist Bill Henderson. She has voiced various characters from anime series. She is usually cast as mature and occasionally flirtatious young women, or as a child, mostly young boys.
Her well-known roles include Shenhua from Black Lagoon, Aisha from Gundam SEED, Sachiko Yagami from Death Note, and Oxnard from Hamtaro. She was also the first voice of Naruto's Kurenai Yuhi before being replaced by Mary Elizabeth McGlynn.
Henderson was replaced by Jillian Michaels as Gohan in The Ocean Group dub of Dragon Ball Z. Henderson had been voicing the character from the very beginning (since 1996) but had to quit just before voice work began on the Cell Games Saga. The reason being is that her wedding, which took place sometime in January or February 2001, conflicted with her allotted work schedule for the series, which was being recorded at a very rapid pace. Both of her roles in Inuyasha were also replaced, with Rebecca Shoichet taking over both Sota and Eri after Henderson played them for the first half of the series.
She's also worked some as an on-camera actress, notably in the horror films The Fly II and Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan. In the former, she played Veronica Quaife in the opening scene, taking over the Geena Davis role, and the rocker J.J. Jarret in the latter, whom Jason Voorhees used a guitar to kill with.
Henderson has also provided backing vocals on several albums, including for ex-Bad Company vocalist Paul Rodgers' 1999 album Electric.
And as for the Tropes that are known with Saffron Henderson:
- Action Girl: When she plays a female character there is a very good chance that her role will get involved in the action regardless of their alignment.
- High-Heel–Face Turn: While she has voiced plenty of antagonists many of them don't stay that way.
- The Other Darrin:
- When she temporarily moved to Los Angeles in 2001, all of her then-roles in Vancouver were recast:
- Rebecca Shoichet replaced her as both Sora Higurashi and Eri in Inuyasha.
- Nicole Oliver and Willow Johnson replaced her as Niriya and Yukari in The Vision of Escaflowne, respectively.
- Sharon Alexander replaced her as Kentaro in Maison Ikkoku.
- Jillian Michaels replaced her as Gohan in Dragon Ball Z and Aisha in Mobile Suit Gundam SEED.
- Andrew Francis replaced her as Genki Sakura in Monster Rancher.
- When she moved back to Vancouver in 2005, all of her then-roles in Los Angeles were recast:
- Mary Elizabeth McGlynn replaced her as Kurenai Yui in Naruto (Saffron only voiced her in one episode).
- Karen Strassman replaced her as Sherrie in Zatch Bell!.
- When she temporarily moved to Los Angeles in 2001, all of her then-roles in Vancouver were recast:
- Pigeon Holed Voice Actor: Her most known voices are either cutesy young boys or lower sultry voices. She has done other roles but they are generally not well known.
