It's the end of an era.
The voice actress who has been playing the beloved children's character Peppa Pig for 13 years has decided to step down from the role. Harley Bird, 18, has voiced Peppa since she was just 5-years-old. In 2011, she won a BAFTA award for her work on the popular cartoon.
Starting in February, Bird will be replaced by 9-year-old Amelie Bea Smith. "We're delighted to welcome Amelie to the Peppa Pig voice cast and confident that she will continue the strong legacy of the previous Peppa voice actors," Peppa Pig co-creators Neville Astley and Mark Baker said in a statement.
Smith's agent, Mark Jermin, said the young actress is "thrilled" to be the new voice of Peppa. "Amelie has been a huge fan of the show since she was little, so voicing the title role is like a dream come true and she's thrilled to become part of the voice cast," he said.
Smith, of course, has big shoes to fill. Though Bird isn't the only actress to have voiced Peppa over the years, she held the role longer than any other actress. She voiced Peppa in 185 episodes during her long running stint on the show. In a statement of her own, Bird called her work on the show "the start of an incredible journey" and wished her young successor the best of luck on her own journey with Peppa.
Photo: Entertainment One