If you don’t know that much about Shirley Henderson just by reading her name then you might recognize her once you see her picture since she’s been around for a while and she’s taken on a few roles that people might remember quite well considering that they’ve been rather prominent in pop culture. One as you can imagine is Babu Frik, the little, whiskered guy from the Rise of Skywalker that had the ability to tamper with C-3PO’s programming but had to wipe his memory in order to gain access to the Sith translation that the companions needed so badly. For a while Frik was considered to be something of a big deal since he was another cute creature that had emerged from the Star Wars movies and was highly thought of by a good number of fans. But apart from the voice work that she’s done in her career, which is minimal when compared to the live acting she’s done, Shirley has been the type of actress that appears to have a good deal of fun with each role as is indicated by her approach to each character she’s taken on. Babu Frik was kind of there and gone character as he was there when needed and gone again when the story moved on to other aspects, meaning that he wasn’t too essential but he was definitely thrown in for the fans to enjoy.
One role that a lot of people might remember Shirley for isn’t a voice role, but is that of Moaning Myrtle, who was one of the resident ghosts at Hogwarts and had kind of a thing for Harry. The thing about this however that’s kind of creepy came from learning that Shirley was so much older than Daniel Radcliffe and despite having to play the ghost of a young girl, who she fit perfectly really, there were a couple of moments worthy of cringe when this was discovered. In the spirit of enjoying the movie however a lot of people simply let it go (imagine that) as otherwise it could have been a big issue that some folks might have been glad to continually bring up. Her career has definitely been something impressive since Shirley has been active in displaying her skills for some time and has a great amount of experience in show business. She’s worked with some of the biggest names in the industry and has done her part to help make every movie and show she’s featured in something that people will remember.
How she came up with the voice of Babu Frik is kind of hard to say but the fact that her voice was the one picked for it is interesting enough for the likes of Rebecca Pahle of SyFy Wire as she goes on to gush about Henderson in a big way while kind of reaffirming that while in her 30s she was a bit too old to be playing a high school girl, or even the ghost of one. That being said though she’s only one of a few personalities that’s kind of entered the Star Wars family under the radar so to speak since there have been other noted names that have come and gone in the franchise and not been noticed in a big way. It’s pretty fair to state that people know her more for her live action parts than for her voice work as she’s a welcome sight in many movies and TV shows that she’s been a part of and she’s definitely made it known that she has her own style and her own way of doing things, which has worked to this point and definitely something that has made her stand out from the rest. It’s kind of a wonder that Babu Frik wasn’t given his own short story in order to bring Henderson back in, though of course there’s always the future to look forward to, and the possibility that we might see the little droidsmith again at some point since he did survive.
In the meantime Henderson has been going about her career in a way that makes it clear that she’s sticking around and that she’s not changing much about what she does since what she’s doing tends to work at this time. Like so many actors she’s done what is needed to adapt and evolve in the business and has managed to become successful while doing it. Anyone that’s been a part of the Star Wars universe at some point, especially on the big screen, even if it’s just their voice, can definitely be counted as a success considering that this is one of the most well-known franchises in the world. It’s kind of fun to wonder if she’ll continue to show up in Star Wars in the future or if Babu Frik was a one-time deal.
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