Who Played Harley Quinn Before Margot Robbie

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Given how prominent antiheroine Harley Quinn has become in pop culture, it's almost surprising that the character was first introduced in 1992's Batman: The Animated Series — over 50 years since Batman and many of his counterparts established the DC Universe.

Harley is traditionally characterized as a psychiatrist-turned-villain, who falls in love with the Joker before leaving their relationship to start a crime empire of her own.

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In the 28 years since she was first introduced, the character has been brought to life in numerous movies, TV shows, and video games. Most recently, she was played by Margot Robbie in the 2020 film Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of Harley Quinn).

Harley Quinn was based on a Days of Our Lives clip. NBC and Days of Our Lives via YouTube/Warner Bros and Batman: The Animated Series

The character's creator, Paul Dini, was inspired to create Harley Quinn (a Harlequin-like accomplice to The Joker) after watching his college friend, Arleen Sorkin, play a clown in a surreal scene from the soap opera Days of Our Lives. In the clip, her character appears as a flamboyant, roller-skating court jester.

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I thought, Maybe there should be a girl [working with the Joker], Dini told Vulture. And I thought, Should the girl be like a tough street thug? Or like a hench-person or something? And then suddenly the idea of someone funny kind of struck me.

She went on to originate the role in the first season of 1992's Batman: The Animated Series, and reprised it in eight more shows and video games. Her own nasally, sing-song Brooklyn accent served as the basis for the iconic Harley Quinn voice that virtually all other actresses who voice the character try to emulate.

Mia Sara, who's best known for playing Sloane Peters in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, also played the character in Birds of Prey — the 2002 TV series, not the upcoming movie.

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In the character's first live-action appearance, Harley returned to her original job as a psychiatrist and used the position to help herself become Gotham's newest crime lord.

In The Batman, Walch's Harley was the host of a romance talk show and joined the Joker after Bruce Wayne canceled her show.

The actress returned to voice the character in 2014's Assault on Arkham, in which Harley Quinn is tasked with retrieving a USB drive with important information from a Gotham mental hospital.

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When it comes to playing Harley Quinn, Tara Strong has run the gambit. Since first taking on the role in 2015's DC Super Hero Girls, she has voiced the character 33 times. Strong even cosplayed as Harley at San Diego Comic-Con in 2016.

In the game, her version of Harley Quinn was equipped with both a mallet and a handgun, and (unlike the heroes in Lego Batman) could open doors.

Janyse Jaud was the first actress to play Harley Quinn in a motion comics series. Charles Edwards / Shutterstock and DC Comics/AnarchysProphet

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Harley Quinn briefly appeared in the 2017 motion comic series, Batman: Black and White, to protest that she and the Joker were innocent during her time as a prisoner in Arkham Asylum.

Strange's Harley was a 1920s flapper who appeared in one episode of Batman: The Brave and the Bold. In the episode, Harley appeared to help Joker rob Gotham's Museum of Comedy.

Bailey took over the role from Grey DeLisle, voicing her in both the Lego Batman videogame sequel, Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes, and the 2013 movie Lego Batman: The Movie — DC Super Heroes Unite.

Actresses Who Played Harley Quinn In Film And Tv, Ranked

Kang Ji-Young played Harley Quinn in DC Super Heroes vs. Eagle Talon (2017). Ilgan Sports/Multi-Bits via Getty Images and Warner Bros Entertainment

In a 2017 anime-style Justice League movie, DC Super Heroes vs. Eagle Talon, South Korean actress Kang Ji Young voiced Harley Quinn.

In doing so, she became the first and only woman of color to have played the character in her nearly 30-year existence.

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The Big Bang Theory star Melissa Rauch voiced the character in Batman and Harley Quinn (2017). Michael Yarish/Warner Bros Entertainment and Warner Bros Animation

Batman and Harley Quinn reluctantly team up in the 2017 animated film, Batman and Harley Quinn, and viewers might recognize the voice behind the antiheroine — she's played by Melissa Rauch, who was Bernadette Rostenkowski in The Big Bang Theory.

I love that Harley is a badass and, beyond that, that she uses her humor as another weapon in her arsenal, Rauch told Empire Magazine. She knows just how to diffuse a situation with her humor, and how to incite a situation with her sarcasm. It's a dream role.

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Post's version of the character has black diamonds painted over her eyes and is more of an independent mobster than the Joker's confidant.

The former Saturday Night Live star is no stranger to voice work, having appeared in movies like The Secret Life of Pets and Zootopia.

Known for playing characters like Lady Fish and Mom in Spongebob Squarepants, Irwin played the character as the professional psychiatrist she was before joining the Joker.

Harley Quinn (dc Extended Universe)

In Batman vs. Two-Face, Dr. Harleen Quinzel becomes involved when Gotham District Attorney Harvey Dent is accidentally transformed into the villain Two-Face during a laboratory accident.

Her name might sound similar to Birds of Prey actress, Margot Robbie, but voice actress Margot Rubin took over Jenny Slate's Lego Harley Quinn role in The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part.

In a reference to Suicide Squad, Quinn tells main character Emmett (Chris Pratt) that his plan to rescue his girlfriend is a suicide mission.

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Rauch isn't the only Big Bang Theory actress to play Harley Quinn. In 2019, Kaley Cuoco (who played Penny on the popular CBS show) voiced the titular character in Adult Swim's 2019 Harley Quinn adult animated web series.

I've perfected certain looks and facial expressions over the years, so this [role] in a way was harder — also because I'm voicing someone as iconic as Harley, Cuoco said in an interview with Digital Spy.

Robbie has arguably become the most recognizable Harley Quinn actress, largely because she was the first to play her in a live-action movie (2016's Suicide Squad).

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The actress became very involved with the character's future in the current DC cinematic universe, pitching a Harley girl gang movie that grew into this year's Birds of Prey. In the film, she teams up with several female superheroes to take down a Gotham crime lord.

While I was researching Harley, I was devouring the comics. I became kind of obsessed with them at some point, Robbie said in an interview with Variety. Harley has this unpredictable nature that means she could react in any way to any situation, which as an actor is just a gift. Between all those things, I really just fell in love with her.