became a metaphor for children of all ages. In a 1996 interview, Germain stated; "whether the kids are speaking an incomprehensible language, or simply speaking when the adults can't hear (whether intentionally or not) became a secondary issue in the show. We kept them apart when we could, cheated when we couldn't, and just let it become a secondary issue." According to Klasky, Tommy was first illustrated by Gábor Csupó, Rugrats co-creator and Klasky's husband at the time. The character was drawn to look Brandon Csupó, the young son of Klasky and Csupó, who Klasky described as "pigeon-toed, skinny legs, big head, no hair". Csupó has described Tommy as "a spoof on all little balding babies". After Tommy was first conceived and illustrated, Klasky said the Tommy character was further developed by Germain in his capacity as the story editor, along with his writing staff. Writer Steve Viksten portrayed Tommy as more adventurous than the other characters, and partially modeled the character after the actor John Wayne. Viksten wrote the line: "A baby’s gotta do what a baby's gotta do", which became synonymous with the character. As the series progressed, Klasky inserted more elements of her personal life into Tommy's character, such as being part of an interfaith family and being of Russian Jewish descent. Tommy Pickles has been used in various Rugrats episodes to highlight and explore irrational childhood fears, such an episode in which he avoids using the bathtub for fear that he will be sucked down the drain. Portrayal Tommy was voiced by actress E. G. Daily (1991-2008). The voice Daily conceived for Tommy was one of a child character she had been developing since she her youth, and regularly performed to amuse her friends throughout her life. She described as "just a little boy character that kind of lives in me [that] wasn't derived from anything in particular." Immediately upon first seeing claymation of Tommy, she felt that voice was the correct fit for the character, describing it as "the first voice that came out of me" and "the right kind of voice for that look". Daily said of the character: Cheryl Chase had also auditioned for the part of Tommy and did not get it, but later became the voice actress for the character Angelica Pickles. Rugrats was one of the first voice-over auditions in which Daily participated. She almost did not attend because she