A free site I love using to create customized characters is voki.com.

Some of the customization possibilities include the character, clothing, accessories, and background picture. However, the reason I use Voki is for the ability to give the character a voice! You can add your own voice by recording it over the phone or microphone, typing in your text or uploading a file. If you type in the text you are able to choose the language/accent you want and even pick a specific voice for it too. Once you finish modifying your character, click publish to email it out or get the code to access it anywhere. I signed up for a free account to keep my vokis all in the same place on the website.