Anime might have started in Japan, but it’s become a worldwide obsession and a big part of that is thanks to the voice actors who bring these stories to life in other languages. While the original Japanese cast gets a lot of love (and rightfully so), the English voice actors have carved out their own legacy over the years.
These non-Japanese talents have helped make anime more accessible, relatable, and just plain fun for fans all over the world. From legendary characters to unexpected roles, their voices are now just as iconic as the originals for many viewers.
Leading the charge is Sean Schemmel, the voice behind none other than Goku himself in the Dragon Ball English dub. And he’s just the beginning. Here are 10 non-Japanese voice actors who’ve truly made their mark in anime, and chances are, you’ve heard them more than a few times.
Note: The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.
1) Sean Christian Schemmel
The list needs to start by naming one of the most iconic English voices in the anime industry, Sean Schemmel. He is a veteran voice actor, famously known for giving his voice to none other than Son Goku through Funimation’s dub of the Dragon Ball series throughout the years.
Apart from Goku, Schemmel has given his voice to several other anime characters, including Genzo from Samurai 7, Amidamaru from Shaman King, Lucario from Pokemon, and Elliot Grant from Mew Mew Power. After 25 years, Schemmel is still going strong with Dragon Ball: Diama.
2) Christopher Sabat
Sabat has voiced over 600 roles across platforms like anime, games, shows, and movies. He is, without a doubt, one of the legends when it comes to English dubs in the anime industry. He has been part of the genre since 1998 and was known to be the Voice Director of Dragon Ball Z.
Sabt started his career by giving his voice to various Dragon Ball characters, he is especially known for giving his voice to Saiyan Prince, Vegeta. Anime fans may also recognise him through other famous characters like Zoro from One Piece, All Might from MHA, and Alex Louis Armstrong from FMA.
3) Todd Haberkorn
Todd Haberkorn is a famous American voice actor and director. He has voiced around 300 characters across anime, films, and video games. He started his career in 2006 with Funimation, taking minor roles in anime like One Piece and Black Cat.
Haberkorn is famous for voicing Natsu Dragneel from Fairy Tail. His other notable roles include Allen Walker from D.Gray-man, Death the Kid from Soul Eater, narrator from Delicious in Dungeon. He recently voiced Horiguchi from Sakamoto Days.
4) Colleen Clinkenbeard
Colleen Clinkenbeard, known for giving her voice to one of the popular characters from the series One Piece, Luffy, has voiced for over 300 characters across anime, video games, TV shows, and movies.Â
Clinkenbeard voiced her first character in Dragon Ball GT as Colm, but she soon became famous for voicing One Piece protagonist Monkey D. Luffy, one of the longest-running shonen anime. She is known for notable roles, including Erza from Fairy Tail and Yuuko Ichihara from xxxHolic.
5) Matthew Mercer
Matthew Mercer is an American voice actor and game designer. He has provided voice work for cartoons, animations, video games, and English dubs of anime. His first voice role was for the anime Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan – Demon Capital, as Rihan Nura.
Fans might know Mercer for popular characters like Levi Ackerman in Attack on Titan, Kiritsugu Emiya in Fate/Zero, Jotaro Kujo in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, Trafalgar Law in One Piece, and Leorio in Hunter x Hunter.
6) Johnny Yong Bosch
Bosch is an American voice actor, martial artist, and musician who landed his first major role as Black Ranger, Adam Parkin. Later, the Green Zeo Ranger and the first Green Turbo Ranger in the Power Rangers franchise. The voice actor was nominated twice for the American Anime Award.
Bosch has a wide range of roles but is best known for his voice acting as Vash the Stampede in Trigun, Ichigo Kurosaki in Bleach, Yu Narukami, and Lelouch Vi Britannia in Code Geass.
7)Â Laura Bailey
Laura Bailey is an American voice actress who has voiced famous characters from both Western and Japanese animations. She made her voice acting debut as Kid Trunks in the Funimation dub of Dragon Ball Z.
Apart from voicing Kid Trunks, she is also best known for playing the protagonist of Shin-Chan, Maka Albarn from Soul Eater, Lust in Fullmetal Alchemist, and Vex’ahlia in the ongoing series Critical Role.
8) Abby Trott
Abby Trott is an American voice actress best known for voicing Nezuko Kamado in Demon Slayer. She started her career with puppet shows in Japan before she moved to America to join Bang Zoom! Entertainment, where she gave her voice for several anime, animation, and video games.
Trott debuted by voicing the character Veronica Liones from Seven Deadly Sins. Apart from voicing Nezuko, she is also famous for voicing characters like Momo Ayase in Dandadan, Shizuka Mikazuki in Zom 100. She was even nominated for the 8th Crunchyroll Anime Awards for Best Voice Acting.
9) Zach Aguilar
Zach Aguilar is the young rising star of the industry, bagging several awards and famous roles. At 16, he became the youngest award winner of the Magi 2 Voice Acting Open Auditions at Anime Expo hosted by Bang Zoom! Entertainment and Aniplex. At 17, he bagged the role of Genos from One Punch Man.Â
Zach is most famous for voicing the character David Martinez in Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, which won him the 7th Crunchyroll Anime Awards for Best Voice Artist Performance. He is also known for playing Colt in Hunter x Hunter and Tanjiro in Demon Slayer.
10) Ryan Colt Levy
Ryan Colt Levy is an American actor, voice actor, and musician. Levy is best known for his voice acting in Chainsaw Man as the Protagonist, Denji, and this role was nominated for Best Voice Artist Performance at the Crunchyroll Awards, 2023.
Ryan has been in several popular anime titles, such as Rody Soul in My Hero Academia: World Heroes’ Mission and Furlan Church in Attack on Titan. Levy might return to voice Denji in the next season of Chainsaw Man.
