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I've been wondering this for a while... There's a reasonable amount of voice actors African or South-American descent in the pre-lay voice acting community, with people like Khary Payton, Cree Summer and Kevin Michael Richardson being a few obvious examples... But I think there's an absurdly small amount of them in the anime voice acting community. There are some moments when black actors might get hired to play black roles, but it's rare for them to see sustainable careers after that. The only one I can think of who's had multiple roles was Akron Watson, and he's only had like four notable characters.

I know Japan is a racially homogenized culture, but America isn't, and it's kind of weird how most black anime characters are played by white actors. Why is there such a huge disparity? Are there any prolific or well known black voice actors I'm forgetting about?

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Toastgineer
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I know Japan is a racially homogenized culture, but America isn't.


Theres your answer.


So, what's your point? American cartoons frequently cast black actors in non-black roles, so there's no reason English anime dubs can't do the same. One look at Phil Lamarr's biography will tell you that much.

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Toastgineer
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Toastgineer
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I know Japan is a racially homogenized culture, but America isn't.


Theres your answer.


So, what's your point? American cartoons frequently cast black actors in non-black roles, so there's no reason English anime dubs can't do the same. One look at Phil Lamarr's biography will tell you that much.


American cartoons. Were talking about Anime here, where black people are a rarity.


And yet several black/dark skinned characters are played by white actors.

And yet there's also a rarity of white anime characters. They're mostly asian, remember.

You're avoiding my other point, too... If Phil Lamarr can play Samurai Jack, then why can't black actors play non-black roles?

Eloquent Humorist

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Toastgineer
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Toastgineer
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Toastgineer
The Millenium Walken

I know Japan is a racially homogenized culture, but America isn't.


Theres your answer.


So, what's your point? American cartoons frequently cast black actors in non-black roles, so there's no reason English anime dubs can't do the same. One look at Phil Lamarr's biography will tell you that much.


American cartoons. Were talking about Anime here, where black people are a rarity.


And yet several black/dark skinned characters are played by white actors.

And yet there's also a rarity of white anime characters. They're mostly asian, remember.

You're avoiding my other point, too... If Phil Lamarr can play Samurai Jack, then why can't black actors play non-black roles?


Disclaimer, Im not very knowledgable with va's espedially dub va's.

Maybe most dub companies prefer hiring higher cast VA's (which could which mean most of their picks would be white. expecting good quality. Or maybe there's just not a lot of black people interested in va-ing anime.


Well, once some more people post here, I'm hoping some new perspectives would shed some light on the issue.

Scompiglio's Wife

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Wow...

As far as I know, the voice acting community isn't based on the color of the skin. However, auditions for roles are based on who the people in the company want. The company chooses the voice that works best, no matter how the person looks. The industry has a lot of voice actor candidates, and it is a process just to get to a point they might pick you. That's why some voice actors are more in desire than others.

As for African American voice actors, I think Crispin Freeman does a really good podcast talking to one of the people having challenges because of it. I don't remember what episode of Voice Actor Mastery it is, but I don't think race is the hugest hurdle. It's the idea of what the director wants and not if that actor is or is african american.

Alien Cosmonaut

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I know a lot of dubbing companies are based in Texas, where I'm from, and most if not all black people here have a southern twang in their voice, which is not what dubbing directors have in mind for little shiny Asian characters. Though that is an interesting point, I can't think of any black voice actors that have even had work in anime set in a Western setting with multiple black/dark skinned characters, like Baccano.

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I did a couple of searches on Google and all I really came up with was "Beau Billingslea". He's had quite a few roles, but not a lot of main characters?

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I did a couple of searches on Google and all I really came up with was "Beau Billingslea". He's had quite a few roles, but not a lot of main characters?


Ooh, well, he was Jet in Cowboy Bebop...

Handsome Ace

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The Millenium Walken
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I did a couple of searches on Google and all I really came up with was "Beau Billingslea". He's had quite a few roles, but not a lot of main characters?


Ooh, well, he was Jet in Cowboy Bebop...


Yeah, but that was the only main character role I recognized. There might be others, in games/anime I'm not familiar with.

Nimble Wolf

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Not that I've done a google search..but because they haven't applied for the role and gotten a call back?

Up until a few days ago, no one capable of pushing out babies could apparently be rangers. Now the military, in addition to finding a place for these women, are in the process of redesigning protective gear. It just never occurred to the leaders in charge that women could take it on. Teenagers being incapable of saving nations; yet a high school girl developed a flashlight thats powered by hand warmth. Both features got media attention, and drew the viewers with a bigger picture and 'innovative' saving grace that affects more then one nation.

Animation is neither innovative(by and large) or going to get major media attention unless something remarkably sinister occurs. Pokemon had a banned episode because it paralleled 9/11 in New York, conveniently scheduled a week after the incident. Seeing as white people/ pale individuals at least(?) are treated as figurative pets in Japan; as soon as those voice actors move to Japan, they could in theory get a contract far sooner then they would in America. They'd be the adorable minority, the ones you cater to to show the nation isn't as xenophobic as it seems. Likewise, their English and the various accents that accompany them would could be a blessing. Would they like their roles? Not likely. It could be much faster in Japan then N. America though, because it's not even ground. They'd have the cultural advantage.

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Soaring Sheep
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I did a couple of searches on Google and all I really came up with was "Beau Billingslea". He's had quite a few roles, but not a lot of main characters?


Ooh, well, he was Jet in Cowboy Bebop...


Yeah, but that was the only main character role I recognized. There might be others, in games/anime I'm not familiar with.


He was that awesome giant walrus in Wolf's Rain.

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The thing is, even in the American pre-lay community, the ratio of Caucasian actors VS everyone else is heavily in favor of the Caucasian side in terms of numbers. The anime voice acting community has less actors in general, so the above fact stands out a lot more.

Some of the pre-lay African-American voice-actors (Cree Summer, Harold Perrineau) have had anime roles, but these instances are rare.
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