Sean Schemmel

Sean Schemmel (born November 21, 1968)^[1][2] is an American voice actor, ADR director, and screenwriter known chiefly for his work in cartoons, anime, and video games. Since 1999, he has served as the adult voice for Son Goku in the English dub of the Dragon Ball franchise.

Career

Initially, Schemmel never planned on becoming a voice actor; he trained to be a classical French horn player. When a friend persuaded him to audition for Dragon Ball Z, he tried out for a minor character who was going to be killed in the first season of the show. He had been recording for two weeks before he was told that he was going to be the lead.^[3] Since being cast as Son Goku by Funimation in 1999, he has been the most consistent English voice actor for the main protagonist of the Dragon Ball franchise, having voiced the character's older teen and adult incarnations in every anime series produced to date (Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball GT, Dragon Ball Z Kai, Dragon Ball Super, and Dragon Ball Daima) and most Dragon Ball animated movies and video games, as well as other characters such as King Kai and Goku Black.^[4]

Besides voicing Goku, Schemmel has lent his voice to several other anime characters including Amidamaru in Shaman King (2001), Lucario in Pokémon and Elliot Grant in Mew Mew Power. His other roles in animation include Firefly in G.I. Joe: Sigma 6, Gonard in Kappa Mikey and Hawkman in DC Super Friends. In video games, Schemmel has provided his voice to Makuta in Bionicle, Black Doom in Shadow the Hedgehog, Maxwell in Bullet Witch, Horace in Skullgirls, Batman in The Dark Knight Rises, Sun Wukong (whom Goku was originally based on) in Smite, and Marc Wilson in Fallout 4.

In addition to his voice acting career, Schemmel was also an ADR Director and scriptwriter for NYAV Post, where he had directed and adapted for English dubs of several Japanese anime series. In the field of narration, he has won two awards for his audiobook recordings.

Personal life

Schemmel was married to Melissa Cox, from 1993 to 1998. He married actress Melodee Lenz in 1998. The marriage ended nearly three years later.^[3] In a 2018 interview, Schemmel mentioned that he is on the autism spectrum.^[5][6]

Filmography

Anime

Animation

Live-action

Video games

Awards

References

1. ^ Sean Schemmel (November 21, 2019). "Birthday! Galaxycon! #yousayitsyourbirthday #itsmybirthdaytoo". No. 1197608437653241856. Retrieved March 14, 2022.
2. ^ Sean Schemmel (November 23, 2020). "I was very moved by all the birthday wishes yesterday from everyone! Truly made my birthday special! Amazed it happens every year thank you!!!". No. 1330600418200621056. Retrieved March 14, 2022.
3. ^ "Dragon Ball's' voice of Goku speaks for himself". Los Angeles Times. 30 June 2017. Retrieved 14 March 2022.
4. ^ "Sean Schemmel Teases His Approach To Goku Black In 'Dragon Ball Super'". ComicBook.com. November 15, 2017. Retrieved 16 March 2022.
5. ^ "Sean Schemmel IN DEPTH interview Part 2 • Kanzenshuu". www.kanzenshuu.com. Retrieved 2024-11-30.
6. ^ ((Geekdom101)) (2018-07-18). SEAN SCHEMMEL INTERVIEW PART 1 OF 2: Becoming Goku, Music, Puppets, Life.. Retrieved 2024-11-30. – via YouTube.
7. ^ "Sean Schemmel - 259 Character Images | Behind the Voice Actors". Archived May 7, 2019 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved May 7, 2019.
8. ^ Hanson, Brian (November 13, 2010). "Hey, Answerman! – Hentai Schmentai". Anime News Network. Archived February 27, 2017 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved January 20, 2017. Perhaps worse is realizing that one voice actor has multiple roles. As Hope Chapman noted, Steven Blum voices a police officer talking with Onizuka. Sean Schemmel voices every third character in Berserk. When you hear the same voices over and over in the same show, it makes it immediately obvious that you're being entertained instead of being part of a story.
9. ^ "Sean C. Schemmel". arlenethornton.com/. Archived March 14, 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved February 8, 2017.
10. ^ "Sean Schemmel Awesome Con". awesome-con.com. Archived from the original on February 11, 2017. Retrieved February 8, 2017.
11. ^ "Funimation Reveals Dragon Ball Super English Dub Cast". Anime News Network. November 30, 2016. Archived December 1, 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved December 1, 2016.
12. ^ "MARS RED English Dub Announced, Cast and Crew Revealed". Funimation. March 28, 2021. Retrieved March 28, 2021.
13. ^ Mateo, Alex (December 3, 2024). "Dragon Ball Daima Anime Reveals English Dub Cast, January 10 Debut". Anime News Network. Retrieved December 3, 2024.
14. ^ https://x.com/mhaofficial/status/1927469866455343118?s=46
15. ^ "'Battle of Gods' will please 'Dragon Ball Z' fans". Los Angeles Times. 7 August 2014. Retrieved 15 March 2022.
16. ^ Leydon, Joe (12 August 2015). "Film Review: 'Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection F'". Variety. Retrieved 15 March 2022.
17. ^ Holub, Christian. "Watch Vegeta fight Broly for the first time in exclusive 'Dragon Ball Super: Broly' clip". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 15 March 2022.
18. ^ Friedman, Nicholas. "Dragon Ball Super: SUPER HERO Reveals Global Theatrical Release Dates, English Dub Cast [UPDATED]". Crunchyroll. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
19. ^ "Brook's English Voice Actor Revealed! – Funimation – Blog!". Archived November 8, 2019 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved December 30, 2016.
20. ^ "Cool Hand Fluke". No. 1. Sofia the First. Episode 1. Disney Junior. August 5, 2015.
21. ^ "New Genie on the Block". No. 7. Sofia the First. Episode 7. Disney Junior. October 16, 2015.
22. ^ "How the Sausage Is Made". No. 12. TripTank. Episode 12. Comedy Central. June 27, 2016.
23. ^ "Deuce Ex Machina". No. 17. TripTank. Episode 17. Comedy Central. August 2, 2016.
24. ^ "Sleepover". No. 22. Star vs. the Forces of Evil. Episode 22. Disney XD. September 26, 2016.
25. ^ "Butterfly Trap". No. 51. Star vs. the Forces of Evil. Episode 51. Disney XD. March 10, 2018.
26. ^ "Venom". No. 13. Spider-Man (2017 TV series). Episode 13. Disney XD. October 21, 2017.
27. ^ "Race Against the Machine". No. 61. The Casagrandes. Episode 61. Nickelodeon. June 10, 2022.
28. ^ "Sean Schemmel". Archived December 1, 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved December 30, 2016.
29. ^ "The Dark Knight Rises: The Mobile Game (2012) - 12 Cast Images | Behind the Voice Actors". Archived April 1, 2019 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved April 8, 2019.
30. ^ Gangstar: Vegas. Gameloft S.A. June 21, 2013.
31. ^ "Sean Schemmel at WasabiCon 2016 (Schedule)". wasabicon.com. Archived from the original on February 11, 2017. Retrieved February 8, 2017.
32. ^ Sean Schemmel (May 30, 2014). "I'm voicing Lucario in that game...". No. 472434229997879296. Retrieved February 8, 2017.
33. ^ "Sean Schemmel (visual voices guide)" (A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information). Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved 22 September 2021.
34. ^ "Behind the Voice Actors". Behind the Voice Actors. Retrieved 2 September 2024.
35. ^ "THE BIG SPLASH by Jack D Ferraiolo Read by Sean Schemmel | Audiobook Review | AudioFile Magazine". AudioFile Magazine. Archived January 25, 2018 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved June 6, 2017.
36. ^ Tanya (June 3, 2013). "Winner of the 2013 Audie Awards | Industry News – Awards | Voices.com Blog". Voices.com Blog. Archived June 28, 2017 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved June 6, 2017.
37. ^ "Most people performing a Dragon Ball Kamehameha". Guinness World Records. Retrieved 15 March 2022.

Notes

1. ^ Dream 9 Toriko & One Piece & Dragon Ball Z Super Collaboration Special, Episode 590: "The Mightiest Collaboration in History vs. the Gluttonous of the Sea"