Dragon Ball’s Legendary Master Roshi Voice Actor Mike McFarland Passes Away at 56
Image by Charlotte DavisVeteran American voice actor and ADR director Mike McFarland, whose unmistakable performances brought characters including Dragon Ball’s Master Roshi, One Piece’s Buggy and Attack on Titan’s Jean Kirstein to English-speaking audiences, has passed away at the age of 56.
McFarland spent close to three decades working across anime, animation, and video games, becoming one of the most recognizable voices associated with the English-language anime industry while also shaping numerous major dubs from behind the microphone.
For Dragon Ball fans, he was best known as the longtime Funimation voice of Master Roshi, a role he performed across Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball Super, movies, and numerous video games.
His work on the franchise extended considerably further, with McFarland also voicing Yajirobe, Android 8, Pui Pui, and Dragon Ball GT antagonist Baby across different anime and game appearances.
Another of his defining performances came as Buggy the Clown in Funimation’s English dub of One Piece, giving the future Emperor of the Sea the theatrical energy and exaggerated personality that made his English portrayal instantly recognizable.
McFarland’s importance to One Piece also extended behind the scenes, as he served as an early ADR director on the English dub and was responsible for bringing Colleen Clinkenbeard in to audition for Monkey D. Luffy, a role she would go on to perform for decades.
His lengthy list of anime roles also included Jean Kirstein in Attack on Titan, Jean Havoc in both Fullmetal Alchemist and Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Koutarou Amon in Tokyo Ghoul, and Gordon Agrippa in Black Clover.
Fans will also recognize him as Mashirao Ojiro and Ectoplasm in My Hero Academia, Carnage Kabuto in One-Punch Man, Ritsu Sohma in Fruits Basket, Ryoji “Ranka” Fujioka in Ouran High School Host Club, Otabek Altin in Yuri!!! on Ice and Cain Nightroad in Trinity Blood.
His career in video games included Charlie Nash in Street Fighter V, Paul Phoenix in Street Fighter X Tekken, and Bisley Karcsi Bakur in Tales of Xillia 2, alongside appearances in games including Borderlands 2, Borderlands 3, Halo Wars, and Smite.
As influential as his performances were, McFarland’s work as an ADR and voice director formed an equally important part of his career.
He directed English-language productions across franchises including Fullmetal Alchemist, Attack on Titan, Tokyo Ghoul, and Dragon Ball, while his film work included the Rebuild of Evangelion movies, Summer Wars, Wolf Children, and The Boy and the Beast.
That combination of acting and direction meant McFarland helped define not only individual characters but the overall sound of several English anime dubs that introduced major Japanese franchises to generations of viewers.
McFarland’s health problems became public in January 2025 after what he initially believed was an ear infection led doctors to discover a brain tumor, requiring emergency surgery.
A second operation followed later that year, and in August 2025 friends revealed that he had been diagnosed with glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer, as fundraising continued to help cover his medical care and assisted living needs.
Voice actors J. Michael Tatum and Brandon McInnis, who helped organize the fundraiser supporting McFarland during his illness, described him as someone who was consistently willing to help others, offer advice, and support people around him throughout his career.
News of McFarland’s passing has prompted an outpouring of tributes from fellow performers and fans, with many remembering both the voices that became part of their childhoods and his extensive work guiding other actors from the director’s booth.
From Master Roshi and Yajirobe to Buggy, Jean Kirstein, and Jean Havoc, Mike McFarland leaves behind a body of work spanning some of anime’s most internationally recognized franchises and an influence on English dubbing that reached far beyond the characters he personally voiced.
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