Crispin Freeman is an American voice actor, voice director, and screenwriter who is best known for voicing characters in English-language dubs of Japanese anime, animation, and video games. Some of his prominent anime roles include Zelgadis Graywords in ''

Slayers is a Japanese light novel series written by Hajime Kanzaka and illustrated by Rui Araizumi. The novels have been serialized in ''Dragon Magazine'' since 1989, before being published into individual volumes. They follow th ...

'', Kyon in '' The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya'',

Togusa is the second most prominently featured male character in Masamune Shirow's ''Ghost in the Shell'' manga and anime series. In ''Stand Alone Complex'', as well as the original ''Ghost in the Shell'' film, it is stated that he is the youngest mem ...

in the '' Ghost in the Shell'' franchise, Alucard in ''

Hellsing ''Hellsing'' (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kouta Hirano. It was serialized in Shōnen Gahōsha's ''seinen'' manga magazine '' Young King OURs'' from May 1997 to September 2008, with its c ...

'',

Kirei Kotomine The Japanese eroge, adult visual novel ''Fate/stay night'' features a number of characters created by Type-Moon, some of whom are classified as Servants with special combat abilities. The characters listed have appeared mainly in two anime tele ...

in '' Fate/Zero'' and '' Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works'',

Itachi Uchiha is a character in the ''Naruto'' manga and anime series created by Masashi Kishimoto. Itachi is the older brother of Sasuke Uchiha, and is responsible for killing all the members of their clan, sparing only Sasuke. He appears working as a te ...

in ''

Naruto ''Naruto'' is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto. It tells the story of Naruto Uzumaki, a young ninja who seeks recognition from his peers and dreams of becoming the Hokage, the leader of his village. T ...

'', Gyomei Himejima in '' Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba'', Hagi in '' Blood+'' and Shizuo Heiwajima in ''

Durarara!! , often shortened to ''DRRR!!'', is a Japanese light novel series written by Ryohgo Narita, with illustrations by Suzuhito Yasuda. ''Durarara!!'' tells the story of a dullahan working as an underworld courier in Ikebukuro, an intern ...

Early life

Freeman was born in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

His father is

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

. He is the oldest of three children. His sister, Cassidy Freeman is an actress, while his brother Clark is an actor and musician. Freeman graduated from the Latin School of Chicago in 1990 and earned a BA from

Williams College Williams College is a private liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams, a colonist from the Province of Massachusetts Bay who was kille ...

, where he majored in theater and minored in computer science. He then earned an MFA in acting from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

and went on to perform on

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

, at the American Repertory Theater, at the

Mark Taper Forum The Mark Taper Forum is a 739-seat thrust stage at the Los Angeles Music Center designed by Welton Becket and Associates on the Bunker Hill section of Downtown Los Angeles. Named for real estate developer Mark Taper, the Forum, the neighborin ...

, at

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line w ...

's Playhouse in the Park, and at the Williamstown Theater Festival. As a child, he was greatly influenced by

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

such as ''

Speed Racer ''Speed Racer'', also known as , is a Japanese media franchise about Auto racing, automobile racing. ''Mach GoGoGo'' was originally serialized in print in Shueisha's 1966 ''Shōnen Book''. It was released in tankōbon book form by Sun W ...

'' and ''

Battle of the Planets ''Battle of the Planets'' is an American adaptation of the Japanese anime series ''Science Ninja Team Gatchaman'' (1972). Of the 105 original ''Gatchaman'' episodes, 85 were used in the ''Battle of the Planets'' adaptation, produced by Sandy Fra ...

''.

Casey Kasem Kemal Amin "Casey" Kasem (April 27, 1932 – June 15, 2014) was an American disc jockey, actor, and radio personality, who created and hosted several radio countdown programs, notably ''American Top 40''. He was the first actor to voice No ...

voiced the role of his favorite character, Mark of ''Battle of the Planets'', and Freeman even wanted to change his name to Mark at one point. He later discovered ''

Voltron ''Voltron'' is an animated television series franchise that features a team of space explorers who pilot a giant Super Robot known as "Voltron". Produced by Peter Keefe (Executive Producer) and Ted Koplar through his production company World ...

'', ''

Star Blazers ''Star Blazers'' is an American animated television series adaptation of the Japanese anime series . ''Star Blazers'' was first broadcast in the United States in 1979. It was the first popular English-translated anime that had an overarching plo ...

'', and ''

Robotech ''Robotech'' is a science fiction franchise that began with an 85-episode anime television series produced by Harmony Gold USA in association with Tatsunoko Production and first released in the United States in 1985. The show was adapted from ...

''. He has also stated that the reason he got into the industry was because of the anime ''

The Vision of Escaflowne is a 26-episode Japanese anime television series created by Shōji Kawamori and Sunrise Studios and directed by Kazuki Akane. It premiered in Japan on April 2, 1996 on TV Tokyo, and the final episode aired on September 24, 1996. Sony's ...

''. He initially got involved in the voice-over industry when a friend of his landed a role in ''

Peacock King is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Makoto Ogino. It was serialized in Shueisha's ''seinen'' manga magazine ''Weekly Young Jump'' from 1985 to 1989, with its chapters collected in 17 ''tankōbon'' volumes. It spawned f ...

''.

Career

Knowing Freeman was a big anime fan, a friend suggested he call up

Central Park Media Central Park Media, often abbreviated as CPM, was an American multimedia entertainment company based in New York City, New York and was headquartered in the 250 West 57th Street building in Midtown Manhattan (on the corner of Central Park, henc ...

(CPM) and apply for a job doing English dubs. When originally approached about dubbing, he initially declined. It was not until he remembered all of the anime shows he watched as a child that he realized that many people are introduced to anime through the English dubbed versions. In 1997, Freeman landed the role of Zelgadis Graywords in ''

'' along with Lisa Ortiz, Eric Stuart and

Veronica Taylor Kathleen Charlotte McInerney, also known by her stage name Veronica Taylor is an American voice actress known for her dubbing work in English-language adaptations of Japanese anime, in particular for voicing Ash Ketchum and his mother Delia in ...

. He was the second and final voice actor to get the job, after Zelgadis' original voice actor, Daniel Cronin, lost contact with CPM after a year-long halt in the dubbing. Years later he turned to the American animation voice acting grounds. Freeman has been best known for his work in

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Comics'' in ...

based productions such as ''

The Spectacular Spider-Man ''The Spectacular Spider-Man'' is a comic book and magazine series starring Spider-Man and published by Marvel Comics. Following the success of Spider-Man's original series, ''The Amazing Spider-Man'', Marvel felt the character could support ...

'', '' Wolverine and the X-Men'' and '' The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes''. He then starred as several versions of Roy Harper in '' Young Justice'' for

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. ( doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with the ...

and Warner Bros. Since then, Freeman has had various roles throughout his career. He has appeared in many video game titles as memorable characters, such as

Albedo Albedo (; ) is the measure of the diffuse reflection of solar radiation out of the total solar radiation and measured on a scale from 0, corresponding to a black body that absorbs all incident radiation, to 1, corresponding to a body that refle ...

from

Namco was a Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company, headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo. It held several international branches, including Namco America in Santa Clara, California, Namco Europe in London, Namco Taiwan in Kaohsiun ...

Xenosaga ''Xenosaga'' is a role-playing video game series developed by Monolith Soft and primarily published by Namco. Forming part of the wider '' Xeno'' metaseries, ''Xenosaga'' is set in a science fiction universe and follows a group of characters as t ...

series, the god of the sun ''

Helios In ancient Greek religion and mythology, Helios (; grc, , , Sun; Homeric Greek: ) is the god and personification of the Sun (Solar deity). His name is also Latinized as Helius, and he is often given the epithets Hyperion ("the one above") an ...

'' in ''

God of War III ''God of War III'' is an action-adventure hack and slash video game developed by Santa Monica Studio and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. First released for the PlayStation 3 on March 16, 2010, it is the fifth installment in the ''God ...

'', Haji, Joel the 6th and Van Argeno in '' Blood+'', the main protagonist Baldur in Silicon Knights's '' Too Human'', Breakdown in '' Transformers: War for Cybertron'', the Winter Soldier in '' Marvel: Ultimate Alliance'', and

Iron Man Iron Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was co-created by writer and editor Stan Lee, developed by scripter Larry Lieber, and designed by artists Don Heck and Jack Kirby. The cha ...

in '' Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2''. Freeman teaches classes, workshops, and performance lectures in the Los Angeles area. In addition to classes, Freeman has a website called Voice Acting Mastery which includes podcasts and other resources regarding voice acting.

Filmography

Anime

Animation

Films

Video games

Other dubbing

Live-action

References

;Interviews
Crispin Freeman Interview
at RPGSite
Crispin Freeman: Q and A
at The Anime Lodge
"A Very Different Place" - A Crispin Freeman Interview
part one
"A Very Different Place" - A Crispin Freeman Interview
part two including audio
"Anime Today Episode 31" - Crispin Freeman Interview

'Kana's Korner' Interview
on 91.8 The Fan

External links

* *
Voice Acting Mastery
- Crispin Freeman's voice acting podcast blog *
Mythology and Meaning
- Crispin Freeman's website for his lectures on anime * *
Crispin Freeman
at Crystal Acids Voice Actor Database * {{DEFAULTSORT:Freeman, Crispin 20th-century American male actors 20th-century American writers 21st-century American male actors 21st-century American writers American male film actors American male television actors American male voice actors American male video game actors American television writers American male screenwriters Columbia University School of the Arts alumni Latin School of Chicago alumni Living people Male actors from Chicago Male actors from Los Angeles Male actors from New York City American male television writers People from Chicago People from Los Angeles Science fiction fans American voice directors Williams College alumni Writers from Chicago Writers from Los Angeles Writers from New York City 20th-century American male writers Screenwriters from New York (state) Screenwriters from California Screenwriters from Illinois Year of birth missing (living people)