Joel McDonald is an American voice actor, voice director, and scriptwriter who worked on English versions of

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 ...

series at

Funimation Crunchyroll, LLC, previously known as Funimation from 1994 to 2022, is an American entertainment company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony as a joint venture between Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex that specializes ...

Biography

Since McDonald was 7, he had a love for acting. He soon started acting in plays at school and church, participating in community theater, secondary school theater and in speech competitions. Later, he acquired a BFA in Acting and Directing from

Sam Houston State College Sam Houston State University (SHSU or Sam) is a public university in Huntsville, Texas. It was founded in 1879 and is the third-oldest public college or university in Texas. It is one of the first normal schools west of the Mississippi River and ...

. From that point onwards, McDonald took up acting professionally, taking parts in a national kids' theater tour, landing different roles in a couple dozen stage shows. In 2006, after years of stage work in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, McDonald became involved in voice acting and also got into ADR directing and adaptive scriptwriting.

Career

McDonald has provided voices for a number of English language versions of Japanese

films and television shows, and video games. He is best known as the voice of Takumi Fujiwara from the '' Initial D'' series, Meow from ''

Space Dandy , is a 2014 Japanese comic science fiction anime television series produced by Bones. The series follows the misadventures of Dandy, an alien hunter who is "a dandy guy in space", in search for undiscovered and rare aliens with his robot assi ...

,'' and Minato Sahashi from the ''

Sekirei is a Japanese manga series by Sakurako Gokurakuin. The manga was serialized in Square Enix's ''seinen'' magazine ''Young Gangan'' between December 2004 and August 2015. A sequel to the manga began serialization in the same magazine in May 201 ...

'' series, as well as the ADR director for the Funimation ''

One Piece ''One Piece'' (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. It has been serialized in Shueisha's ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' since July 1997, with its individual chapte ...

'' dub, in addition to '' Sgt Frog'', ''

Deadman Wonderland is a Japanese manga series written by Jinsei Kataoka and illustrated by Kazuma Kondou, who also wrote and illustrated the '' Eureka Seven'' manga, and published in '' Shōnen Ace'' since 2008. Tokyopop acquired the licensing rights to distrib ...

'', ''Space Dandy'' and ''Initial D.'' In the 2010s, McDonald has been cast in more lead/major roles, such as Akane from ''

Divine Gate is a 2013 Japanese smartphone game developed by Acquire for iOS and Android devices. An anime television series adaptation by Pierrot aired from January 8, 2016 to March 25, 2016. Plot The living, heavens, and underworld become connected af ...

'', Mikage from the ''

Kamisama Kiss is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Julietta Suzuki. It was serialized in Hakusensha's '' shōjo'' manga magazine ''Hana to Yume'' from February 2008 to May 2016, with the chapters collected in 25 ''tankōbon'' volumes. ...

'' series, Bartholomew Kuma from ''One Piece'', Zeref from ''

Fairy Tail ''Fairy Tail'' is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hiro Mashima. It was serialized in Kodansha's ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'' from August 2006 to July 2017, with the individual chapters collected and published into 63 '' ...

'', Brief from '' Panty and Stocking,'' Hien from ''

Chaos Dragon is a Japanese media franchise based on the Japanese role-playing game '' Red Dragon'' by Makoto Sanda, featuring characters created by Gen Urobuchi, Kinoko Nasu, Izuki Kogyoku, Simadoriru, and Ryōgo Narita. An anime television series titl ...

,'' Koki Mimura from '' Assassination Classroom,'' Azusa Hanai from '' Big Windup,'' Toshimitsu Kubo from the ''

Baka and Test , also known as ''Baka and Test: Summon the Beasts'', is a Japanese light novel series written by Kenji Inoue with illustrations by Yui Haga. The series revolves around Akihisa Yoshii, the titular Baka (Japanese word), baka (idiot) and ...

'' series, Hayato Ike from the second season of ''

Shakugan no Shana , also known simply as , is a Japanese light novel series written by Yashichiro Takahashi with illustrations by Noizi Ito. ASCII Media Works published 26 novels from November 2002 to November 2012 under their Dengeki Bunko imprint. The ...

'' onwards, Jacuzzi Splot from '' Baccano,'' Motoharu Kaido from ''

Aesthetica of a Rogue Hero is a Japanese light novel series written by Tetsuto Uesu and illustrated by Tamago no Kimi. A 12-episode anime adaptation by Arms aired between July and September 2012. It has been licensed in North America by Funimation with the Blu-ray ve ...

,'' Ikta Solok from ''

Alderamin on the Sky is a Japanese light novel series, written by Bokuto Uno and illustrated by Sanbasō (volumes 1–5) and Ryūtetsu (volume 6–14) between 2012 and 2018. A manga based on the series, written by Taiki Kawakami, is published in ''Dengeki Daioh'' ...

,'' and Dilandau Albatou from the Funimation redub of ''

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 a ...

''. On February 15, 2018, he has resigned from Funimation as a director.

Personal life

On March 18, 2016, Joel announced the birth of his son, Beck Austin McDonald. He is married to fellow voice actress Marie Charlson in 2014. His second son, Finn McDonald, was born on June 15, 2018.

Filmography

Anime

Film

Video games

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:McDonald, Joel Living people American male screenwriters American male stage actors American male television actors American male television writers American male video game actors American male voice actors American television writers American voice directors Male actors from Dallas Sam Houston State University alumni Screenwriters from Texas Writers from Dallas Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American male actors 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American screenwriters