Billy Kametz: voice actor dies aged 35 after cancer diagnosis, cause of death and what characters did he play?

Billy Kametz is best known as the voice actor in English versions of animes like Pokemon, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, Fire Emblem and Beastars
Billy Kametz has passed away at the age of 35 (Photo: @billykametz)Billy Kametz has passed away at the age of 35 (Photo: @billykametz)
Billy Kametz has passed away at the age of 35 (Photo: @billykametz)

Billy Kametz, a prolific voice actor known for his work in the anime and video game industry, has died at age 35 following a stage four colon cancer diagnosis.

In addition to his parents, William and Cheryl, Kametz is survived by his sister, Nikki Kametz Lees, brother-in-law Greg, nephews, Cash and Jaxon; Uncle, Peter Sartori, Uncle Tom Kametz, Aunt Barbara Trimble and girlfriend, Erica Lindbeck, a fellow voice actor.

Who was Billy Kametz?

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Kametz was an American voice actor, best known for providing the English performances in animes like JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Persona 5 Royal and Pokemon.

He was born in Pennsylvania on 22 March 1987 and had always dreamed of becoming a voice actor.

According to his obituary, Kametz got his break with Disney as part of the entertainment staff on the Disney cruise line. He then later moved to California when he was offered the role of Aladdin in Disneyland’s Musical Spectacular.

Billy Kametz with his girlfriend, Erica Lindbeck, a fellow voice actor (Photo: @billykametz)Billy Kametz with his girlfriend, Erica Lindbeck, a fellow voice actor (Photo: @billykametz)
Billy Kametz with his girlfriend, Erica Lindbeck, a fellow voice actor (Photo: @billykametz)

Chatting to anime streaming site Crunchyroll in 2020, Kametz talked about how he got interested in voice acting as a profession.

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He said: “I’ve been wanting to be a voice actor ever since I was a kid. When I was watching Invader Zim, that’s when I realised, “Oh my GOD, that’s Daggett Beaver! This is a job?! People are doing this and I wanna do that!” But also, I was a kid living in Pennsylvania, so I was like “Okay, I guess I’ll just do theatre, that’s acting; this is doable.”

“So I did theatre for years, but it wasn’t until I got a job that brought me up to California, and I was like “Oh my gosh, I can try to do voice overs now!”, so I started inhaling classes as soon as I got out here. And I’ve gotten to do some pretty cool stuff after all of that!”

What was he in?

Kametz lent his voice to a number of roles as the English version voice actor in animes such as:

  • Pokemon, as Ren/Ash’s Rotom Phone/additional voices
  • Attack on Titan, as Nicolo/additional voices
  • JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, as Josuke Higashikata
  • The Seven Deadly Sins as Arden
  • The Way of the Househusband as Kunimi 
  • Beastars as Durham/additional voices
  • Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba as Rui
  • Aggretsuko as Anai 
  • The Disastrous Life of Saiki K.: Reawakened as Kineshi Hairo/additional voices
  • High School Prodigies Have It Easy Even in Another World! as Elch
  • Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness as Patrick
  • Welcome to Demon-School, Iruma-kun as Asmodeus Alice
  • Ikebukuro West Gate Park as Kyouichi
  • Boruto: Naruto Next Generations as Metal Lee/Hidari/Ko Kogare/Leaf Village Ninja
  • Vinland Saga as Ari
  • Gundam Build Divers Re: Rise as Hiroto Kuga 
  • Teasing Master Takagi-san as Nishikata
  • To the Abandoned Sacred Beasts as Claude 
  • The Rising of the Shield Hero as Naofumi Iwatani 
  • Beyblade Burst as Fubuki Sumiye 
  • Sirius the Jaeger as Mikhail 
  • Mr Osomatsu as Osomatsu
  • Neon Genesis Evangelion as Shigeru Aoba

As well as anime, Kametz was also a voice actor in video games including Marvel Avengers Academy, Brawl Stars, Pokemon Masters, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, Fire Emblem Heroes and Triangle Strategy.

Billy Kametz was well known in the voice acting industry (Photo: @billykametz)Billy Kametz was well known in the voice acting industry (Photo: @billykametz)
Billy Kametz was well known in the voice acting industry (Photo: @billykametz)
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His voice will appear posthumously in the 2022 release of Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes as Ferdinand von Aegir, which is set to be released on 24 June.

Throughout the course of his career, Kametz won a number of voice acting awards, including the Best Voice Actor Performance (EN) at the 4th Crunchyroll Anime Awards in 2019.

When was he diagnosed with cancer?

Earlier this year, on 26 April, Kametz announced that he would be taking a break from voice acting and moving back to Pennsylvania after being diagnosed with stage four colon cancer.

He made the announcement in a video posted on his YouTube channel, where he explained that, about 10 weeks beforehand, he had been dealing with some pain in his shoulder blade and, after he went to the emergency room to get it checked out, he got the news.

Billy Kametz posted the YouTube video in April 2022 revealing his diagnosis (Photo: YouTube/Billy Kametz)Billy Kametz posted the YouTube video in April 2022 revealing his diagnosis (Photo: YouTube/Billy Kametz)
Billy Kametz posted the YouTube video in April 2022 revealing his diagnosis (Photo: YouTube/Billy Kametz)
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Kametz said that he was undergoing treatment, having started chemotherapy and radiation therapy. In the video he said that he was doing well and that he was trying to stay positive.

In the update, he encouraged his fans to support any voice actors hired to replace him in any of his existing roles.

When did he die?

Kametz passed away on Thursday 9 June at M.S Hershey Medical Centre.

His death was confirmed by an announcement made by his agency Point of Contact, which wrote in a tweet: “With tremendous and heartbroken regret, we must inform you of the passing of @BillyKametz.”

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In a follow up post the agency added: “Billy loved his fans so much and I know this is a horrible shock. Please take care of yourselves. Breathe. You are part of his legacy and he would want to know you’re going to be okay.”

Billy Kametz provided the voice for Ferdinand von Aegir in Fire Emblem (Photo: @billykametz)Billy Kametz provided the voice for Ferdinand von Aegir in Fire Emblem (Photo: @billykametz)
Billy Kametz provided the voice for Ferdinand von Aegir in Fire Emblem (Photo: @billykametz)

Prior to his death, Kametz had launched a GoFundMe campaign to help him pay for things like medical bills not covered by insurance, travel costs and just everyday necessities.

A recent update on the page states that the campaign, which has raised $185,949 of its $150,000 goal, will formally close on Tuesday 14 June.

It says: “Anything contributed that wasn’t already used for Billy’s treatments will go toward his celebration of life and funeral. The family would equally love contributions to the Colon Cancer Coalition in Billy’s honour if you prefer that.”

Tributes for Billy Kametz

Following the news of Kametz’s death, friends, family and fans have taken to social media to share their tributes for the voice over artist.

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