Mike McFarland, ‘One Piece’ and ‘Dragon Ball Z’ Voice Actor, Dies at 56

Mike McFarland, a voice actor from the English-dubbed versions of “One Piece” and “Dragon Ball Z,” died on Wednesday following a battle with brain cancer. He was 56. 

McFarland was a voice-acting veteran, first playing Master Roshi and Yajirobe in “Dragon Ball” and “Dragon Ball Z” and Buggy the Clown in “One Piece.” His other roles include Jean Kirstein in “Attack on Titan,” Jean Havoc in “Fullmetal Alchemist” and Teppei Sugo in “Psycho-Pass.”

“Mike brought so much to all of us who knew him, and to all of the anime fans that knew his work,” anime streaming service Crunchyroll said in a statement. “He was an incredible talent, a good friend to so many of us and will be sorely, sorely missed.”

Kicking off his career in 1997 as one of the first voice actors in Texas hired by Funimation Entertainment, McFarland became a prominent figure in the anime world. He worked as line producer, ADR director and ADR script adapter for many Animated Dubbing Vision films and series from Funimation/Crunchyroll. These titles include Sky Master in “Heaven’s Lost Property,” Goemon Ishikawa in “Lupin III: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine” and other Lupin III films, as well as George in “Case Closed.” His more recent work includes Hiroshi Odokawa in “Odd Taxi,” Big Bad Wolf in “Date A Live IV” and E.G. Mine in “Trigun Stampede.”

McFarland had been suffering with health issues since January 2025 after he was forced to drop out of Central Florida Comic Con due to a brain tumor. Fellow voice actors J. Michael Tatum and Brandon McInnis created a GoFundMe crowdfunding campaign to help McFarland afford a live-in medical assistant. He underwent multiple surgeries, but the tumor turned out to be a glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer.