Crispin Freeman

Crispin Freeman is an American voice actor, voice director and a screenwriter who is best known for voicing characters in English-language dubs of Japanese, including anime and video games. Some of his prominent anime roles include Zelgadis Graywords in Slayers, Kyon in The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Togusa in the Ghost in the Shell franchise, Alucard in Hellsing, Kirei Kotomine in Fate/Zero and Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works, Itachi Uchiha in Naruto, Gyomei Himejima in Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Hagi in Blood+ and Shizuo Heiwajima in Durarara!!.

Early life

Freeman was born in Chicago. His father is Jewish. He is the oldest of three children. His sister Cassidy 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, where he majored in theater and minored in computer science. He then earned an MFA in acting from Columbia University and went on to perform on Broadway, at the American Repertory Theater, at the Mark Taper Forum, at Cincinnati's Playhouse in the Park, and at the Williamstown Theater Festival. As a child, he was greatly influenced by anime such as Speed Racer and Battle of the Planets. Casey Kasem 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, Star Blazers, and Robotech. He has also stated that the reason he got into the industry was because of the anime The Vision of Escaflowne. He initially got involved in the voice-over industry when a friend of his landed a role in Peacock King.

Career

Knowing Freeman was a big anime fan, a friend suggested he call up Central Park Media (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 Slayers along with Lisa Ortiz, Eric Stuart and Veronica Taylor. 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-based productions such as The Spectacular Spider-Man, 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 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 from Namco's Xenosaga series, Helios in God of War III and God of War Ragnarök: Valhalla, 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 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.

In February 2023, Freeman guest voiced Lieutenant Nolan, an Imperial lieutenant with particular disdain for clones, the commanding officer of Crosshair, in Star Wars: The Bad Batch.

Filmography Anime + List of voice performances in anime Year Title Role Notes Source Angel Tales Shin –2005 Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex Togusa Also 2nd GIG Please Twins! Kosei Shimazaki Zatch Bell! Takeshi Kaneyama, Wonrei, Kane, Gustav, Mamoru Iwashima, Albert (Sherry's butler), Oren, Albert (Laila's bookkeeper), additional voices Scrapped Princess Shannon Casull Voice director, ADR Script Writer Planetes Colin Clifford Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki Kamikura 3rd OVA series –2009 Naruto Itachi Uchiha, Ebisu, Rasa Mars Daybreak Lt. Rich IGPX Bjorn Johannsen Eureka Seven Holland Phoenix Oh-ama-no-miko Digimon Data Squad Thomas H. Norstein –2009 Code Geass Jeremiah Gottwald Lucky Star Tomokazu Sugita, Kyon (cosplayer) 2009–2018 Naruto: Shippuden Itachi Uchiha, Rasa, Ebisu Durarara!! Shizuo Heiwajima Marvel Anime: Wolverine Tesshin Asano Tenkai Knights Vilius, Slyger Fate/Zero Kirei Kotomine –2016 Durarara!!×2 Shizuo Heiwajima The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan Kyon Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works Kirei Kotomine TV series God Eater Soma Schicksal Ingress: The Animation Jack Norman Fate/Grand Order - Absolute Demonic Front: Babylonia King Hassan, Meuniere –2022Ghost in the Shell: SAC 2045Togusa Yashahime: Princess Half-DemonOsamu Kirin, KirinmaruTV series Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan Confessor OVA The Promised Neverland Peter Ratri Season 2 Pokémon Horizons: The Series Friede Sakamoto Days Kanaguri –2013,2019–2021 Young Justice Roy Harper / Arsenal / Red Arrow, Jim Harper, Will Harper, Captain Boomerang, various voices Wabbit Old Man #1, Dust Bunny 2 episodes –2018 Justice League Action J'onn J'onzz / Martian Manhunter Adventure Time Turtle Prince, Ice President Episode: "Five Short Tables" All Hail King Julien Alex Episode: "The End is Here"

Films

Other dubbing + List of voice performances in other dubbing Year Title Role Notes Source