Billy Kametz

Birth Date: 22/03/1987

The stage was his starting point - Kametz trained at West Chester University and earned his first major break as Aladdin in Disney's California Adventure before pivoting to voice work in 2016. Best known for Naofumi Iwatani in The Rising of the Shield Hero, Josuke Higashikata in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, and Ferdinand von Aegir in the Fire Emblem series, this American voice actor earned the Crunchyroll Award for Best English VA Performance in 2020. He passed away in June 2022 at thirty-five.

Website: http://www.billykametz.com/

Billy Kametz’s Brief but Unforgettable Mark on Anime and Game Dubbing

Six years. That is all the time Billy Kametz had as a working voice actor, yet the credits he left behind span some of the most beloved franchises in anime and gaming. Growing up in Hershey, Pennsylvania, Kametz carried a lifelong drive toward performance that led him west in 2016 – arriving in Los Angeles not as a voice actor, but as a stage performer, landing the role of Aladdin in Disney’s Aladdin: A Musical Spectacular at California Adventure during the final run of that show’s thirteen-year stint. That detour into live performance opened doors into the recording booth, and the transition proved immediate and decisive.

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure and the Role That Defined a Career

Among his first major credits was Josuke Higashikata in the English dub of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable – a high-energy performance that demanded the kind of expressive range stage work builds. The role introduced Kametz to anime dubbing audiences and established him as a lead-caliber talent. From there, the work expanded rapidly: Galo Thymos in Promare, White Blood Cell in Cells at Work!, Metal Lee in Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, and Rui in Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba each showcased different registers of his voice.

The Rising of the Shield Hero and a Crunchyroll Award

Kametz’s portrayal of Naofumi Iwatani in The Rising of the Shield Hero earned him the Best VA Performance (EN) award at the 4th Crunchyroll Anime Awards in 2020 – industry recognition that confirmed what fans had already heard. Parallel to his anime work, his game credits ran deep: Ferdinand von Aegir across the Fire Emblem series, Takuto Maruki in Persona 5 Royal, Colt in Brawl Stars, and Naoto Kurogane in BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle formed a portfolio that held up in both narrative and action-driven titles. In April 2022, Kametz announced a diagnosis of stage IV colon cancer. He passed away on June 9, 2022, at thirty-five. His final recorded work, including Ferdinand von Aegir in Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes, was released posthumously.