Marie Westbrook

Marie Westbrook’s Road from Science Class to the Dubbing Booth

Few career pivots in voice acting are as genuinely strange as Marie Westbrook’s. Growing up in Kellogg, Idaho – a small mining town – and later raised in Soda Springs near the real-life “Ligertown” that inspired a running joke in Napoleon Dynamite, Westbrook enrolled at Utah State University as a dance major before switching to Physics/Chemistry Education. She graduated, became a physics teaching assistant, operated a laser beam, tested treadmills professionally, and spent a year teaching 8th-grade science. Acting seemed like a distant galaxy. Then a family friend nudged her toward modeling, she landed on a Provo Girl Pilsner label, caught the performance bug, and moved to Los Angeles in fall 2005 to pursue screen work.

Her early acting years ran through low-budget horror – Titanic 2, Dracula’s Curse, and Evil Angel alongside Ving Rhames – before voice-over pulled her in a different direction entirely. Voice-over work had begun back in Seattle in 2005, and it was Star Wars: The Old Republic in 2011 that marked the real turning point, giving Westbrook a foothold in AAA game casting and cementing her decision to build a career behind the microphone. From that point, the transition became permanent.

Jujutsu Kaisen and the Curse That Launched a Convention Career

Hanami – the faceless, plant-based curse in Jujutsu Kaisen – is not a role built on dialogue. It demands physical presence through voice alone, conveying menace and eerie calm without a visible face to carry emotion. Westbrook’s performance across six English-dubbed episodes between 2020 and 2021 drew immediate attention from the JJK fan community, and her con circuit activity around the role grew steadily. She has appeared at SacAnime, Anime Expo Chibi, Ronin-Expo, Ani-Medford, Anime Festival Wichita, and Origins Game Fair representing the franchise, with Hanami prints selling well at signings and a Jujutsu Kaisen: Cursed Clash game credit following the television run. The role sits at the center of her public identity in the anime community.

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners and the Voice Behind Dorio

Studio Trigger’s Cyberpunk: Edgerunners landed in 2022 as one of the most talked-about anime releases of the year, and Westbrook’s performance as Dorio – the imposing full-body cyborg bodyguard of the mercenary crew – became one of the English dub’s standout moments. Voiced across four episodes, Dorio requires a combination of physical authority and emotional depth, and Westbrook delivered both. Her work in the role generated a significant social media response, with the Cyberpunk Edgerunners production team running a live Q&A featuring the English cast. The credit became a genuine pop culture landmark on her resume and expanded her visibility well beyond dedicated anime circles.

A Game Library That Spans a Decade

Westbrook’s game credits read like a map of the industry’s range. The Turing Test in 2016 put her in the lead role of Ava Turing, a science-fiction puzzle game demanding nuanced, introspective performance over a full narrative arc. Smite in 2014 had her voicing Dark Summoner Nu Wa. Wasteland 3 in 2020 added Tinker to the list. Indivisible in 2019 gave her Baozhai, a swashbuckling pirate captain with strong comedic energy. Microsoft Flight Simulator in 2020 cast her as Captain Jess Molina. More recently, Starship Troopers: Extermination added Director Howakhan in 2024, and The Outer Worlds 2 included her in its 2025 voice cast. Alongside game work, she has voiced trailer and promo campaigns for Ahsoka, Lightyear, High Potential, and the Oscar-winning Women Talking, placing her voice in some of the most commercially visible media of recent years.

Anime Dubbing Beyond the Highlights

Outside her best-known roles, Westbrook’s anime dubbing work covers a wide range of tones and studios. Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War brought her in as Ikumi Unagiya and Tokie Tonokawa. Baki Hanma cast her as Maria across twelve episodes. Lupin the 3rd: Part VI gave her Hazel. Bungo Stray Dogs Wan had her voicing Kouyou Ozaki. She also appeared in ORIENT as Kuroko Usami and in Witch Watch as Miharu’s Mother. Her studio affiliations span Studiopolis, Bang Zoom! Entertainment, Roundabout Entertainment, and VSI Los Angeles, giving her access to a broad cross-section of the Los Angeles dubbing pipeline.