Sean Christian Schemmel (born November 21, 1968) is an American voice actor, ADR Director, and Script Writer who has worked for FUNimation Entertainment & OkraTron 5000, NYAV Post, 4Kids Entertainment, and DuArt Film and Video.
He has provided voices for a number of English adaptations of Japanese anime, as well as various animated series and video games. His most notable voice role has been the adult version of Goku in the Funimation dub of the Dragon Ball anime franchise, as well as King Kai.
Biography
Schemmel first began voicing Goku for Funimation in 1999, replacing Peter Kelamis (who had in-turn replaced Ian James Corlett) from the previous voice cast. He has since been the most consistent English voice actor for the main protagonist of the Dragon Ball franchise; having voiced the adult version of Goku in every anime series produced so far, and nearly all Dragon Ball-related video games and animated movies. He has also voiced the characters King Kai, Nail and Goku Black in the Dragon Ball franchise.
In addition to his voice acting career, Schemmel had a full-time position as an ADR director and script writer for NYAV Post, where he has directed and adapted several Japanese anime series into English. He now currently resides in Los Angeles, California.
Filmography
Voice Actor
Anime
- Dragon Ball (1986-1989) - Adult Goku
- Dragon Ball Z (1989-1996) - Goku, King Kai, Nail, Vegito, Nappa (ep. 104; original version), Mr. Musuka (ep. 204), Additional Voices (FUNimation Dub)
- Yu Yu Hakusho (1992-1995) - Roto, Shigeru Murota, Mr. Akashi, Additional Voices
- Case Closed (1996-present) - Additional Voices
- Dragon Ball GT (1996-1997) - Adult Goku, King Kai, Gogeta (FUNimation Dub)
- Pokémon (1997-2002) - Goneff (ep. 192), Kim (ep. 272)
- Pokémon Chronicles (1998-2003) - Jimmy (eps. 1-3)
- Magical DoReMi (1999-2000) - Mr. Haywood, Simon, Parsley
- One Piece (1999-present) - Helmeppo, Hatchan, Kuroobi, Toto (4Kids Dub)
- Yu-Gi-Oh! (2000-2004) - Bobasa, Additional Voices
- Kirby: Right Back At Ya! (2001-2003) - Additional Voices
- Shaman King (2001-2002) - Amidamaru, Rio, Nichrom, Additional Voices
- Mew Mew Power (2002-2003) - Elliot Grant, Blue Knight
- Pokémon Advanced Generation (2002-2006) - Robert (eps. 35, 122-123), Professor Cozmo (ep. 54), Mr. Moore (eps. 55-56), Old Man Obee (ep. 73), Archie (eps. 97-98), Juan (eps. 110-111), Morrison (eps. 118, 126-131), Hoenn League Referee (eps. 126-131)
- Ultimate Muscle (2002-2004) - Bone Cold
- Fullmetal Alchemist (2003-2004) - Clause's Father (ep. 4)
- Pokémon Diamond & Pearl (2006-2010) - Cyrus, Alan (ep. 58), Christopher (ep. 117), Provo (ep. 118), Olivier (ep. 131)
- Dinosaur King (2007-2008) - Dr. Owen, Hotel Manager (ep. 18), Lucius Cornelius Sulla (eps. 53-54), Zayid (eps. 67-70), Cardinal Richelieu (eps. 71-74)
- Dragon Ball Z Kai (2009-2011) - Goku, King Kai, Nail, 1st Opening Theme singer
- Pokémon Best Wishes! (2010-2013) - Clay (eps. 57, 59, 61, 103), Professor Malveaux (ep. 81), Jervis (eps. 86-98), Rodney (ep. 134)
- Pokémon XY (2013-2016) - Pokémon Hunter (ep. 63), Belmondo (ep. 66)
- Dragon Ball Z Kai: The Final Chapters (2014-2015) - Goku, King Kai, Vegito
- Dragon Ball Super (2015-2018) - Goku, King Kai, Goku Black, Vegito, Red Dragon (ep. 12) (FUNimation Dub)
- Pop Team Epic (2018) - Popuko (ep. 11b)
OVAs & Specials
- Outlanders (1986) - Tetsuya Wakatsuki, Geobaldi (CPM Dub)
- Dragon Ball Z: Bardock - the Father of Goku (1990) - Goku (vision) (FUNimation Dub)
- Giant Robo: The Animation (1992-1998) - Tetsugyu (Media Blasters Dub)
- Dragon Ball GT: A Hero's Legacy (1997) - Goku
- Lupin the 3rd: Island of Assassins (1997) - Gordeau
Anime Films
- Dragon Ball Z: Dead Zone (1989) - Goku (FUNimation Dub)
- Dragon Ball Z: The World's Strongest (1990) - Goku (FUNimation Dub)
- Dragon Ball Z: The Tree of Might (1990) - Goku, King Kai (FUNimation Dub)
- Dragon Ball Z: Lord Slug (1991) - Goku, King Kai (FUNimation Dub)
- Dragon Ball Z: Cooler's Revenge (1991) - Goku (FUNimation Dub)
- Dragon Ball Z: The Return of Cooler (1992) - Goku (FUNimation Dub)
- Dragon Ball Z: Super Android 13! (1992) - Goku (FUNimation Dub)
- Dragon Ball Z: Broly - The Legendary Super Saiyan (1993) - Goku, King Kai (FUNimation Dub)
- Dragon Ball Z: Bojack Unbound (1993) - Goku, King Kai (FUNimation Dub)
- Dragon Ball Z: Broly - Second Coming (1994) - Goku
- Dragon Ball Z: Bio-Broly (1994) - Goku
- Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn (1995) - Goku, King Kai, Gogeta
- Dragon Ball Z: Wrath of the Dragon (1995) - Goku
- Pokémon: Destiny Deoxys (2004) - Professor Lund
- Pokémon: Lucario & the Mystery of Mew (2005) - Lucario
- One Piece: Strong World (2009) - Dr. Indigo
- Pokémon: Zoroark: Master of Illusions (2010) - Grings Kodai
- 009 Re:Cyborg (2012) - Navy Man
- Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods (2013) - Goku, King Kai
- Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘F’ (2015) - Goku
- Dragon Ball Super: Broly (2018) - Goku, Gogeta
Trivia
- Sean originally auditioned for the role of Captain Ginyu (which would be cast to Dale D. Kelly, and later replaced by Brice Armstrong) in Dragon Ball Z, but ended up being cast as Goku instead and was initially unaware that he was actually voicing the main protagonist of the series.
- It was rumored that Sean passed out while dubbing Goku's transformation into a Super Saiyan 3 in Dragon Ball Z. In fact, Sean confirmed that he passed out while recording although it was in Dragon Ball GT, during a Super Saiyan 4 transformation or Kamehameha.
External Links
- Sean Schemmel at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
- Sean Schemmel on the Internet Movie Database
