Billy Kametz

Billy P. Kametz (/ˌkəˈmɛts/;^[2] March 22, 1987 – June 9, 2022) was an American voice and stage actor. He was best known for his work dubbing anime and video games. Kametz began his voice acting career in 2016. He provided the English voices for Josuke Higashikata in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable, Takuto Maruki in Persona 5 Royal, Naofumi Iwatani in The Rising of the Shield Hero, Colt in Brawl Stars, and Ferdinand von Aegir in the Fire Emblem series. Kametz died from colorectal cancer at the age of 35.

Billy Kametz
Kametz in 2021
Born	(1987-03-22)March 22, 1987 Lancaster, Pennsylvania, U.S.[1]
Died	June 9, 2022(2022-06-09) (aged 35)[1] Hershey, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Occupation	Voice actor
Years active	2016–2022
Agent	AVO Talent
Notable work	Promare as Galo Thymos JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable as Josuke Higashikata Fire Emblem: Three Houses and Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes as Ferdinand von Aegir Persona 5 Royal as Takuto Maruki Brawl Stars as Colt The Rising of the Shield Hero as Naofumi Iwatani

Early life

Kametz was born on March 22, 1987, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania,^[1] and was raised in Hershey, Pennsylvania.^[3] He had a sister.^[4] He attended West Chester University.^[5]

Career

In 2016, Kametz moved to Sherman Oaks in Los Angeles to play Aladdin in the final performance of Disney's Aladdin: A Musical Spectacular.^[6] While living in California, Kametz began working as a voice actor. He achieved one of his first major roles when he was cast as Josuke Higashikata in the Viz Media dub of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable.^[7] He went on to voice other prominent roles, including Colt in Brawl Stars, Takuto Maruki in Persona 5 Royal, Galo Thymos in Promare, and Ren in Pokémon.^[8][9]

In 2020, for his performance as Naofumi Iwatani in The Rising of the Shield Hero, Kametz won the Best VA Performance (EN) award at the 4th Crunchyroll Anime Awards.^[10] Apart from animations, he also provided his voice for many characters in various related video games.^[8][9]

Personal life

Kametz dated voice actress Erica Lindbeck.^[1][3]

Cancer and death

On April 26, 2022, Kametz revealed that he had been diagnosed with colorectal cancer ten weeks prior,^[11] which had metastasized to his liver, lungs and spine,^[8] and that he had begun chemotherapy and radiation therapy.^[11] He also announced that he would be taking a hiatus from voice acting and moving back to Hershey, Pennsylvania.^[11] A GoFundMe page was posted on May 1, 2022, to help cover travel, insurance costs, medical bills not covered by insurance, and everyday life necessities;^[12] these online fundraising efforts yielded more than US$184,000.^[3]

Five weeks after the fundraiser was launched, Kametz died on June 9, 2022, in Hershey, Pennsylvania at the age of 35. He was cremated.^[1][8][13]

Filmography

Animation

List of voice performances in animation

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Source
2020	The Owl House	Nevareth	Episode: "Witches Before Wizards"
2020–2023	Lego Monkie Kid	Macaque	Season 1–Season 4 episode 5, released posthumously; "New Adventures" dedicated in memory	[14]
2023	RWBY	Roman Torchwick	2 episodes; released posthumously; "Tea Amidst Terrible Trouble" dedicated in memory
	Hailey's On It!	Road Rash, Paul	2 episodes; released posthumously

Anime

List of voice performances in anime

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Source
2018	Sword Gai	Seiya Ichijō		[15]
	Fate/Extra Last Encore	Hakuno Kishinami		[15]
2018–19	JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable	Josuke Higashikata		[16]
	Beyblade Burst Turbo	Fubuki Sumiye		[15]
2018–22	Boruto: Naruto Next Generations	Metal Lee, Hidari, Tanuki Shigaraki, Hyōi Yorishiro, Kokushi		[17]
2018–20	Baki	Kosho Shinogi, Gaia		[15]
2018	Sirius the Jaeger	Mikhail		[15]
2019–20	KonoSuba	Kyouya Mitsurugi		[15]
2019	High School Prodigies Have It Easy Even In Another World	Elch		[18]
	Hunter × Hunter: The Last Mission	Jed		[15]
	Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World	Wilhelm van Astrea (young)		[15]
	The Rising of the Shield Hero	Naofumi Iwatani	Season 1 only	[19]
2019–21	Aggretsuko	Anai		[15]
	Cells at Work!	White Blood Cell (Neutrophil)		[20]
2019	Promare	Galo Thymos		[21]
	Neon Genesis Evangelion	Shigeru Aoba	Netflix dub	[22]
	Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death & Rebirth			[22]
	The End of Evangelion			[22]
	To the Abandoned Sacred Beasts	Claude Withers		[23]
	Teasing Master Takagi-san	Nishikata	Season 2	[24]
	The Disastrous Life of Saiki K.	Kineshi Hairo	Reawakened	[15]
2019–21	Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun	Asmodeus Alice		[25]
2020	Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba	Rui		[12]
	Science Fell in Love, So I Tried to Prove It	Shinya Yukimura	Season 1 only	[26]
2020–21	Beastars	Durham, Mayor		[15]
2020	Gundam Build Divers Re:Rise	Hiroto Kuga		[15]
	Tower of God	Katan, Alexay Amigocharz		[15]
2020–22	Pokémon	Ren, Inteleon, Ash's Rotom Phone		[15]
2021	Fire Force	Amon Hajike		[15]
	Suppose a Kid from the Last Dungeon Boonies Moved to a Starter Town	Allan Twein Lidcain		[27]
	Osomatsu-san	Osomatsu		[28]
2021–22	Attack on Titan	Niccolo		[15]
2021	The Way of the Househusband	Kunimi		[15]
2021–22	86	Shinei Nouzen	Episodes 1–21 only	[29]
2021	Vivy: Fluorite Eye's Song	Tatsuya Saeki		[30]
	Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness	Patrick		[15]
	The Prince of Tennis II: Hyotei vs. Rikkai Game of Future	Ryo Shishido		[31]
	Vinland Saga	Ari	Netflix dub	[32]
	Magatsu Wahrheit Zuerst	Conrad Wisdom		[33]
	Ikebukuro West Gate Park	Kyōichi Ozaki		[34]
2021–22	Re-Main	Takekazu Ejiri		[35]
2021	Otherside Picnic	Greg		[36]
2022	Tokyo 24th Ward	Shuta Aoi	6 episodes	[37]
	The Prince of Tennis	Ryo Shishido		[38]

Video games

List of voice performances in video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Source
2016	Marvel Avengers Academy	Agent Coulson, Iron Lad, Collector, Thor Noir		[39]
2018	BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle	Naoto Kurogane		[39]
	Brawl Stars	Colt		[39]
2019	JumpStart Academy	Max Martian		[15]
	AFK Arena	Angelo		[40][better source needed]
	Fire Emblem: Three Houses	Ferdinand von Aegir		[15]
	Pokémon Masters	Blue	2019 - 2021	[15][39]
	Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020	Male Announcer		[41]
2020	One-Punch Man: A Hero Nobody Knows	Additional voices		[42]
	Fire Emblem Heroes	Ferdinand von Aegir		[43]
	Persona 5 Royal	Takuto Maruki		[15]
	13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim	Nenji Ogata		[44]
2021	Ys IX: Monstrum Nox	Marius
	Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne HD Remaster	Raidou Kuzunoha		[15]
	Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Hinokami Chronicles	Rui		[45]
	Epic Seven	Ran		[46]
2022	Triangle Strategy	Jerrom Laesmi		[15]
	Relayer	Director of Defense Isaac, additional voices		[47]
	The Elder Scrolls Online	Additional voices		[48][better source needed]
	AI: The Somnium Files – Nirvana Initiative	Tearer	Posthumous release	[15]
	Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes	Ferdinand von Aegir		[15][49]

Awards and nominations

Award	Year	Category	Nominated work	Result	Ref.
Crunchyroll Anime Awards	2020	Best VA Performance (EN)	The Rising of the Shield Hero	Won