Billy Kametz, Voice Actor Known For JoJo's Bizarre Adventure And Vinland Saga, Has Died At 35
Video game and anime voice actor Billy Kametz has died at the age of 35.
Kametz had a long list of credits that included voicing the main role of Josuke Higashikata in "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable," as well as the characters of Ari in "Vinland Saga," Niccolo in the "Attack on Titan" anime series, Rui in the "Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba" series, and Shigeru Aoba in the 2019 English re-dub of "Neon Genesis Evangelion." At the 4th annual Crunchyroll Anime Awards in 2020, he won Best Voice Actor Performance (English) for his performance as Naofumi Iwatani in "The Rising of the Shield Hero" (per Yahoo Entertainment).
Kametz was born on March 22, 1987 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and grew up in nearby Hershey, where he passed away on June 9, 2022. According to his obituary via PennLive and The Patriot-News, his big break came when he joined the entertainment staff of the Disney Cruise Line. He subsequently took on the title role in "Disney's Aladdin: A Musical Spectacular," which he played for the final year of the Broadway-style show's 13-year run at the Hyperion Theater at the Disney California Adventure park in Anaheim.
Kametz's video game work
Kametz moved to California in 2016, and his first video game work came that year when he voiced multiple roles in "Marvel Avengers Academy." In Nintendo's "Fire Emblem" series, he provided the voice of Ferdinand Von Aegir. Later this month, the series will release its sixteenth installment, "Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes," featuring posthumous work from Kametz. Some of his other game credits included the role of Blue in "Pokémon Masters" and the male announcer in "Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020."
In a video posted to his YouTube account back in late April, Kametz revealed that he had been diagnosed with stage IV colon cancer and that it had spread to other parts of his body. A GoFundMe campaign was organized on his behalf, and he announced that he was moving back to Pennsylvania, but he sounded upbeat in the video and said, "I have so much support and so much positivity surrounding me, so many people giving me strength."
Kametz is survived by his parents, sister, brother-in-law, nephews, uncles, aunt, and girlfriend Erica Lindbeck, who is also a voice actress. His funeral will be held later this week in Middletown, Pennsylvania, and in lieu of flowers, his family has asked that donations be made in Billy's name to the Colon Cancer Coalition at www.coloncancercoalition.org.