Billy Kametz, a voice actor best known for his work on anime and video games like “Pokémon Masters” and “Fire Emblem,” died Thursday. He was 35.
Kametz died of colon cancer at the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center in Hershey, Pennsylvania, according to his obituary.
The actor voiced the character of Naofumi Iwatani in “The Rising of the Shield Hero” in 2019 and won Best Voice Actor Performance at the 4th Crunchyroll Anime Awards, according to Deadline. The Hershey native also voiced characters in anime series such as “Attack on Titan,” “Boruto,” “Demon Slayer,” “JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure,” “Pokémon Journeys” and “Neon Genesis Evangelion,” according to the website.
Kametz voiced Ferdinand Von Aegir in Nintendo’s “Fire Emblem: Three Houses” and “Fire Emblem Heroes,” as well as Blue in “Pokémon Masters,” The Wrap reported.
According to his obituary, Kametz got his break while working as an entertainment staff member on the Disney cruise line and later moved to California when he was offered the role of Aladdin in “Disney’s Aladdin Musical Spectacular.”
In a YouTube video he recorded on April 26, Kametz revealed that he had been diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer, which he said had spread to his liver, lungs and spine.
“If you guys could do me a favor, anybody that is replacing me on any show, if you could just please -- it’s such a weird thing for an actor to have to do -- if you could just support the crap out of them and be their biggest cheerleader,” Kametz said in the video. “That would make me really, really happy.”