Mike McFarland, Master Roshi Voice Actor and ADR Director, Dies at 56

A voice heard across generations of anime

Mike McFarland’s career helped shape how a generation of English-speaking viewers experienced anime. He voiced familiar characters and directed English dubs for major series and films, work that put him on both sides of the adaptation process. McFarland died on September 9, 2026, aged 56, following a glioblastoma diagnosis.

His best-known role was Master Roshi, whom he first voiced for Funimation’s English dub of Dragon Ball. He continued playing the character across multiple series, films and video games, giving audiences a consistent English-language performance as the franchise expanded across formats. That continuity matters in long-running series: a voice can become part of how viewers recognize a character, alongside the design, writing and story. McFarland’s work made him a recurring presence for fans who followed Roshi through more than one release.

His other roles reached well beyond that one franchise. He played Buggy the Clown in One Piece, Carnage Kabuto in One-Punch Man, Jean Kirstein in Attack on Titan, Kotaro Amon in Tokyo Ghoul, and Jean Havoc in Fullmetal Alchemist and its Brotherhood series. The list crosses several very different shows, from broad franchise comedy to darker dramatic stories. That range makes his career easier to understand than any single role can: McFarland was a working voice actor whose performances appeared throughout a varied catalogue of anime.

Beyond the voice booth

McFarland also worked as an ADR director, scriptwriter and producer. Those jobs put him into the practical work of shaping an English-language version, where performances, dialogue and timing have to come together for viewers. Directing credits included English dubs of Attack on Titan, Fullmetal Alchemist and Dragon Ball, as well as the Rebuild of Evangelion films. He also worked on the animated films Summer Wars and Wolf Children.

That combination of acting and directing is a significant part of his record. An audience may know a performer through a character’s voice, while the director’s work is less visible, even when it helps determine how a whole cast sounds together. English dubbing also involves adapting dialogue for spoken performance, so the work reaches beyond reading lines into a microphone. McFarland’s credits connect those parts of the process across series and films.

His illness and public updates

McFarland’s health troubles became public in January 2025, when voice actor Colleen Clinkenbeard revealed that he had been hospitalised after doctors found a brain tumour. He underwent emergency surgery, then told fans he was feeling better and thanked them for their support. Those updates gave audiences a glimpse of a difficult period while keeping the focus on his recovery and the messages he received.

In August 2025, McFarland was diagnosed with glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer. The diagnosis followed the earlier discovery of the tumour and emergency surgery described in the public updates. His death came after that diagnosis, at 56. The source provides no further detail about his final months, so the clearest account is the sequence of events that was made public.

What his career leaves behind

McFarland’s work spanned both the performances audiences heard and the English adaptations that brought major anime productions to them. That dual role is more significant than it looks: the voice actor is the part viewers can readily identify, but directing and writing also shape how a production lands in another language. His credits show a career built across several kinds of work, rather than around one character or one series alone.

If you’re working in this space, his career is a reminder that adaptation depends on many contributors whose names may not be as familiar as the titles they work on. And this is the part most people overlook: a long-running character can be tied, for English-speaking viewers, to the voice that carried it across different releases. That connection isn’t automatic; it grows through repeated performances and audience familiarity. McFarland’s return as Master Roshi across series, films and games gave that connection room to form.

His influence is difficult to reduce to a single role. Master Roshi may remain the shorthand, but Buggy, Jean Kirstein, Jean Havoc and his directing work point to a broader contribution to anime dubbing. The numbers here aren’t the point; the range is. A substantial body of work, across formats and genres.