Cowboy Bebop Voice Actors

“Just a humble bounty hunter ma’am”

Spike Spiegel is the face of the show, a daredevil who revels in the hunt and lives for the thrill of danger. He throws himself into high octane, adrenaline-fuelled situations where death is a constant possibility; never wasting time with “small fry”. 

At first glance, Spike seems to be nothing more than a nonchalant, cynical madman – who cares little about, well, anything – or anyone. But as the show develops, it becomes clear that he is one of the most complex Cowboy Bebop characters, shrouded in existentialism and regret. Spike has given up his old life, trying to escape it, but no matter what he does, it’s impossible to ignore. He is a man with a mysterious past – and it’s catching up to him.

Spike has a best friend/roommate relationship with Jet, as the two of them share their lifestyle of bounty hunting. While they are close, the relationship is also characterised by a tendency to willfully ignore anything “real”.  As Faye and Ed join the crew, the social circle expands. Spike and Faye share elements to their personalities, which either put them side-by-side or butting heads. Whereas Ed becomes a little sister-type to Spike; equal parts annoying and endearing.  As his past is revealed, it becomes clear that Spiegel’s love for Julia and rivalry with Viscious are driving forces in crafting the cynical, depressed demeanour that Spike has crafted for himself. The difference between life and death mean nothing in a dream. 

The Cowboy Bebop voice actor for Spike Spiegel is the one and only Steve Blum. Blum is well known in the voice acting world as one of the most prolific performers there is.  His time as one of the Cowboy Bebop voice actors was significant as it marked the true first step that catapulted him into the next level of professional voice acting.

It is almost impossible to remove Steve Blum from this role, as the two are so intrinsically woven. He brings a relaxed, deep sound to Spike’s voice that is almost impossible to replicate.

He even got the waveform Spike’s final line tattooed onto his arm!

Steve Blum and Spike Spiegel are intrinsically entwined with each other and mark the gold standard as a Cowboy Bebop character and for dubbing in anime.  Since then, Steve has provided voice acting for projects including Star Wars, Mass Effect 2, and X-Men – but it would take ages to list all of his credits.

“Man always thinks about the past before he dies, as if he were frantically searching for proof that he truly lived.” 

Jet Black is the captain of the Bebop and Spike’s closest friend aboard the ship. Jet never shies away from conflict but rarely seeks out trouble. He is often at odds with the rest of the crew, as he is the voice of reason that is oftentimes ignored in favour of reckless gumption.

Once an officer of the law, Jet got sick of the bureaucracies and corruption of the inter-solar system police and so took to the life of freelance bounty hunting. As a person, Jet is strict with his moral code and still tends to do what is right, struggling to turn this mindset off. He is looking for some form of meaning to the madness; order to chaos, whether he realises it or not.

Jet’s relationship with the rest of the crew is at the whim of the fact he is the responsible one. He looks after the ship and is commonly treated as an assistant. He cooks, cleans, fixes, and finds work and more. With Ed, he is somewhat fatherly; with Faye, he is constantly distrusting; with Spike, he alternates between best friend and confidant. Needless to say, the ship would stop functioning without Jet Black as a Cowboy Bebop character.

A running theme among the Cowboy Bebop characters is having a past left unfinished. A personal history book that was incomplete midway through, which the crew must eventually return to to close it over and move on with their lives. Jet is no different, as his past life returns in the show, which he steadfastly turns to meet, head-on.

Cowboy Bebop voice actors for Jet Black is Beau Billingslea, an actor who has performed in multiple anime, animation, and live-action projects. He has been involved with quintessential shonen anime Naruto and video games like Fallout – major franchises to work on!

As one of the Cowboy Bebop voice actors, Beau Billingslea brings the ideal sound to Jet Black’s voice. It is deep, commanding, and strong – everything that defines Jet Black as a Cowboy Bebop character. There is no better choice for the role than Billingslea!

“You know what they say, cowboy. Easy come, easy go.” 

Faye Valentine is a drifter, con-artist that joins up with the crew early on in the show. She isn’t invited or asked to join, she just tags along, despite the fact that she isn’t initially welcome. There are few characters in any media that are quite like Faye, she is explosive, aggressive, expressive, and overall bossy. As the only woman in the crew, she constantly holds the male traits of Spike and Jet against them.

As a Cowboy Bebop character, Faye is a spitfire and constantly in the middle of a hectic situation and constantly on the prowl for the next target. While she attempts to play the role of femme fatale, Faye often fails this and ends up losing the bounty or getting caught herself.

Her behaviour is erratic, irritable, and commonly irritating to other members of the ship. Multiple cases occur where Faye will leave the Cowboy Bebop cast, citing that she is sick of them, so she robs them and runs. At her heart, this is a facade, she wants to be wanted and be convinced she has a place in the world.

Faye was frozen 200 years prior to the show with hefty amounts of amnesia, so she is now alone and out of her own time period. With nowhere to go and nowhere to call home – she searches to complete her life and find out who she is.

As a Cowboy Bebop voice actor, Wendee Lee provides her talents to the role of Faye Valentine. Wendee Lee has a long list of anime, animations, video games and more in her catalogue of roles, with her role as a Cowboy Bebop voice actor being the inception point.

Wendee Lee’s performance as Faye provides the character with a multifaceted personality. One moment she may be flirty and alluring to deceive potential targets with her femininity; other times she can be aggressive and argumentative, ready to turn to fight at the drop of a hat.

“Lesson, lesson: If you see a stranger, follow him!”

Edward Wong Hau Pepelu Tivruski IV or was it Françoise Appledelhi? 

We just call her Radical Ed (Ed, for short). 

Ed is a bizarre creature; she is noodly, insane, wild, adventurous and, above all, eccentric. It takes a unique kind of mind to take up the role she does; a hacker extraordinaire! Radical Ed lived on Earth until she decided it was time to move on by manipulating the Bebop to come to pick her up. Through various antics, she just attaches to the crew and is impossible to wrangle and remove.

The Ed we see as a Cowboy Bebop Character is a techno-crazy kid who is joined intrinsically with Ein the dog. Typically she doesn’t get too involved in the process of bounty hunting, although everyone comes to her for anything tech-based – so she earns her keep.

Like every other member of the Cowboy Bebop voice actors, Ed is more than she seems. While she appears to care little about anything around her, floating around without a care in the world, this changes throughout the course of the series. Ed’s dad left her in the care of a nun on the ravaged remnants of planet Earth as he sauntered off chasing meteors. He is even stranger than Ed.

Radical Edward has no carer and must find some semblance of home onboard the Bebop. While she is an annoyance at first, each of the crew grows close to her in different ways. Jet becomes a fatherly figure to Ed, Spike remains stoic but warm to Ed, and Faye relishes having another girl on the ship.

Melissa Fahn is Ed’s Cowboy Bebop voice actor; she is an actor who has many credits across animation, anime, and video games. She has been involved in Boruto (sequel to Naruto), Shin Megami Tensei, and Rune Factory. Her profile as a voice actor is significant.

The sound that she brings forward to Radical Ed is one of complete and utter wackiness. She is explosive, expressive, and childlike in her delivery, highlighting the childishness of the character.

“It’s all…a dream.”

Julia is the essence of mystery. Her story entwines with Spike, she is the woman who captured his heart and snapped it in two.  Like an angel from the underworld or a devil from Paradise. Julia is the key to the subplot of Spike’s history and an enigmatic enigma throughout the course of the show.

Despite being an important and pivotal Cowboy Bebop character, she only appears a handful of times in the show – typically in flashbacks. Her presence is everpresent and grows in the story until the plot reaches its head in the finale.

The Cowboy Bebop voice actor for Julia is Mary Elizabeth McGlynn, an experienced voice actor and voice director. In fact, Mary Elizabeth McGlynn was responsible for the voice direction duties of the Cowboy Bebop English Dub – an impressive feat, considering how highly the English dub is regarded in the anime community.

She proves the perfect voice to Julia, a woman who sounds vulnerable, powerful, and competent; all at once. While she has limited dialogue in the show, what is said is enough to solidify her as a classic character.

“And you will shed tears of scarlet”

Vicious; an appropriate name that matches the man. As a Cowboy Bebop character, his involvement is comparatively limited, similarly to Julia. He only really appears infrequently to demonstrate the elements of the plot in motion and occasionally clashing with the Bebop crew.

Vicious is a man who is angry and is never afraid to kill or be cruel. His attitude is one of little mercy and he takes pleasure in acting villainous. He aims to subvert the syndicate and take over, with a secondary goal to hunt and kill Spike Spiegel.

The Cowboy Bebop voice actor for Vicious comes from Skip Stellrecht, a professional voice actor with roles in various franchises, including the anime Naruto.

His performance is one that is fairly streamlined, he is there to come across as cruelly as possible. He is not supposed to have a diverse personality, he is a monster. Stellrecht fills this role perfectly.