Eric Bauza, Toronto-born voice of Bugs Bunny, dies at 46

Eric Bauza, the Toronto-raised voice actor who gave Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and dozens of other cartoon characters their modern voices, died Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026, at age 46, his family announced.

Bauza was a three-time Children’s and Family Emmy Award winner with more than 400 screen credits over 25 years, and in 2018 he became the first non-white actor to voice Bugs Bunny, according to The Canadian Press.

His family announced the death on social media and described it as sudden. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner listed the cause as hypertensive cardiovascular disease, TVLine reported.

Bauza was born and raised in Scarborough, Toronto, and was Filipino-Canadian. He began his career as an animator before moving into voice acting, with an early credit on The Ripping Friends in 2001, The Canadian Press reported.

He voiced Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Tweety, Elmer Fudd, Foghorn Leghorn, the Road Runner and Marvin the Martian across Looney Tunes Cartoons on HBO Max, Bugs Bunny Builders, Space Jam: A New Legacy and The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie, TVLine reported. He was often described as a modern successor to Mel Blanc, the original voice of the characters.

His Emmy wins came for Looney Tunes Cartoons, Bugs Bunny Builders and Teen Titans Go!. He also received five Daytime Emmy nominations, including for Muppet Babies and The Adventures of Puss in Boots, TVLine said.

Outside the Looney Tunes catalogue, he voiced Splinter in Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the Toad General in The Super Mario Bros. Movie, and appeared in series including Avatar: The Last Airbender, Rick and Morty and SpongeBob SquarePants.

He also appeared in Coyote vs. Acme, the live-action and animation hybrid that Warner Bros. shelved before an independent distributor acquired it for release in 2026. The Canadian Press reported that Bauza had campaigned publicly for the film to reach audiences.

Colleagues and friends paid tribute after the news broke. Animation historian Jerry Beck called him “an unbelievable discovery” and praised his range, The Canadian Press reported. Voice actor David Kaye, who plays Megatron, called him “a good man,” and Kristen Schaal described him as the “Elvis of voice actors.” John Cena thanked him for giving fans the voices of their favourite characters.

For Canadian audiences, Bauza’s career stood as one of the most visible examples of a homegrown performer carrying an American animation institution. The Bugs Bunny role, first voiced by Blanc in 1940, passed to him in 2018.

Bauza’s death follows another loss for film audiences this week. Actor Tom Skerritt, star of Top Gun and Alien, died at 93 on Oct. 23.

No funeral or memorial details had been announced by his family as of Monday, Oct. 26.

Via The Canadian Press, published by the Lethbridge Herald, and TVLine.

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