Walter Wigand was a German voice actor, actor, and musician born on August 10, 1956. He passed away on October 10, 2025, at the age of 69 in Hamburg. His career in the performing arts began in the mid-1970s with a role in the television production Tadellöser & Wolff, followed by work in various theater and television productions. Starting in the 1980s, he increasingly focused on voice acting, becoming a prolific presence in German dubbing for numerous films and television series.

Wigand was particularly active in the dubbing of anime, where his distinctive voice became well-known to German audiences. His most prominent role in this field was as Choza Akimichi, the leader of the Akimichi clan, in the long-running series Naruto Shippuden. He also voiced this character in the feature films Naruto Shippuden: The Movie - The Lost Tower and Road to Ninja: Naruto the Movie. His other roles in the Naruto universe included Tajima Uchiha and Genbu. Beyond Naruto, he contributed to other major anime properties, providing voices in series such as Detective Conan, Digimon Data Squad, and One Piece. Later in his career, he was heard in the German version of Boruto: Naruto Next Generations as the character Boro.

His voice acting work extended far beyond anime. He was known to younger audiences as the voice of Heffer Wolfe in the animated series Rocko's Modern Life. He also lent his voice to various characters in the Thomas & Friends franchise, including Salty and Cranky. His extensive filmography includes roles in live-action productions such as the series The Crown, Walker, Texas Ranger, and Dr. House, as well as in films like the Stephen King adaptation It. In addition to his screen work, Wigand was active as a narrator for audiobooks and video games.

Alongside his voice acting, Wigand maintained a career as a musician and music producer with a particular connection to the Cuban music scene, where he achieved a chart success with one of his songs. In the last years of his life, he gained a new level of public recognition as a distinctive figure in the Spiegel TV documentary series about the Penny supermarket on the Reeperbahn in Hamburg, where he lived for over three decades.