Harold Perrineau
Description
Harold Perrineau is best known for his live-action roles in projects like Lost and The Matrix franchise, but he has also worked as a voice actor in the anime medium. His most significant and well-documented contribution to the genre is providing the English dub voice for the title character in the 2011 Marvel anime series Blade. In this production, he voiced Eric Brooks, the vampire hunter known as the Daywalker, who travels to Japan to pursue his nemesis, Deacon Frost. The series, which consisted of twelve half-hour episodes, was a co-production between Marvel Entertainment and the acclaimed Japanese animation studio Madhouse, and it premiered on the G4 network in January 2012.
Perrineau has acknowledged that prior to landing the role of Blade, his experience with voice-over work was limited. He described having done small, isolated jobs, such as a single day of recording on the children's series Handy Manny. Consequently, his work on the Blade anime represented his most extensive and sustained vocal performance for an animated character at that time. He noted that as an actor accustomed to physical performance, adapting to the voice-over booth presented a unique challenge, but he was guided by the series directors to ensure the vocal delivery matched the on-screen action. Perrineau was enthusiastic about the opportunity to voice a superhero, specifically mentioning the rarity of African American characters in such roles as a point of personal significance.
The casting was announced in late 2011, with Perrineau himself calling the job exciting and a chance to be a badass. While other minor voice-acting credits, such as roles in an animated Spider-Man project and a Garfield film, have been listed in film databases, the Blade anime remains his primary and most prominent credit as an anime voice actor. In interviews surrounding the series release, he discussed the challenges of voicing a character of few words, requiring a focused and intense delivery, and he expressed satisfaction at being able to contribute to a project that blended Western superhero mythos with an Eastern animation style.
Perrineau has acknowledged that prior to landing the role of Blade, his experience with voice-over work was limited. He described having done small, isolated jobs, such as a single day of recording on the children's series Handy Manny. Consequently, his work on the Blade anime represented his most extensive and sustained vocal performance for an animated character at that time. He noted that as an actor accustomed to physical performance, adapting to the voice-over booth presented a unique challenge, but he was guided by the series directors to ensure the vocal delivery matched the on-screen action. Perrineau was enthusiastic about the opportunity to voice a superhero, specifically mentioning the rarity of African American characters in such roles as a point of personal significance.
The casting was announced in late 2011, with Perrineau himself calling the job exciting and a chance to be a badass. While other minor voice-acting credits, such as roles in an animated Spider-Man project and a Garfield film, have been listed in film databases, the Blade anime remains his primary and most prominent credit as an anime voice actor. In interviews surrounding the series release, he discussed the challenges of voicing a character of few words, requiring a focused and intense delivery, and he expressed satisfaction at being able to contribute to a project that blended Western superhero mythos with an Eastern animation style.