Remembering the amazing vocal talent of Eric Bauza

Remembering the amazing vocal talent of Eric Bauza

“Embodying everything from Bugs Boddy to a sentient peppermint”

Everyone remembers Mel Blanc, voice of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Marvin the Martian, and countless other cartoon characters. But for the past decade or so, a new actor in the roles of Bugs and Daffy managed to make such an impression that he managed to step out of Blanc’s shadow and claim those roles as his own. While he wasn’t the first to take the mantle of Bugs from Blanc (there’s at least five other actors who have voiced the bunny other than Bauza) in recent years, it was Eric who became most closely associated with the role. Like Blanc, Bauza was also wildly prolific, voicing a wide range of character in film, TV show and video games, including Looney Tunes projects like MultiVersus and Looney Tunes: World of Mayhem, as well as Japanese games like Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, and indie titles like Date Everything!

Born in Canada in 1979, Bauza’s first big role was Stimpy in Ren and Stimpy “Adult Party Cartoon”, picking up the character from beloved actor Billy West. Filling big shoes would become a pattern for Bauza, who over the course of his career, would also voice Woody Woodpecker, Leonardo of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Luke Skywalker in Lego Star Wars: The Yoda Chronicles. His career was also defined by the ability to work across more adult-oriented shows, like Adult Swim’s Black Dynamite and Amazon’s The Boys, to the biggest family franchises in the world, like Toy Story, where he picked up the role of Mr. Potato Head from the late Don Rickles.

Bauza was also great in front of the camera, quick to take interviews about being the first person of Filipino descent to play all of these roles, continuing to do stand up, and even hosting his own late night talk show on Twitch, aptly named Your Late Night Talk Show Tonight. He also made the news when he voiced various Looney Tunes characters on the picket lines on the SAG-AFTRA strikes in 2023, using Daffy, Porky, and many others to support fellow actors in the fight.

But Bauza’s final theatrical performances are the works he’ll likely be most remembered for. The Day the Earth Blew Up, a Looney Tunes film from 22024 where he played both leads (Porky Pig and Daffy Duck) and Coyote vs. Acme, the 2026 movie where he lent his voice to 10 Looney Tunes characters, including an intense turn as a villainous Foghorn Leghorn, were both heralded as new classics the instant that audiences finally got to see them. Losing such an incredible performer at such a young age is a terrible tragedy. We’re grateful that Bauza got to leave his mark on the entertainment world in such a broad and indelible way before his passing at the young age of 46.