Eric Bauza, the prolific and award-winning voice actor who became the definitive modern voice for Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and a stable of other legendary Looney Tunes characters, has died. He was 46.
Bauza died suddenly late Sunday at his home. According to a statement from his family and findings from the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner, the cause of death was hypertensive cardiovascular disease.
Since beginning his professional career in 2001, Bauza amassed more than 400 voice acting credits. His work spanned a massive range of animated properties, from voicing the lead rabbit in the Looney Tunes franchise to roles in “Puss in Boots,” “Muppet Babies,” and “Avatar: The Last Airbender.” His talent was recognized with three Children’s and Family Emmy Awards between 2022 and 2025, cementing his status as a premier talent in the animation industry.
Born and raised in Scarborough, Ontario, to Filipino immigrant parents, Bauza’s path to Hollywood began with teenage experimentation. In high school, he frequently delivered the morning announcements over the public address system using various cartoon voices. This early passion for character work eventually led him to the legacy of Mel Blanc, the original voice of the Looney Tunes characters. Bauza viewed Blanc as a personal hero, describing him in previous interviews as “the voice of God” and often performing impressions of Blanc even when he was not in a recording booth.
In recent years, Bauza became not just a performer but a public advocate for the medium of animation. He played a significant role in the preservation of “Coyote vs. Acme,” a feature film in which Wile E. Coyote takes the Acme Corporation to court. After Warner Bros. initially opted not to release the film for a tax write-off, Bauza helped galvanize fan support. During the 2024 Annie Awards, he famously argued for the film’s release while speaking in the voice of Daffy Duck, noting that the character was the perfect choice for “begging and pleading.” The advocacy proved successful; the film found a distributor in Ketchup Entertainment and eventually surpassed $100 million at the global box office.
Bauza was also a vocal defender of professional voice actors in an industry that increasingly favors celebrity “stunt casting” for major film roles. While he sometimes provided “voice-match” services for stars like Bill Hader in “Bob’s Burgers” or Antonio Banderas in “Puss in Boots,” he occasionally spoke about the challenges faced by career voice performers who are often replaced by A-list actors in high-budget productions. Despite these industry shifts, Bauza maintained that there was always room for specialized performers to bring depth and nuance to animated worlds.
His film credits included “Space Jam: A New Legacy” in 2021 and “The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie” in 2024. Throughout his career, Bauza remained deeply cognizant of the historical weight of the characters he voiced. He often expressed gratitude for being a temporary steward of icons like Bugs Bunny, noting that while the characters existed long before him, they would continue to thrive long after his tenure ended. He frequently described himself as “the luckiest guy” for having the opportunity to contribute to the Looney Tunes legacy.
