Christopher Ayres

Christopher Owen Ayres (May 16, 1965 – October 18, 2021) was an American actor, director, scriptwriter, and voice actor born in Richmond, Virginia. His career spanned stage performance, Broadway, and English-language dubbing of Japanese anime, with work as an ADR director as well.

Ayres made his first professional appearance in front of a camera at age six, performing in a commercial for Lollipop Soft Drinks in Richmond. When he was twelve, his family relocated to the Alief area of Houston, Texas, where he attended Alief Middle School and later Alief Elsik High School, graduating in 1983. He went on to study theatre at Lon Morris College in Jacksonville, Texas, from 1983 to 1985, then returned to Houston to continue his theatre studies at the University of Houston.

Before establishing himself in voice acting and ADR directing, Ayres built a reputation in the Houston theatre community as a stage director, choreographer, and fight director. That stage background extended to Broadway, where he appeared from 1990 to 1991, with credits including Peter Pan.

In anime dubbing, Ayres became widely recognized for voicing Frieza in Dragon Ball Z Kai and Dragon Ball Super, Kei Kurono in Gantz, Prince Soma in Black Butler, and Shingen Takeda in the Sengoku Basara series. He was also a presence at anime conventions, where he was known for conducting Mock Combat for Cosplay panels.

In November 2017, Ayres was diagnosed with end-stage chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, a condition that required a double lung transplant. A YouCaring fundraiser was established to help cover the $25,000 target for his medical care. He died on October 18, 2021, at the age of 56, following years of complications from pulmonary disease. His death was announced the following day on Twitter by his partner and fellow voice actress Krystal LaPorte.