Beau Billingslea
Billingslea in 2016
Born
John Billingslea

1944 (age 79–80)
Charleston, South Carolina, U.S.
EducationUniversity of Connecticut (BA, JD)
OccupationActor
Years active1977–present
SpouseCecelia Billingslea
Children2

John "Beau" Billingslea[1] (born 1944)[2] is an American actor, known as the voice of Jet Black in the critically acclaimed anime Cowboy Bebop, Ogremon in Digimon and Homura and Ay, the Fourth Raikage in Naruto Shippuden. In addition to voice acting, he appeared in many television shows and some films including North and South Book II: Love and War, Just Jordan, The Hannah Montana Movie and Star Trek Into Darkness.

Biography

Early life and career

Billingslea was born in Charleston, South Carolina.[3] His mother was from Malensis, South Carolina, near Charleston, and his father was from Macon, Georgia.[3] His family moved to Meriden, Connecticut, where he grew up.[2][1] At Maloney High School, he lettered in football, basketball and baseball and was offered a contract with the Kansas City Athletics,[1] but at the advice of his father, went to University of Connecticut, where he played football and co-captained in his senior year.[3][1][4] He graduated with a Bachelor's in Political Science in 1966.[2] He was involved in ROTC and had to turn down entering the NFL in order to fulfill his military service, however, his commitment was deferred so that he could attend UConn Law School, where he graduated and passed the Connecticut bar in 1969.[3][1] He became an officer in the Army's Judge Advocate General's Corps and had tours in Germany and Europe, working on a number of cases. In Germany, he also taught criminal law for the University of Maryland's extension program.[3][1]

Acting career

While in college, Billingslea was encouraged by his fraternity brother to perform the lead role in a production of The Emperor Jones. This inspired him to go into acting, and he started getting involved professionally while he was in law school.[3][1] After moving to Los Angeles, he was involved in a number of action shows, including TJ Hooker, Hunter, The Fall Guy and The A-Team. Billingslea mentioned in an interview that it was probably because of his military background that he was often cast as an officer.[3][5] He portrayed Ezra in the TV miniseries North and South and was involved in a number of shows including Who's the Boss?, Murphy Brown and Married... with Children. On the Nick series Just Jordan he played Jordan's maternal grandfather Grant.[6] In the TV sitcom Franklin & Bash he portrayed Judge Douglas. He also acted in films such as Night Shift, The American President, Hannah Montana: The Movie, Halloween H20: 20 Years Later and a remake of The Blob.[1] In 2013, he portrayed Captain Abbot of the Starship Bradbury in the feature film Star Trek Into Darkness.[5] He continues to act in stage plays such as Driving Miss Daisy where he was nominated for a Los Angeles Ovation Award in 2005.[7]

Voice-over career

Billingslea's voice-over work started with radio spots for various businesses and organizations, including Honda, Hood and California Highway Patrol.[3] He worked on several cartoons and anime, his most notable being Jet Black in Cowboy Bebop, which was broadcast on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim programming block.[3][1] He also voiced starring characters Captain Michael Heartland in Argento Soma; Oji Tanaka in The Legend of Black Heaven, which was broadcast on International Channel and was the voice of Ogremon and various "mons" in Digimon. In Naruto, he voices Homura and Ay, the Fourth Raikage. He attended several anime conventions, including the 2016 Anime Expo, which united the Cowboy Bebop English voice cast.[8] He has also been involved in narrating shows on The History Channel including Hero Ships, Modern Marvels, and Suicide Missions.[5][9]

Personal life

Billingslea lives in the Los Angeles area. He is married to Cecelia Billingslea;[10] they have a son and a daughter together.[3][1] In 1987, Billingslea was inducted into the Meriden Hall of Fame.[2] In 2014, he gave the keynote address at a UConn Law School reunion.[10]

Filmography

Live-action filmography

Television

List of acting performances in television
Year Title Role Notes Source[1]
1984–87 Hunter Officer Bolin 3 episodes: "The Hot Grounder", "Flashpoint", "The Shooter" [11][12][13]
1984–85 Santa Barbara Police Officer Unknown episodes [14]
1985 The Atlanta Child Murders Commissioner Lee Brown TV miniseries [15]
1985 Dallas Dr. Miller [citation needed]
1985–86 Hotel Cop #2, Officer Episode: "Recriminations" [16]
1985–86 The A-Team Armored car guard, Owens 2 episodes: "Incident at Crystal Lake K Love", "Family Reunion" [16][17][18]
1986 North and South Ezra TV miniseries, Book II: Love and War [19]
1986 Trapper John, M.D. Ambers Episode: "Self-Diagnosis" [20]
1987 MacGyver Meridan Episode: "Family Matter"[21]
1989 Murder, She Wrote Kei Murray Episode: "Three Strikes, You're Out" [22]
1991 Line of Fire: The Morris Dees Story Hal Television film [23]
1993 NYPD Blue Det. Hankin Episode: "Oscar, Meyer, Weiner" [24]
1993 Married... with Children Moderator Episode: "Banking on Marcy" [25]
1994 Melrose Place George Episode: "Michael's Game" [16]
1994 L.A. Law Detective Don Cuva Episode: "Whistle Stop" Uconn profile
1995 The Young and the Restless Trenton Jordan Uconn profile
1996 Terror in the Family Judge Roubal Television film
1996 Married... with Children Reverend Hightower Episode: "A Bundy Thanksgiving" [26]
1997 Murphy Brown Agent Scanlon Episode: "Hero Today, Gone Tomorrow" [27]
1997 Mad About You Security Chief Episode: "The Birth: Part 2" [28]
1998 Profiler Prison Director Episode: "Coronation" [16]
1999 Baywatch Ben Frazier Episode: "The Big Blue" [16]
2001 NYPD Blue Deputy Warden Jim Cullen Episode: "Hit the Road, Clark" [29]
2001 JAG Col. Klesko Episode: "Ambush" [16]
2001 7th Heaven Gene Carter
2001–02 Family Law Judge Lawrence Harrington Unknown episodes
2003 Modern Marvels Narrator 2 episodes [9]
2004 The West Wing Agent Caswell
2006 Gone, but Not Forgotten Chester Shortridge Television film (Lifetime) [30]
2007–08 Just Jordan Grant Cunningham Unknown episodes [6][31]
2008 Hero Ships Narrator History Channel series [32]
2010 Wizards of Waverly Place Burt Parker
2011 General Hospital Prof. Russell Stern
2011–14 Franklin & Bash Judge James Douglas Unknown episodes [9]
2014 Castle Dr. Walter Parish Episode: "Bad Santa" [33]
2016 Star Trek Continues Vulcan Vice Admiral Stomm Episode: "Embracing the Winds" [34]
2017 NCIS Denny Rydell Episode: "Burden of Proof"
2020 Cherish the Day Pastor Gordon 2 episodes

Feature films

List of acting performances in film
Year Title Role Notes Source[2][1]
1977 Alex Joseph and His Wives FBI Agent Vernon Wood [35]
1982 Night Shift Donny [36]
1983 10 to Midnight Desk Sergeant [37]
1985 Real Genius George [38]
1988 The Blob Moss Woodley [9][39]
1994 In the Army Now Sgt. Daniels [40]
1995 The American President Agent Cooper [41]
1997 Final Justice Charles Made in 1994, released to video in 1997 [42]
1998 Halloween H20: 20 Years Later Detective Fitzsimmons [9][43]
2003 Leprechaun: Back 2 tha Hood Thompson [9]
2005 Rebound NCBA Board Member [44]
2009 Hannah Montana: The Movie Mayor [45][46]
2013 Star Trek Into Darkness Captain Abbott [34]

Voice-over filmography

Anime

List of voice performances in anime
Year Title Role Notes Source
1995 Macross Plus Col. Millard Johnson [47]
1998 Outlaw Star Narrator [48]
1998 Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory Admiral Kowen [49]
1999 Digimon Ogremon, Sagittarimon, Parrotmon [34]
1999 Cowboy Bebop Jet Black as John Billingslea [50][51][52]
2000 Rurouni Kenshin Gohei [34]
2000 The Legend of Black Heaven Oji Tanaka as John Billingslea, grouped under English Voice Talent [53][54]
2001 Rave Master Bear / Dearhound [55]
2001–02 Cyborg 009 Geromino Jr. / Cyborg 005 [56]
2003 Argento Soma Captain Michael Heartland [9]
2003 Wolf's Rain Sea Walrus [34]
2004 Gungrave Bear Walken [57]
2008 Digimon Data Squad Leopardmon [58]
2009 Monster Milan Kolasch [47]
2009–15 Naruto: Shippuden Homura, Ay (Fourth Raikage) [34]
2012 Tiger & Bunny Ben Jackson [59]
2017 Hunter × Hunter Light Nostrade 2011 series [60]
2017 Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt: Bandit Flower Orphe, Bull, Julio Sawasdee [49]
2018 Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World Valga "Rom" Cromwell [61]
2018 Last Hope (TV Series) Cain Ibrahim Hasan Also named Unit Pandora [62][circular reference]
2021 Godzilla Singular Point Additional Voice Netflix dub
2021 Super Crooks Eric Netflix dub [49]

Animation

List of voice performances in animation
Year Title Role Notes Source
2004 Megas XLR Grrkek The Planet Killer & Orange Scaley Thing 1 [49]
2015 Stakes The Moon Mini-series special for Adventure Time [63][64]
2019 The Forge Booger TIE special for Toonami [65]

Direct-to-video and television films

List of voice performances in direct-to-video and television films
Year Title Role Notes Source[1]
1995 Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie Dee Jay As John Hammond [34]
2002 Cowboy Bebop: The Movie Jet Black [66][67]
2006 Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Barret Wallace [49][68]
2013 Tiger & Bunny: The Rising Ben Jackson [69]
2015 The Last: Naruto the Movie Fourth Raikage / Ay Nominated for Best Male Supporting Vocal Performance in an Anime Movie/Special, 4th Annual BTVA Anime Dub Awards 2015 [49][70]

Feature films

List of voice performances in feature films
Year Title Role Notes Source
2012 War of the Worlds: Goliath Abraham Douglas Premiered in Malaysia in English; U.S. release in 2014 [71][72][73]
2015 The Laws of the Universe Part 0 Goat-type Alien Limited theatrical release [49]

Video games

List of voice performances in video games
Year Title Role Notes Source
1997 Outlaws "Buckshot" Bill Morgan [49]
2003–14 Dynasty Warriors games [34][74]
2006 Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII Barret Wallace [49]
2011–16 Naruto games Ay (Fourth Raikage) [49]
2014 WildStar Judge Kain, Osun Male [75]
2020 Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing in Disguise Tyrone Sanders [49]
2020 Fallout 76: Wastelanders Paige, Chase Terrier, Deathklaus [76]
2022 Horizon Forbidden West Garokkah, Emboh [49]
2023 Starfield Percival Walker [77]
2024 Tekken 8 Leroy Smith [78]

References

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  4. ^ "UConn Football Captains Named". The Day. New London, Connecticut. February 9, 1965. p. 21. Retrieved September 7, 2016.
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  78. ^ Billingslea, Beau [@BeauBillingslea] (April 11, 2023). "I voiced Leroy Smith in Tekken 8. You might remember me as Jet Black in Cowboy Bebop!!!" (Tweet). Retrieved July 24, 2023 – via Twitter.

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