Eric Bauza, voice actor for the Looney Toones and winner of an Emmy Award, has died at the age of 46

Eric Bauza, the Canadian actor who gave voice to Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and much of the Looney Tunes gang over the last fifteen years, died on Sunday 25 October at his home in Los Angeles County. He was 46 years old. According to the medical examiner, the cause is hypertensive heart disease.

The family's announcement and the causes of death

The news arrived Sunday evening from the actor's Instagram profile, where his family published a short message: "Eric Bauza, Emmy Award-winning voice actor and modern voice of the iconic Looney Tunes characters Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, as well as dozens of other beloved animated characters, has left us suddenly. Other details will follow." A few hours later, the records of the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner clarified that what caused his death was a cardiovascular disease linked to hypertension, and that the death was classified as natural. His manager, Judy Coppage, also remembered him: “Eric was a unique and versatile voice actor, loved by all those who knew him and worked with him”. Bauza leaves behind his wife Jessica, whom he married in 2016, and a son.

Mel Blanc's heir and the three Emmys

Bauza was born on December 7, 1979 in Scarborough, just outside Toronto, and grew up with the classic cartoons loved by his father and grandfather. He made his professional debut in the early 2000s with the Canadian series The Ripping Friends and, in 2011, entered the Warner universe, lending the voice of Marvin the Martian in The Looney Tunes Show. Since then, one character after another has become the point of reference for the entire team made famous by Mel Blanc. In addition to Bugs and Daffy, he also voiced Porky Pig, Pepé Le Pew, Taddeo, Foghorn Leghorn, Tweety and Beep Beep. In 2022 Looney Tunes Cartoons won him the first Children's and Family Emmy ever awarded for Outstanding Voice Performance in an Animated Program. Two other awards then arrived, in 2023 for Bugs Bunny Builders and in 2025 for Teen Titans Go!, as well as five nominations for the Daytime Emmys. He said that his favorite was still Bugs Bunny, but that as he got older he felt more and more like Daffy.

A career beyond Looney Tunes

On IMDb his name appears in more than 400 titles. Among his best-known roles are Puss in Boots in The Adventures of Puss in Boots and Baby Fozzie in Muppet Babies. He also participated in Avatar - The Legend of Aang, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Picchiarello and Bob's Burgers. At the cinema he worked on Space Jam: New Legends, Super Mario Bros. - The Movie and A Space Adventure - A Looney Tunes Movie. One of his latest tests is Coyote vs. Acme, the film that Warner Bros. Discovery had shelved in 2023 and that Ketchup Entertainment distributed this year. At the time of his death he was preparing two new projects. In the musical Bye Bye Bunny: A Looney Tunes Musical he would have played Daffy Duck, while in the series The Dragon Masters he would have given voice to the Shogun King.