Ryō Horikawa

When Vegeta descended on Earth during the Saiyan arc of Dragon Ball Z, the voice that sneered out of that scouter belonged to Ryō Horikawa, and he has never let go of the role since. Born in Osaka in 1958 and originally credited as Makoto Horikawa, he had already broken into anime as the lead of Yume Senshi Wingman before Toei handed him the prince of all Saiyans. What he built in the years that followed became one of the most iconic vocal performances in anime history.

Horikawa voices not just Vegeta but every fused and legacy form the character has ever taken, including Super Vegeta, Majin Vegeta, Vegito, Gogeta, and Vegeta Jr. in Dragon Ball GT. He also performs the bit-part comic Saiyan Charmy Yamada. Across every arc from Namek to the Tournament of Power, his voice is the thread that keeps the character coherent even as Vegeta grows from a genocidal warrior into a reluctant family man.

What makes Horikawa's Vegeta extraordinary is how much range he finds inside one very controlled character. The clipped, acidic tone he uses when Vegeta is taunting Cell is the same instrument that cracks open during the Majin Buu saga, when Vegeta confesses his pride to Goku and detonates himself in a doomed attempt to save his family. That moment is arguably the emotional peak of Dragon Ball Z, and it lives or dies on Horikawa's delivery. Decades later he brought the same intensity to Battle of Gods, Resurrection F, and the Tournament of Power in Dragon Ball Super, where Vegeta's rivalry with Goku finally softened into grudging brotherhood.

Outside Dragon Ball, Horikawa is beloved for Andromeda Shun in Saint Seiya, Heiji Hattori in Detective Conan, Reinhard von Lohengramm in Legend of the Galactic Heroes, and the famously over-the-top Captain Falcon in the Super Smash Bros. series. Anime fans who have never seen a single episode of Dragon Ball still know his voice from a Falcon Punch.

Horikawa has become one of the most visible Dragon Ball cast members on the international circuit, appearing as a guest of honor at Anime Expo in Los Angeles, Anime Weekend Atlanta, and Anime North in Toronto. Fans who line up for his panels tend to come with the same question: can you do the voice? He almost always obliges. He is married to fellow voice actress Hitomi Oikawa, and counts the original Yamcha actor Tōru Furuya as a close friend off the mic.

Nearly forty years after first recording the role, Horikawa is still the voice of Vegeta in every new game, film, and Dragon Ball Super project. For a generation of fans around the world, there is no separating the character from the man who plays him.