The Emmy-winning voice actor also appeared in WWE animated crossover films, video games, and numerous beloved television franchises.
Eric Bauza, the Emmy Award-winning voice actor who helped bring Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, and numerous other beloved animated characters to modern audiences, has died at the age of 46. His family announced his death on Sunday, October 25, 2026, bringing an unexpected loss to an animation industry in which Bauza had become one of its most recognizable voices.
According to Variety, Bauza died Sunday at his home from hypertensive cardiovascular disease, as recorded by the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner. His family confirmed the news through a statement published on his official Instagram account, describing his death as sudden.
While Bauza was best known for his work with Warner Bros.’ legendary Looney Tunes characters, his career extended across hundreds of television episodes, animated films, video games, and commercial productions. His credits included everything from The Adventures of Puss in Boots and Muppet Babies to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Teen Titans Go!, and several animated films featuring WWE Superstars.
For audiences who grew up watching classic cartoons, Bauza represented something particularly important: a performer entrusted with keeping some of entertainment’s most enduring characters alive for another generation.
The Modern Voice of Looney Tunes
Taking over the voice of an established animated character presents a challenge unlike most other acting assignments. Audiences already know what the character should sound like, often because they have spent their entire lives listening to earlier performers.
For the Looney Tunes, that challenge is especially significant.
Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, and their animated companions were famously associated with the extraordinary voice work of Mel Blanc, whose performances helped define the characters for generations. Subsequent performers have faced the difficult task of honoring those familiar voices while making the characters work for contemporary productions.
Bauza became one of Warner Bros. Animation’s principal performers in that tradition, providing voices for Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Tweety, Marvin the Martian, and numerous other characters.
His work appeared in productions including Looney Tunes Cartoons, Bugs Bunny Builders, Space Jam: A New Legacy, and The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie.
More recently, he supplied multiple character voices for Coyote vs. Acme, the long-awaited film featuring John Cena alongside the familiar animated characters.
Bauza’s performances earned considerable recognition within the animation industry. He received multiple Emmy nominations and won three Children’s & Family Emmy Awards for his work on Looney Tunes Cartoons, Bugs Bunny Builders, and Teen Titans Go!.
Warner Bros. Television Group and US Networks Chairman Channing Dungey acknowledged his contributions in a statement following his death, noting his 15 years with Warner Bros. Animation and the importance Bauza placed on continuing the legacy of the Looney Tunes.
From Bugs Bunny to WWE: Bauza’s Unexpected Wrestling Connection
Although many viewers knew Bauza primarily through his cartoon performances, professional wrestling fans may have encountered his work without realizing it.
Bauza appeared in three animated crossover movies produced around WWE’s partnerships with familiar Hanna-Barbera properties.
In 2015’s The Flintstones & WWE: Stone Age SmackDown!, he provided the voices of Bamm-Bamm Rubble and Dino, bringing two familiar Bedrock residents into a story featuring animated versions of WWE Superstars.
He returned to the world of wrestling-related animation in 2016’s Scooby-Doo! and WWE: Curse of the Speed Demon, voicing Big Earl. The film brought the Mystery Inc. gang together with WWE personalities for a racing-themed adventure.
A year later, Bauza voiced Rolf Rodriguez in The Jetsons & WWE: Robo-WrestleMania!, another crossover combining classic animation with professional wrestling.
Those credits might seem like a curious footnote in a career dominated by iconic cartoon characters, but they illustrate just how widely Bauza’s voice work reached.
For wrestling fans, the movies were unusual collaborations between two forms of entertainment that have always shared an appreciation for colorful personalities, exaggerated characters, and larger-than-life spectacle.
For Bauza, they were three more opportunities to contribute to franchises that audiences had enjoyed for decades.
A Career That Reached Far Beyond Saturday Morning Cartoons
Bauza’s career wasn’t limited to Warner Bros. or its most famous animated characters.
He voiced the title character in DreamWorks’ The Adventures of Puss in Boots, portrayed Fozzie Bear in Disney Junior’s Muppet Babies, and contributed to series including SpongeBob SquarePants, The Fairly OddParents, Rick and Morty, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
His voice also appeared in superhero animation, including projects involving DC and Marvel characters.
Gaming audiences had opportunities to hear his performances as well. Bauza voiced Bugs Bunny in the Warner Bros. crossover fighting game MultiVersus, bringing his interpretation of the character into an interactive setting alongside superheroes, cartoon favorites, and other entertainment icons.
It’s the kind of career that can be surprisingly difficult to appreciate until the credits are collected in one place. A viewer might recognize his work from a cartoon watched with their children, a movie enjoyed years earlier, or a video game played over the weekend without ever knowing the same performer was responsible.
Bauza originally entered the animation industry as a character designer before moving into voice acting, eventually becoming one of its busiest and most versatile performers.
According to Variety, he accumulated more than 400 acting credits over the course of his career.
Keeping Classic Characters Alive for New Generations
The death of Eric Bauza also brings attention to an aspect of animation that audiences can easily overlook.
Animated characters often outlive their original creators and performers by decades. Bugs Bunny first appeared more than 80 years ago, yet remains recognizable to children who have never seen a theatrical cartoon from Hollywood’s golden age.
That longevity doesn’t happen automatically.
Writers, animators, directors, and voice performers continually reinterpret these characters, balancing what audiences remember with the demands of new stories and new generations.
Bauza occupied an important place in that process.
His performances helped connect the Looney Tunes of Mel Blanc’s era with contemporary animated television, feature films, and even video games. Meanwhile, his work on projects involving the Flintstones, Scooby-Doo, and the Jetsons demonstrated how thoroughly his career intersected with the history of American animation.
For longtime cartoon fans, there is something remarkable about the fact that characters created generations ago can still inspire laughter today. The voices may change, the animation techniques may evolve, and the audiences may be different, but the personalities remain familiar.
Performers like Bauza are an essential part of making that possible.
An Unexpected Loss for the Animation Industry
Bauza’s death comes while his work remains prominent across several major entertainment franchises.
Among the projects associated with his continuing career were Bye Bye Bunny: A Looney Tunes Musical and other animated productions still in development.
His sudden passing leaves questions about those future projects, although no announcements concerning casting changes or production plans have been confirmed.
For now, the immediate news is the loss of a performer whose work reached considerably further than many audiences may have realized.
From Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck to WWE’s animated adventures, Eric Bauza spent his career giving familiar characters new performances without losing the personalities that made them beloved in the first place.
And while the audiences watching those characters might not always have recognized the name in the credits, they certainly knew the voices.
