The original Dragon Ball broadcast had one of the most diverse and talented casts assembled at the time, allowing it to still have an impact with audiences today. As the franchise has progressed into the modern production era, much about its production process has changed; however, overall little has changed with its cast. The main core of the legacy cast compiled during the series’ original broadcast during the 1980s and 1990s has largely remained unchanged, with a few exceptions following the passing of various cast members. Up until the debut of Dragon Ball Daima in 2024, this cast (many in their 70s at the time) has been carried through into most all modern productions, including TV, movies, and video games.
The brief voice actor profiles included in this guide are split between the legacy and new/current voice cast, and further organized by their associated roles, as outlined below. Note that not all voice actors have an individual profile listed, but all voice actors are included in our cast database, which provides a comprehensive listing of all voice actors credited throughout the franchise.
Definitions of Roles
A hierarchal order of roles has been used to better organize the various voice actors throughout this guide, with each actor’s placement based their primary character role, although some do have many. These roles are defined below for reference:
- Leading/Primary: The main characters with which episodes and stories revolve around.
- Secondary: Recurring characters that the majority of the time fulfil an elevated supporting role. They often were once a primary or leading role in a previous story arc.
- Supporting: Recurring characters who are of lesser importance.
- Tertiary: Characters who appear in one, perhaps two scenes for a specific, limited purpose. They typically have a generic title (i.e., Bodyguard, Man, Reporter).
- Antagonist: A character in who is the main enemy or rival of the leading role character(s).
Legacy Voice Cast (1986 — 1997)
To better organize such a large cast, we have classified legacy voice actors as those that joined the cast during the franchise’s original syndicated broadcast run from 1986 to 1997, which covers the Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, and Dragon Ball GT TV series and their associated movies. However, as noted above, many of these voice actors have remained on as staples, anchoring the modern voice cast well beyond this period.
The legacy cast has been divided between main and supporting roles. The main cast section includes primary and secondary character roles, such as Goku, Bulma, and Piccolo, while the supporting cast section is comprised of supporting and tertiary character roles, as defined above. Main and supporting antagonist characters are similarly divided between the two sections. Note that these brief profiles do not list all characters portrayed by a given voice actor, but rather the main roles they are associated with.
Modern Voice Cast (2008 — current)
The modern cast is comprised of the remaining portions of the legacy cast and those more recently joining to fulfil new roles for original characters in the Dragon Ball Super and Dragon Ball Daima TV series. However, prior to these new original series, several legacy roles were recast for various reasons for Dragon Ball Kai, a refreshed version of the original Dragon Ball Z TV series. These cast members are presented separately in the sections below.
