John "Beau" Billingslea (born 1944
in Charleston, South Carolina) is an American actor and voice actor. He is best known as the voice of Jet Black from the popular anime Cowboy Bebop. In addition to voice acting, Billingslea has appeared in many popular TV series as a prolific guest actor. Before he got into acting, he played football at the University of Connecticut.
Much like James Earl Jones and Keith David, his natural, deep pipes often cast him as Scary Black Men and narrators. That being said, his roles aren't limited to black people and is capable of voicing badasses in general.
He primarily focuses on on-screen acting in recent years, usually in recurring or guest-starring roles, but occasionally does some union voice work in anime with Studiopolis and Bang Zoom! Entertainment.
Notable roles by Beau Billingslea:
Anime
- Argento Soma: Michael Heartland
- Cowboy Bebop: Jet Black
- Cyborg 009: G. Junior/Cyborg 005
- Digimon Adventure: Ogremon
- Digimon Tamers: Musyomon
- Digimon Data Squad: Leopardmon
- DinoZaurs: Dino Mammoth
- Durarara!!: Dogen Awakusu and Lingerin Douglanikov
- Expelled from Paradise: Official A
- Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children: Barret Wallace
- Fist of the North Star: Jackal
- Gankutsuou: Giovanni Bertuccio
- Godzilla: Singular Point: Numerous characters
- Gungrave: Bear Walken
- Hunter × Hunter (2011 series): Light Nostrade
- Iczer: Narrator
- IGPX: Immortal Grand Prix (microseries): Yammer
- Last Exile: Godwin (as John Daniels)
- Last Hope (2018): Cain Ibrahim Hassan
- The Legend of Black Heaven: Oji Tanaka (stage name Gabriel). And the Scary Black Man who beats the crap out of Watanabe because he incidentally flipped the middle finger on him.
- Macross Plus: Col. Millard Johnson (as John Billingslea)
- Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket: Richard Lunland
- Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory: Colonel Kowen
- Monster: Milan Kolasch (Ep. 62)
- Naruto: Homura, Raikage
- Outlaw Star: Narrator
- Rave Master: Bear/Dearhound
- Reign: The Conqueror: Antigonos
- Re:Zero: Rom
- Rurouni Kenshin: Senkaku (Ep. 36) (as John Billingslea), & Hiruma Gohei
- Saiyuki Gunlock: Gato
- Samurai Champloo: Matsunosuke Shibui (Ep. 1)
- Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie: Dee Jay (as John Hammond)
- Tiger & Bunny: Ben Jackson
- Wolf's Rain: Sea Walrus (Ep. 22)
Film
- The Blob (1988): Moss Woodley
- Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later: Detective
- Star Trek Into Darkness: Captain Abbot
Live-Action TV
- Franklin & Bash: Judge James Douglas
- General Hospital: Judge Cole
- Hannah Montana: The Movie: Mayor
Video Games
- Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War: Marcus Snow (uncredited)
- Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War: Anthony'"Bedivere"'Palmer (uncredited)
- Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown: Colonel Johnson
- Ape Escape: Pumped & Primed: Grid Core (uncredited)
- Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana: Delsus's father (uncredited)
- BIONICLE: The Game: Toa Onua Nuva
- Breakdown: Nexus
- Death By Degrees: Lukas Hayes (uncredited)
- Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII: Barret Wallace
- Dynasty Tactics 2: Guan Yu, Dian Wei (uncredited)
- Dynasty Warriors (4 to 7): Cao Ren, Dian Wei (uncredited)
- Front Mission 4: Carl Thammond, Hermes Sturges (uncredited)
- Horizon Forbidden West: Emboh, Garokkah
- Inherit the Earth: Okk
- Kingdom Hearts II: Bo'sun (Undead Pirate A)
- Neo Contra: Genbei "Jaguar" Yagyu
- Outlaws: "Buckshot" Bill Morgan
- Quest for Glory V: Dragon Fire: Rakeesh Sah Tarna (credited as "Bo Billingsley")
- Radiata Stories: Gerald (uncredited)
- Resident Evil: Outbreak File #2: Mark Wilkins, Jim Chapman
- Samurai Warriors: Kenshin Uesugi (uncredited)
- Samurai Warriors: Xtreme Legends: Kenshin Uesugi (uncredited)
- Star Ocean: Till the End of Time: Adray Lasbard, Berial (uncredited)
- Tekken: Leroy Smith
- Xenosaga Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht: Representative Helmer
- Warriors Orochi: Cao Ren, Dian Wei (uncredited)
Western Animation
- Adventure Time: The Moon
- Toonami: The Forge Commander
Tropes relating to Beau Billingslea:
- The Narrator: He also have a few roles like this as well.
- Scary Black Man: Some of his characters, although he isn't limited to black people.
- Best example is in The Legend of Black Heaven that in addition Oji Tanaka, he also voices a Scary Black Man who beats the crap out of Watanabe. With Cluster F-Bomb to go.
- Watanabe is voiced by Steve Blum, which makes hilarious context of Jet beating the crap out of Spike.
