Charles Forrest "Spike" Spencer (born December 21, 1968) is an American Voice Actor best known for playing Shinji Ikari in Neon Genesis Evangelion.
Originally from Houston, Texas, he's probably the poster guy for Pigeonholed Voice Actor. He's never been able to live it down, and up until 2009 had been voicing pretty much Shinji in a different form. We're looking at you, Hanataro (less emo, more timid) and Rolo (more emo, less timid, and psychotic).
However, that all changed when he was cast as the psychotic Arakune. This came as a shocking surprise to fans, and has finally broken him out of the pigeonhole. These days he's cast in all kinds of roles, though hilariously he's gravitating a bit more to suave, ladies-man-esque or wise person roles (due to his voice getting a bit deeper as he ages).
Noted for being an extremely funny guy who is very welcoming to his fans. He once referred to Sam Riegel as"the gay man with the fan
". He's also a black belt (which makes him wonder why he's cast as the helpless kid). He also hates Hideaki Anno for running out of ink to finish NGE, that bastard!
And remember, it's not a true Spike Spencer role without a good old-fashioned Freak Out. Incidentally, this scene (starting at 2:03) (major Evangelion spoilers) is the only one he's specifically described as having made him uncomfortable to work on. He was formerly married to Kendra Benham, the first voice actor of Maya Ibuki. He's since remarried to Kim MacKenzie.
Also, he once placed a grenade in the Nostalgia Critic's pants.
His personal website can be found here.
Notable roles by Spike Spencer:
Anime
- 002 in Cyborg 009 vs. Devilman
- Akito Tenkawa in Martian Successor Nadesico
- Ebony Devil in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders
- Ginta Toramizu in MÄR
- Goh in Prétear
- Hanataro Yamada and D'Roy in Bleach
- Junichiro Tanizaki in Bungo Stray Dogs
- Koichi Tsuruuchi in Knights of Sidonia
- Mackie Stingray in Bubblegum Crisis: Tokyo 2040
- Majic Finn in Sorcerer Stabber Orphen
- Majin Buu in Dragon Ball Super (Bang Zoom! Entertainment's dub for Toonami Asia)
- Marth (Mars) in the Fire Emblem OVA
- Onion Boy in Gantz
- Papillon in Buso Renkin
- Rolo Lamperouge in Code Geass
- Saburo Togusa in Durarara!!
- Sahari in Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress
- Shinji Ikari in Neon Genesis Evangelion (and the re-image/reboot film series Rebuild of Evangelion)
- Dr. Shiouji (and a Scottish terrier with glasses) in Excel♡Saga
- Snake in the third season of Black Butler
- Takuma Ichijo in Vampire Knight
- Takuma Kugayama in Full Metal Panic!
- Yugo in the Battle Angel OVA
Video Games
- Arakune in BlazBlue
- Also Hazama, during
one scene - when he decides to test Unlimited Mu in Arcade Mode, and only in Continuum Shift II and Extend.
- Also Hazama, during
- Atsuro in Shin Megami Tensei Devil Survivor: Overclocked
- Attumen the Huntsman from World of Warcraft
- Claude Kenni in Star Ocean: Second Evolution
- David and Asmodeus in Demon's Score
- Excellus in Fire Emblem: Awakening note
- Guan Suo in Dynasty Warriors 7
- Jack "Harmonica" Hamilton in Ar tonelico: Melody of Elemia
- Judah Singh in Soul Hackers
- Maguro Sasaki and Ecolo in Puyo Puyo from Puyo Puyo Tetris onwards
- Milanor in the PSP version of Yggdra Union
- Nagamasa Azai in Samurai Warriors 3
- Nall in Lunar: Silver Star Harmony
- Ringabel/Alternis Dim in Bravely Default
- The Taser in PAYDAY 2
- Tyrann in NieR Gestalt and NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139...
- Vanilla R. Beans in Steambot Chronicles
- Wukong and Kled in League of Legends
- Yeager in Tales of Vesperia
- Yumekui's English voice in Onmyoji Arena
Other
- Mitch in Get Blake!.
- Park Gang-du (Song Kang-ho) in the English voiceover of The Host (2006).
- Meathead, Rocky (second voice after Jade Ubrien), and Stinky in the webseries adaptation of The Grossery Gang.
Spike Spencer and his works provide examples of:
- Black Comedy: If putting a grenade in the Nostalgia Critic's pants in the Ponyo review is any indicator.
- Butt-Monkey/The Chew Toy: What he's often cast as, at least according to the consensus within this wiki.
- Dawson Casting: When Spencer first voiced Shinji in ADV's dub of Neon Genesis Evangelion, he was 27 years old. By the time of the third Rebuild of Evangelion film's home media release in North America, he had just turned 47 years old.
- Emo: The defining trope of his characters. Many of them tend to be very angsty. More particularly Shinji Ikari.
- Hilarious Outtakes: The "Ran out of ink" NGE ending outtake.
- Keet: He's been described by Amanda Winn-Lee as one of the most hyper people ever, which makes his pigeonholing even more ironic.
- Pigeonholed Voice Actor: One of the best examples.
- Saburo is a subversion; the character's still a Butt-Monkey, but emo is definitely not a defining trope of the character. His unlucky moments are still funny though.
- Playing Against Type: As Arakune, Ginta Toramizu, Little Boy, a blue-haired Team Rocket member, Tyrann, Papillon, Wukong, Excellus, 002 and most recently Ringabel, Ecolo and Kled.
- Real Men Cook: The man can cook like you wouldn't believe. He also stars in his own cooking show, Don't Kill Your Date (and Other Cooking Tips), where he shows you how to cook and impress the ladies.
- Star-Making Role: Shinji Ikari helped to make Spencer a household name among anime fans.
- Tempting Fate: Right before he accuses Gainax for running out of ink, he said "Okay, the movie better sure as Hell make up for this, I'm telling you right now, 'cause I'm stuck in Nowhereland!" End of Evangelion... offers an even bigger Mind Screw and things go From Bad to Worse, we don't know if Spencer prefers being stuck in Nowhereland than experiencing that.
- True Companions: Amanda Winn-Lee calls him her "brother from another mother".
