John Michael Tatum (born May 25, 1976) is one of the most notable American voice actors and ADR directors working for Funimation. Notably breaking out with Kyoya of Ouran High School Host Club, his roles seem to have an academic, calm, cool, and collected theme...though that can break every once in a while. He was also one of the co-hosts of That Anime Show with Terri Doty.
Is known to be a huge nerd who is particularly enamored with classy things like Literature with a capital L. Namely, really thick books and William Shakespeare. He once read Beowulf in Old English. This works to his advantage whenever they need a script writer for a show with tons of intellectual content or sophisticated grammar (Hero Tales, Ouran High School Host Club, Steins;Gate). However, he is also a fan of many other considerably more intellectual things, such as Doctor Who. He is the only dub cast member of Axis Powers Hetalia who can actually speak the native tongue of his assigned character authentically; France (aside from America and England, of course).
Notable roles from J. Michael Tatum:
Anime
- Age in Heroic Age
- Aresene Lupin in Code:Realize
- Ataru Kawahara in D-Frag!
- Doctor in Black Cat
- Dororo in Sgt. Frog
- Erwin Smith in Attack on Titan
- France (Francis Bonnefoy) in Axis Powers Hetalia
- Friagne and Balar in Shakugan no Shana
- Dr. Gel in Space Dandy
- Giriko in Soul Eater
- Hilshire in Gunslinger Girl -Il Teatrino-
- Isaac Dian in Baccano!
- Jiro Mochizuki in Black Blood Brothers
- Kazuomi Hirasawa in Eden of the East
- Kazuya Shirogane in Speed Grapher
- Keisei Tagami in Corpse Princess
- Komui Lee in D.Gray-Man
- Kraft Lawrence in Spice and Wolf
- Kyouhei Kannazuki in Date A Live
- Kyoya Ohtori in Ouran High School Host Club
- Jean Armstrong in the anime adaptation of Ace Attorney
- Lin Koujo in Ghost Hunt
- Lunar's Papa in My Bride is a Mermaid
- Magwald Xargin in Blassreiter
- Masaomi Asahina in Brothers Conflict
- Masumi Nishijima in Future Diary
- Miran Froaude in The Legend of the Legendary Heroes
- Nagi Kengamine in Deadman Wonderland
- Paul von Oberstein in Legend of Galactic Heroes: Die Neue These
- Pearl, Dalton, and Eneru in One Piece
- Portschach in Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt
- Raikou Shizumu in Nabari no Ou
- Rei Ryugazaki in Free!
- Rikichi in Samurai 7 (debut role)
- Rintaro Okabe in Steins;Gate
- Ryoji Kaji in Rebuild of Evangelion
- Ryosuke Takahashi in Initial D
- Scar in Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (as well as the Chibi Party OVA)
- Sebastian Michaelis in Black Butler
- Seishiro Sakurazaka in Tsubasa -RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE-
- Seishirou Kirishiki in Shiki
- Shibungi in Guilty Crown
- Shiro/Kotarō Yanagisawa in Assassination Classroom
- Shizuka Doumeki in ×××HOLiC
- Shuu Tsukiyama in Tokyo Ghoul
- Simon and Acnologia in Fairy Tail
- Soichiro Mikuni in [C] - Control
- Sonic Boom in Ninja Slayer
- Souza Samonji in Touken Ranbu - Hanamaru
- Steven A. Starphase in Blood Blockade Battlefront
- Tenten in Oh! Edo Rocket
- Tenya Iida in My Hero Academia
- Tobias (Takuto) in Pokémon
- Damon (Dread Grangil) in Pokémon the Movie: Black/White
- Toma in Genesis of Aquarion
- Mykage in Aquarion Evol (who is Toma's dark half incarnated)
- Tomoe in Kamisama Kiss
- Toru Sayonaki/Vlad Dracula in Aria the Scarlet Ammo
- Tsukitachi in Karneval
- Wabisuke Jinnouchi in Summer Wars
- William in Romeo X Juliet
- Zarbon in Dragon Ball Kai
Video Games
- Fernando in Paladins
- Mr. Foster in Killing Floor 2
- Sir Hammerlock in Borderlands 2
- Julius Kresnik in Tales of Xillia 2
- Kelvin and Pendles in Battleborn
Web Animation
- Klein Sieben in RWBY
Tropes concerning Michael and his roles:
- Absurd Phobia: Clowns. Even the non-creepy ones. It becomes a running joke on That Anime Show, and he cannot listen to Sonny Strait's scary voice for Drossel in Black Butler. He almost threatened Halloween fair staff members dressed as clowns who were following him.
- At one panel at Another Anime Con 2016, Tatum said he is no longer afraid of clowns.
- Adorkable: In real life. However, he tends not to play these characters very often in fiction because of the lower register of his voice.
- Badass Baritone: Particularly as Scar.
- Cluster F-Bomb: On That Anime Show, though it's a bit less noticeable with Terri as the co-host.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Kyoya and Tobias. Sebastian falls more under Affably Evil.
- Fake Brit: Has a very good British accent, as Black Butler, Killing Floor 2, Borderlands 2, and Ouran show.
- Tatum, a Texas native, had a speech impediment growing up and learned to speak from a British speech therapist. Despite his own family having a strong Texan accent, "The fact of the matter is I kind of learned to speak from a British lady, so the British accent is never really far from me
."
- Tatum, a Texas native, had a speech impediment growing up and learned to speak from a British speech therapist. Despite his own family having a strong Texan accent, "The fact of the matter is I kind of learned to speak from a British lady, so the British accent is never really far from me
- Large Ham: Eneru, William, Isaac, France, Okabe, and to some extent, Komui.
- Gentle Giant: At 6'3ft and a 1/2, Mr Tatum is possibly one of the nicest people in the voice acting industry and he's super jolly, sweet, and incredibly friendly to his fans.
- The Nicknamer: He gives all his guest-stars a nickname on That Anime Show.
- Pigeonholed Voice Actor: Either The Stoic or the Villain. However...
- Man of a Thousand Voices: Fans will argue that his voice work as France in Hetalia (which requires him to pull off a French accent) helped his vocal range greatly. The director of the dub said Tatum was the only cast member who could actually do an authentic accent of his character, even though he wanted him to go with an exaggerated, Strawman, funny one.
- Compare his roles as Age and Kraft Lawrence and see if you can tell that's the same man.
- If a character wears glasses and is the smart one of the group, chances are he's voicing them.
- He had a speech impediment as a child and was trained to talk properly under a woman from the UK. Explains a lot.
- Man of a Thousand Voices: Fans will argue that his voice work as France in Hetalia (which requires him to pull off a French accent) helped his vocal range greatly. The director of the dub said Tatum was the only cast member who could actually do an authentic accent of his character, even though he wanted him to go with an exaggerated, Strawman, funny one.
- Platonic Life-Partners: With Terri Doty.
- Relationship Voice Actor: With Brina Palencia, who constantly plays pranks on him. He tried to take revenge, but his prank deflated and Brina lost interest in continuing.
- Also with Vic Mignogna, Monica Rial, Terry Doty, and Ian Sinclair. Monica Rial used to live next door to him.
- Apparently, he and Ian are close enough that Tatum could get away with this at a convention.
- Apparently, he and Ian are close enough that Tatum could get away with this
- Also with Vic Mignogna, Monica Rial, Terry Doty, and Ian Sinclair. Monica Rial used to live next door to him.
- Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Or, in layman's terms, "knows dur big wordz!" He is able to spout versatile diatribes if he wants. Just have a listen to the Borderlands 2 trailers for an example of how amazing it is.
- Star-Making Role: Kyoya in Ouran High School Host Club, Kraft Lawrence from Spice and Wolf, and Scar from Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood.
- The Stoic: Some of his characters are like this, particularly Kyoya.
- Stoic Spectacles: Kyoya and Scar, not to mention his own.
- Straight Gay: Oh yes. He lived with his then-boyfriend for 12 years. It never gets in the way of his career because he believes that it's a non-issue. In fact, he has more than a few fangirls who love him for this just as much as they love him for being Sebastian.
- Villain: If he's not voicing a stoic, then he's most likely to voice a villain. Some of the well known villains he voiced included an anti-villain turned anti-hero, an Ax Crazy villain, and recently a villain protagonist. According to him, this is one of his favorite tropes he like to voice with.
