This past weekend, voice actress Rachael Lillis passed away after battling breast cancer. She was 46 years old.
Lillis was best known as the original voice actress for both Misty and Jessie in the English dub of Pokémon. She voiced these iconic characters from 1999 to 2006, for seasons 1 through 8 of the anime as well as the first 8 full-length Pokémon movies. She also lent her voice to various Pokémon including Jigglypuff, Goldeen, Vulpix, Torchic, and Beautifly; she provided the voice for Jigglypuff in 5 different Super Smash Bros. games and for Goldeen in 3 of them. She was succeeded in her roles as Misty and Jessie by Michele Knotz in 2006. Upon hearing about her predecessor’s passing, Knotz wrote,
I’ve been staring at the walls today thinking about how quickly life goes by and anyone can be taken away from us in an instant. It’s been too frequent, too scary and too heartbreaking. I had the honor and privilege of working with Rachael on The World of Narue, but I was already a huge fan of her work. My favorite role of hers was Utena from Revolutionary Girl Utena. She was a beautiful soul with incredible talent. I’ve been going through old pictures and I could’ve sworn I had one with her. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find it […]. “May flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.” ❤️
In addition to Pokémon, Lillis also appeared in the English dubs of many other anime including Revolutionary Girl Utena, Berserk, Sonic X, Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works, Your Lie in April, and Hunter x Hunter.
We at Fandom Spotlite would like to express our condolences to her friends, family, and fans.
