J. Michael Tatum
J. Michael Tatum is an American voice actor, ADR director and scriptwriter working for Funimation/OkraTron 5000 And Bang Zoom! Entertainment who provides voices for a number of English versions of Japanese anime series and video games. His extensive list of voice acting roles in anime include notable performances such as Kyoya Ootori in Ouran HighSchool Host Club, Sebastian Michaelis in Black Butler, France in Hetalia: Axis Powers, Erwin Smith in Attack on Titan, Okabe Rintaro in Steins;Gate, Eneru in One Piece, Tenya Iida in My Hero Academia and Rei Ryuugazaki in Free! – Eternal Summer.
His video game credits include Sir Hammerlock from the Borderlands franchise, Julius Kresnik from Tales of Xillia 2, Mr. Foster from Killing Floor 2, various playable characters from SMITE, and Kelvin from Battleborn.
When he was asked what was his inspiration to go into voice acting, Tatum said that when he was young he had a speech impediment and his speech coach had him get involved in theater. As he was reciting and memorizing scripts, they noticed that his stuttering started to gradually disappear. He then got into drama and theater acting, and that voice acting is great in that it enables him to play more characters than on camera.
In early 2010 he teamed up with Terri Doty and Stephen Hoff to launch That Anime Show. He is also a co-host to a paranormal story podcast called Ghoul Intentions with Jamie Marchi since 2018.
J Micheal Tatum has also worked in ADR directing and adaptive scriptwriting for Funimation as well. His ADR directing credits to date include Aquarion, Jyu-oh-Sei, Romeo X Juliet, Big Windup, Rin: Daughters of Mnemosyne and Shikabane Hime (Corpse Princess), while his writing credits include substantial work on Ouran High School Host Club, Heroic Age, Initial D, Blassreiter, Ga Rei: Zero, Hero Tales, Legend of the Legendary Heroes, Fractale, Deadman Wonderland, Steins;Gate, Assassination Classroom and Dragon Ball Z Kai.