Eric Bauza, the Emmy-winning voice actor who played Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck for Warner Bros. Animation, died Sunday at his home. He was 46. Los Angeles County Medical Examiner records list the cause as hypertensive cardiovascular disease.
His family announced the death in a statement posted to his Instagram account. “Eric Bauza, Emmy Award-winning voice actor and the modern voice of iconic Looney Tunes characters Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, along with dozens of other beloved cartoon characters, has passed away suddenly,” they wrote, adding that more details would follow.
Eric Bauza and the modern Looney Tunes cast
For the past 15 years, Bauza was the main voice of the Looney Tunes roster. Besides Bugs and Daffy, he also played Tweety, Elmer Fudd, Foghorn Leghorn, Porky Pig and Road Runner. This year he voiced several of them, plus Charlie the Dog, in Coyote vs. Acme.
His other Looney Tunes credits include Space Jam: A New Legacy and the series Looney Tunes Cartoons. In Variety‘s review of the 2024 feature The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie, critic Peter Debruge called him a “vocal MVP” who “brings a manic energy” to Porky and Daffy.
Channing Dungey, chairman of Warner Bros. Television Group and US Networks, said Bauza “followed in the footsteps of giants like Mel Blanc.” According to the statement, Bauza called carrying on the Looney Tunes legacy one of the greatest honors of his life.
More than 400 credits
Bauza was born on December 7, 1979, in Scarborough, Toronto. He started in animation as a character designer at a Hollywood studio and worked in animation departments on projects such as The Drawn Together Movie! and El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera.
His first acting credit came in 2001 with The Ripping Friends. Over the next two decades he built a list of more than 400 roles. Those include Avatar: The Last Airbender, Chowder, Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated, Fanboy & Chum Chum and Ben 10 Omniverse.
His schedule remained full this year. In 2026 alone, Eric Bauza worked on Rick and Morty, Minions & Monsters, Superkitties and Avatar: Seven Havens, among others. At the time of his death he was in pre-production on two more: Bye Bye Bunny: A Looney Tunes Musical, again as Daffy, and The Dragon Masters, as the Shogun King.
Awards and tributes
Eric Bauza earned five Daytime Emmy nominations for Looney Tunes Cartoons, Muppet Babies and The Adventures of Puss in Boots. He later won three Children’s & Family Emmy Awards, for Teen Titans Go!, Bugs Bunny Builders and Looney Tunes Cartoons. He was also nominated for Daffy in Wackyland.
Chris DeFaria, producer of Coyote vs. Acme, told Variety that Bauza had an “absolutely tireless dedication” to animation. According to DeFaria, Bauza embodied the film’s central theme that “a little guy can make a difference in this world.”
DeFaria also pointed to the past year, saying the actor had “such an incredible impact” both on the movie and on drawing attention to voice work as an art form. Meanwhile, Dungey described him as “a treasured part of our animation family.”