Rachael Lillis

Rachael Lillis (July 8, 1969^[a] – August 10, 2024) was an American voice actress. She was best known for her performances as Misty, Jessie, and Jigglypuff in the first eight seasons of the English dub of the TV series Pokémon. In addition to voice roles in other animation works, she also provided voices for many video games.

Rachael Lillis
Lillis in 2017
Born	(1969-07-08)July 8, 1969 Niagara Falls, New York, U.S.
Died	August 10, 2024(2024-08-10) (aged 55) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Other names	Rachael McCabe[1]
Alma mater	Smith College (BS)
Occupation	Voice actress
Years active	1997–2019
Website	Official website (archive)

Early life

Rachael Lillis was born to John and Constance Lillis (née Zafuto) in Niagara Falls, New York, on July 8, 1969. Her father served in the U.S. Navy and was a maintenance manager.^[3][4] She was the youngest of six children.^[3] Lillis and her family later moved to Plano, Texas.^[5] Lillis attended Smith College, where she was a premed student.^[3] She also trained in opera before she became a voice actor.^[6] She studied voice acting in Boston and moved to New York City in 1996, citing Mel Blanc and June Foray among her influences.^[7]

Career

Lillis became known for voicing Misty and Jessie in the English dub of the Pokémon anime. She also voiced Pokémon such as Goldeen, Jigglypuff, Vulpix and Venonat on the show. Lillis appeared in 423 Pokémon episodes.^[6] She also voiced various Pokémon in the Super Smash Bros. video games.^[6] Lillis was also the voice of Utena Tenjo in Revolutionary Girl Utena and voiced characters in Winx Club, Hunter × Hunter, Your Lie in April and Gall Force, among other shows.^[3][8][9]

Lillis's last voice acting role was in Hunter × Hunter: The Last Mission. According to Veronica Taylor, Lillis had difficulty finding work during the COVID-19 pandemic, in part due to a lack of recording equipment at her home. In 2023, Lillis attended a Pokémon cast reunion in London.^[3]

Death

In May 2024, a GoFundMe campaign created by Lillis's sister announced that Lillis had developed breast cancer. Several of her fellow actors shared the campaign to help raise money for her care.^[10] The campaign raised $98,000 by the time she died, with the money going towards Lillis's remaining bills, a memorial service and cancer research.^[6] The cancer spread to her spine, which left her barely able to walk, and she eventually moved into a Los Angeles nursing home to receive care.^[11] Lillis died on August 10, 2024, at the age of 55.^[3][2]

Filmography

Voice roles

Film

List of voice performances in films

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Refs[1]
1999	Pokémon: The First Movie	Misty, Jessie, Vulpix, Venonat, Goldeen, Jigglypuff		[12]
2000	Pokémon: The Movie 2000
2001	Night on the Galactic Railroad	Marceau
	Pokémon: Mewtwo Returns	Misty, Jessie, Jigglypuff, Vulpix, Goldeen, Torchic, Beautifly
	Pokémon 3: Spell of the Unown
	Revolutionary Girl Utena: The Movie	Utena Tenjō
2002	Pokémon 4Ever	Misty, Jessie, Jigglypuff, Vulpix, Goldeen, Torchic, Beautifly
2003	Pokémon Heroes
2004	Pokémon: Jirachi Wish Maker
2005	Pokémon: Destiny Deoxys
2006	Pokémon: Lucario and the Mystery of Mew
2012	Berserk: The Golden Age Arc I The Egg of the King	Princess Charlotte		[12][13]
2017–2020	Fate/stay night: Heaven's Feel	Sella	Home video edition only, later replaced by Julia McIlvaine in Heaven's Feel III. spring song.
2019	Hunter × Hunter: The Last Mission	Cocco	Last role.	[12]
	Pokémon Detective Pikachu	Jigglypuff	Archival recording	[14]

Anime

List of dubbing performances in anime

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Refs[1]
1997	Takegami: Guardian of Darkness	Satsuki	First principal role in a series	[15]
1998	The Slayers	Cally, Paula		[15]
1998	Revolutionary Girl Utena	Utena Tenjō, Chu Chu		[16][17]
1998–2006	Pokémon	Misty, Jessie, Jigglypuff, Pikachu (rarely), various		[7][16][17][18]
1999	Slayers Next	Martina Zoana Mel Navratilova, Kira		[18]
2000	Geobreeders	Takumi Sakurai
	Irresponsible Captain Tylor	Yuriko Star, Noriko		[12][19]
	Shamanic Princess	Mimi Joyman, Suzanna White
	Boogiepop Phantom	Nagi Kirima, Manaka Kisaragi		[16]
	RG Veda	Ashura	Central Park Media Dub
	Gokudo	Miroku, Mora, Nihi		[20][16]
	Harlock Saga	Fricka
	Twin Signal	Elara, Number 3		[12]
2002	Berserk	Princess Charlotte		[12]
	His and Her Circumstances	Miyako Mizawa, Aya Sawada, various		[21][16]
	Maetel Legend	Queen La Andromeda Prometheum		[22]
	Now and Then, Here and There	Boo, Sis
	Voltage Fighter Gowcaizer	Omni Exist		[23]
2003	Alien Nine	Miyu Tamaki
2003–2006	Animation Runner Kuromi	Mai Horaguchi
2003	DNA²	Ami Kurimoto
	K.O. Beast	V-Sion
	Sonic X	Danny		[17][23]
2004	Comic Party	Mizuki Takase		[17]
	Gravitation	Ayaka Usami
	Nana Seven of Seven	Hitomi Onodera, Mitsuko Suzuki
	Shrine of the Morning Mist	Shizuka Midoh
	World of Narue	Kanaka Nanase, Miss Īzuka		[12]
2005	Hammerboy	Poplar		[24]
	Midori Days	Haruka Kasugano
	Mew Mew Power	Gym Team Girl
	Shingu: Secret of the Stellar Wars	Momoe Sanemori		[12]
2005–2010	Genshiken	Kanako Ono		[18]
2006	Boys Be...	Aya Kurihara		[25][16]
	Pokémon Chronicles	Misty, Jessie
2007	Dinosaur King	Dr. Reese Drake, Ursula, Laura		[18]
	The Third: The Girl with the Blue Eye	Rona Fauna		[26]
2008	Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Darkness	Sunflora, Shinx brother		[12]
2010	Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn	Micott Bartsch		[27]
2011	Bakuman	Amy		[12]
2015	Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works	Sella	As Rachael McCabe	[28]
2016	Your Lie in April	Ryoko Miyazono		[23]
2016–2019	Hunter × Hunter	Mito Freecss, Cocco		[12]

Animation

List of voice performances in animation

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Refs[1]
2001–2003	Cubix	Hela Nemo		[18]
2003	Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles	Tomoe Ame		[17][29]
2004	Shadow of the Elves	Thalia		[17][18]
2004–2006	Winx Club	Headmistress Faragonda, various	4Kids dub	[30]
2006–2010	Chaotic	Intress		[18]

Video games

List of voice performances in video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Refs[1]
1999	Super Smash Bros.	Jigglypuff	Grouped under Voice Actors	[4][31]
2000	Pokémon Puzzle League	Misty, Jessie, Jigglypuff		[32]
	Valkyrie Profile	Jelanda, Lyseria, Mystina		[33]
2001	Super Smash Bros. Melee	Jigglypuff	Grouped under Voices	[4][34]
2003	Ape Escape 2	Natalie	North American English dub	[18]
2008	Super Smash Bros. Brawl	Jigglypuff, Goldeen	Grouped under Character Voice	[4][12]
2014	Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U			[4][12]
2015	Lego Jurassic World		As Rachael McCabe	[35]
2018	Super Smash Bros. Ultimate	Jigglypuff, Goldeen	Grouped under Character Voices	[4][12]

Audiobooks

List of voice performances in audiobooks

Year	Title	Author	Notes	Refs[1][36]
2005	Diary of a Fairy Godmother	Esme Raji Codell
2006	Miss Watson Wants Your Teeth	Alison McGhee

Production credits

Script adaptation

Year	Title	Medium	Notes	Refs
2001	Apocalypse Zero	TV		[37]
	Gokudo	Television		[20]
2002	Boogiepop Phantom	Television		[38]
2003	K.O. Beast	Television		[39]

Translator

Year	Title	Medium	Notes	Refs
2002	Cleopatra DC	Television		[40]