Eric Bauza, the Emmy Award-winning voice actor who carried the modern voices of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, died Sunday, October 25, at his home in Los Angeles.

His family announced the death in a statement on his Instagram account, writing that he "passed away suddenly" and that "more details to come." The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner listed the cause as hypertensive cardiovascular disease, ruling the manner of death natural.

According to WOWT, the medical examiner also cited sleep apnea and class 2 obesity as contributing factors.

Bauza was 46, and just one day before his death he had posted from the LightBox Expo in Pasadena, celebrating hearing his Bugs Bunny and Tweety voices in New York City subway announcements marking the 30th anniversary of Space Jam.

Bauza was born December 7, 1979, in Scarborough, Toronto, and started in the industry not as a performer but as a character designer at Hollywood production studios before voiceover work took over, according to his SBV Talent bio reported by CNN and Variety.

The Associated Press, via KOAA News 5, reports he was raised by Filipino immigrant parents and found his calling as a teenager, delivering his high school's morning P.A. announcements in cartoon voices.

Over a career beginning in 2001 with "The Ripping Friends," he amassed more than 400 acting credits across Disney, DreamWorks, Cartoon Network and Warner Bros., including Avatar: The Last Airbender, Teen Titans Go!, Bob's Burgers, X-Men '97 and Rick and Morty, plus film work from The Super Mario Bros.

Movie to Woody Woodpecker.

What made Bauza singular was his stewardship of characters defined by Mel Blanc, the legendary voice actor who died in 1989.

Beginning with Marvin the Martian in 2011, per Extra, Bauza took on Bugs, Daffy, Porky Pig, Elmer Fudd, Tweety, Foghorn Leghorn and Road Runner, winning three Children's & Family Emmy Awards for Teen Titans Go!, Bugs Bunny Builders and Looney Tunes Cartoons between 2022 and 2025.

He was explicit that his performances were rooted in Blanc's originals: "He was the original," Bauza said in an August 2026 interview. "I like to call him the blueprint of these characters."

The AP, via KOAA, reports he called Blanc "like the voice of God for me," and the characters themselves were, in his words, like your oldest family members.

Fans knew Bauza not just as a performer but as an advocate. According to AP reporting carried by KOAA, when Warner Bros. declined to release Coyote vs. Acme, Bauza helped stoke the fan outcry that led Ketchup Entertainment to pick up the film, which then surpassed $100 million worldwide.

At the 2024 Annie Awards he argued for the film's release in the voice of Daffy Duck, explaining, "He's the go-to cartoon character above anyone else when it comes to begging and pleading. It seemed appropriate."

The film finally arrived this year with Bauza voicing Bugs, Daffy, Tweety, Elmer Fudd, Foghorn Leghorn, Porky Pig, Road Runner and Charlie the Dog. Producer Chris DeFaria told Variety he remembered Bauza's "absolutely tireless dedication" to the animation art form.

An outpouring of tributes followed the announcement. John Cena, who starred with Bauza in Coyote vs. Acme, wrote on X that Bauza's "excitement and love for them was always evident, his passion undeniable."

Jack Quaid called him "one of the kindest people I've ever met," according to BuzzFeed's account of the responses, while Parry Shen praised him as "the greatest ambassador and caretaker of the Warner Bros / Mel Blanc legacy" and credited him with showing Asian American fans "someone who looked like me reach those heights."

Fellow voice actors Jim Cummings, Nina West and Eden Riegel also mourned him, with Riegel writing that "unbelievably, his talent was dwarfed by his kindness." Warner Bros.'

Channing Dungey said carrying on the Looney Tunes legacy was among the greatest honors of his life.

Bauza was at the peak of his powers when he died: Variety reports he was in pre-production on "Bye Bye Bunny: A Looney Tunes Musical" as Daffy Duck and "The Dragon Masters" as The Shogun King, and he had already voiced 2026 releases including Chibiverse, Forgotten Island, Rick and Morty and Avatar: Seven Havens.

The Hollywood Reporter's Animation Power list had just named him one of the most influential figures in animation, saying he had "quietly become the voice of an entire cartoon universe."

National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences chief Adam Sharp called him "a consummate professional, carrying the torch of 'a thousand voices' for the digital generation."