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James Carter Cathcart

(Redirected from Carter Cathcart)

James Carter Cathcart (March 8, 1954 — July 8, 2025), often credited as simply Carter Cathcart, was an American voice actor, screenwriter, and musician who was known for his work on the English-language dub of Pokémon the Series. He was also credited under his pseudonyms Billy Beach and Jimmy Zoppi. Besides voice acting, he was also a musician. He played bass, electric guitar, keyboards and drums.

Carter Cathcart

Biography

Cathcart was born on March 8, 1954 in West Long Branch, New Jersey. He was one of the original actors on Pokémon the Series. Aside from his role as Gary Oak, he mainly played characters of the day until Pokémon: Battle Frontier, when TAJ Productions and The Pokémon Company International, then known as Pokémon USA, took over the dub. Cathcart and fellow voice actor Kayzie Rogers were the only two voice actors to migrate to the new dub production. When his voice-acting duties were increased by becoming the voice of James and Meowth of Team Rocket as well as Professor Oak, he took on the pseudonym Billy Beach. Previously, for the 4Kids-dubbed episodes of Pokémon the Series, Cathcart went under the pseudonym Jimmy Zoppi, his most well-known pseudonym.

From the fifth season to the end of the twenty-fifth season, he was responsible for the script adaptation of episodes, with him being the sole script adapter for the dub from when Pokémon USA took over the dub until the end of Pokémon Ultimate Journeys: The Series. As a script adapter, in 4Kids-dubbed media, The Mastermind of Mirage Pokémon, and the ninth movie, he was credited as Carter Cathcart, the name he used in his voice acting duties in Pokémon Chronicles and in all media recorded at DuArt Media Services starting with the thirteenth movie, and in all other TPCi-dubbed media, he was credited under his full name, James Carter Cathcart, the name he used in his voice acting duties in PokéPark Wii: Pikachu's Adventure, all Pokémon media produced by Iyuno, and Pokémon Masters EX.

Following the retirement of Kayzie Rogers at the start of Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon, he became the longest-serving voice actor in the English dub. He was the only English voice actor in the series to have been a cast member in the dub of every season of Pokémon the Series.

Illness, retirement, & death

In April 2023, Cathcart announced he had been diagnosed with throat cancer, and would be undergoing treatment; as a result, he would be retiring from script adapting and voice acting on Pokémon at the end of Pokémon Ultimate Journeys: The Series, with him being succeeded by Barton Bishop and Rachel Robinson in his script adaptation duties.

On July 8, 2025, Cathcart died while in hospice care after a two-year battle with throat cancer; his death was publicly announced two days later by his wife, Martha Jacobi. He is survived by Jacobi as well as three children.

Pokémon roles

Animation

Pokémon the Series

Humans
Major
Minor
Pokémon
Major
Minor

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Team Go-Getters Out of the Gate!

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time & Darkness

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky - Beyond Time & Darkness

Video games

Pokémon Snap

Pokémon Puzzle League

Super Smash Bros. Brawl

PokéPark Wii: Pikachu's Adventure

PokéPark 2: Wonders Beyond

Pokémon Masters EX

Other non-Pokémon roles

Trivia

External links

References

  1. ↑ https://www.voicesforfosters.org/about-us
This article is part of Project VA, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on voice actors in Pokémon animation and Pokémon games.
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