John Michael Tatum (born May 25, 1976 in McKinney, Texas) is one of the most notable American voice actors and ADR directors working for Funimation. Notably breaking out with Kyoya of Ouran High School Host Club, his roles seem to have an academic, calm, cool, and collected theme...though that can break every once in a while. He was also one of the co-hosts of That Anime Show with Terri Doty.
Is known to be a huge nerd who is particularly enamored with classy things like Literature with a capital L. Namely, really thick books and William Shakespeare. He once read Beowulf in Old English. This works to his advantage whenever they need a script writer for a show with tons of intellectual content or sophisticated grammar (Hero Tales, Ouran High School Host Club, Steins;Gate). However, he is also a fan of many other considerably more intellectual things, such as Doctor Who. He is the only dub cast member of Hetalia: Axis Powers who can actually speak the native tongue of his assigned character authentically; France (aside from America and England, of course).
He moved to Los Angeles in the late 2010s to pursue bigger opportunities, and as a result has now branched out into doing voice work for video games. In particular, he has played Louis in Fire Emblem Engage and now plays Cid Highwind in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
He often appears alongside voice actors such as Todd Haberkorn, Monica Rial, Luci Christian and Brina Palencia. He also happens to share two of his most popular roles (Sebastian and Erwin) with Daisuke Ono.
He's also openly gay and has been engaged to another fellow voice actor, Brandon McInnis.
Notable roles from J. Michael Tatum:
Anime
- Age in Heroic Age
- Agravain in Fate/Grand Order - Divine Realm of the Round Table: Camelot
- Apricot in And You Thought There Is Never a Girl Online?
- Arsène Lupin in Code:Realize
- Ataru Kawahara in D-Frag!
- Butch Cassidy in Drifters
- Daikoku Nikaidou in First Love Monster
- Demetrio Earthworld in The Genius Prince's Guide to Raising a Nation Out of Debt (Hey, How About Treason?)
- Doctor in Black Cat
- Dororo in Sgt. Frog
- Eins von Granzreich in The Royal Tutor
- Erwin Smith in Attack on Titan
- France (Francis Bonnefoy) in Hetalia: Axis Powers
- Friagne and Balar in Shakugan no Shana
- Dr. Gel in Space☆Dandy
- Giriko in Soul Eater
- Gorneo Lueckens in Chrome Shelled Regios
- Great Red Siberian from Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle
- Hector in Re:Zero
- Hilshire in Gunslinger Girl -Il Teatrino-
- Irako Seigen in Shigurui
- Isaac Dian in Baccano!
- Jean-Jaques Chastel in The Case Study of Vanitas
- Jin Ohtomo in Tokyo Ravens
- Jiro Mochizuki in Black Blood Brothers
- Kazuomi Hirasawa in Eden of the East
- Kazuya Shirogane in Speed Grapher
- Keisei Tagami in Corpse Princess
- Komui Lee in D.Gray-Man
- Kraft Lawrence in Spice and Wolf
- Kyouhei Kannazuki in Date A Live
- Kyoya Ohtori in Ouran High School Host Club
- Jean Armstrong in the anime adaptation of Ace Attorney
- Ledriano Kanon Azeschen in The Misfit of Demon King Academy
- Lin Koujo in Ghost Hunt
- Lunar's Papa in My Bride is a Mermaid
- Magwald Xargin in Blassreiter
- Masaomi Asahina in Brothers Conflict
- Masumi Nishijima in Future Diary
- Miran Froaude in The Legend of the Legendary Heroes
- Mycroft Holmes in Moriarty the Patriot
- Nagi Kengamine in Deadman Wonderland
- Oliver Schtrom/Oliveira von Schtradius in Wise Man's Grandchild
- Paul von Oberstein in Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Die Neue These
- Pearl, Dalton, and Eneru in One Piece
- Portschach in Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt
- Raikou Shizumu in Nabari no Ou
- Rei Ryugazaki in Free!
- Rikichi in Samurai 7 (debut role)
- Rintaro Okabe in Steins;Gate
- Ryoji Kaji in Rebuild of Evangelion
- Ryosuke Takahashi in Initial D
- Scar in Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (as well as the Chibi Party OVA)
- Sebastian Michaelis in Black Butler
- Seishiro Sakurazaka in Tsubasa -RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE-
- Seishirou Kirishiki in Shiki
- Shibungi in Guilty Crown
- Shiro/Kotarō Yanagisawa in Assassination Classroom and Koro-Sensei Quest!
- Shizuka Doumeki in ×××HOLiC
- Shuu Tsukiyama in Tokyo Ghoul
- Simon and Acnologia in Fairy Tail
- Soichiro Mikuni in [C] – Control
- Sonic Boom in Ninja Slayer
- Souza Samonji in Touken Ranbu - Hanamaru
- Steven A. Starphase in Blood Blockade Battlefront
- Takemikazuchi in Noragami
- Tenten in Oh! Edo Rocket
- Tenya Iida in My Hero Academia
- Tobias (Takuto) in Pokémon
- Damon (Dread Grangil) in Pokémon: The Movie Black/White
- Toma in Genesis of Aquarion
- Mykage in Aquarion Evol (who is Toma's dark half incarnated)
- Tomoe in Kamisama Kiss
- Toru Sayonaki/Vlad Dracula in Aria the Scarlet Ammo
- Tsukasa Jinguuji in Life with an Ordinary Guy who Reincarnated into a Total Fantasy Knockout
- Tsukitachi in Karneval
- Ugetsu Murata in given
- Vincent van Gogh in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean
- Wabisuke Jinnouchi in Summer Wars
- William in Romeo × Juliet
- Zarbon in Dragon Ball Z Kai
Podcasts
- Secretary of Navy Gideon Welles in 1865
Video Games
- August Wallenstein in Tales of Luminaria
- Cid Highwind in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
- Emmet in Pokémon Masters
- Fernando in Paladins
- Sir Hammerlock in Borderlands 2
- Hoylake in Cassette Beasts
- Julius Kresnik in Tales of Xillia 2
- Kelvin and Pendles in Battleborn
- Louis in Fire Emblem Engage
- Mira in Dragon Ball Xenoverse and Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2
- Mr. Foster in Killing Floor 2
- Pantalone in Genshin Impact
Web Animation
- Klein Sieben in RWBY
- Quinn Huckley in Far Fetched by Ashley Nichols and Dave Capdevielle
Tropes concerning Michael and his roles:
- Cluster F-Bomb: On That Anime Show, though it's a bit less noticeable with Terri as the co-host.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Kyoya and Tobias. Sebastian falls more under Affably Evil.
- Fake Brit: Has a very good British accent, as Black Butler, Moriarty the Patriot, Killing Floor 2 and Borderlands 2. This is because he had a speech impediment growing up and learned to speak from a British speech therapist. Despite his own family having a strong Texan accent, "The fact of the matter is I kind of learned to speak from a British lady, so the British accent is never really far from me
." - Man of a Thousand Voices: Fans will argue that his voice work as France in Hetalia (which requires him to pull off a French accent) helped his vocal range greatly. The director of the dub said Tatum was the only cast member who could actually do an authentic accent of his character, even though he wanted him to go with an exaggerated, Strawman, funny one. Compare his roles as Age and Kraft Lawrence and see if you can tell that's the same man.
- Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Or, in layman's terms, "knows dur big wordz!" He is able to spout versatile diatribes if he wants. Just have a listen to the Borderlands 2 trailers for an example of how amazing it is.
- Star-Making Role: Kyoya in Ouran High School Host Club and Kraft Lawrence from Spice and Wolf. Solidified with Sebastian from Black Butler.
- The Stoic: Some of his characters are quite cool-headed, particularly Kyoya and Erwin.
- Typecasting: Either The Stoic or the Villain. Additionally, if a character wears glasses and/or is the smart one of the group, chances are he's voicing them.
