Eric Bauza’s performances carried Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and other Looney Tunes characters into a new stretch of animation. His family posted the announcement of his death on its official Instagram account on Oct. 25. CBS News Los Angeles reported that Bauza died Sunday, Oct. 25, at age 46. The family statement described him as the modern voice of Bugs and Daffy. That introduction fits the roles most viewers knew, but his career extended far beyond a single cartoon series, and it began in animation work that audiences rarely see.
Before his voice reached homes through cartoons, Bauza worked behind the scenes as an animation layout artist. In a 2023 interview with Animation World Network, he described drawing character poses from storyboards for projects including The Brave Little Toaster and Ren & Stimpy. He also recalled practicing impressions in the studio, sometimes while working alongside other animators. His account places drawing and voice practice in the same studio environment, without suggesting the two activities followed a specific schedule.
The transition took time. Bauza told Animation World Network that he was able to audition and take voice jobs while he was still working as a visual artist. Eventually voice work began to outweigh drawing work, and he decided to leave one path for the other. He did not describe that change as an overnight arrival. His account was of learning the animation business from inside a production studio, then finding that the microphone was becoming the center of his working life.
The credits show how broad that second path became. CBS News Los Angeles reported that IMDb listed more than 400 acting credits for Bauza. The station named his work on Avatar: The Last Airbender, Puss in Boots, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Woody Woodpecker, Bob’s Burgers and Teen Titans Go!, in addition to Looney Tunes. The IMDb number is a database listing, not a studio-certified count, but it gives a sense of how many separate parts could sit inside a career built largely through voice performance.
Bauza’s path to Bugs Bunny also came through another Looney Tunes character. In the 2023 Animation World Network interview, he recalled auditioning for Bugs only twice in about a decade. He did not get the role on the first try, but producers cast him as Marvin the Martian. Later, when new shorts created an opening, he was given the chance to voice Bugs, Daffy and Tweety. The official Children’s and Family Emmy program lists his Looney Tunes roles as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Tweety and Marvin the Martian.
Recognition followed across more than one production. CBS reported that Bauza won Children’s and Family Emmy Awards in 2022, 2023 and 2025. The Academy’s 2025 program describes two of those performances: Bugs Bunny in Looney Tunes Cartoons in 2022, and Bugs, Daffy, Tweety and Marvin the Martian in Bugs Bunny Builders in 2023. The awards connected his work to both a continuing cartoon tradition and a newer children’s series, where the same performer could move among several characters in one program.
Bauza was attentive to the history behind those roles. In an August interview with CBS Los Angeles, he said his performances were based on the original voice work of Mel Blanc, whom he described as a blueprint for the characters. He also said Bugs was his favorite character to voice, while as he got older he felt more like Daffy. The comments show how he approached the work: the characters had established identities, but the performer still had to make choices about how to play them in his own time.
That balance between continuity and performance made voice acting a distinct craft. Bauza told Animation World Network that doing impressions was not enough; the performer also had to act and ground the character. His comment describes a task that joins a recognizable voice to a character’s behavior, rather than simply reproducing a sound. It offers a glimpse of how he thought about the craft, from the studio practice he described early in his career to the cartoon roles that later brought him recognition.
Bauza’s family remembered him as an Emmy-winning performer and the modern voice of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. CBS reported that IMDb listed more than 400 acting credits, while the official Emmy program records his work across multiple Looney Tunes and Bugs Bunny Builders performances. His career linked animation production with voice acting, moving from character design to a wide range of roles in family entertainment. His comments about acting and impressions also show the care he brought to playing characters whose voices were already familiar to audiences.
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