Michael Kopsa, voice and character actor from Gundam, Fantastic Four, dies at 66

Michael Kopsa, a prolific character and voice actor whose work spanned Beast on X-Men: Evolution to Captain Windmark on Fringe, has died. He was 66.

His ex-wife, actress Lucia Frangione, announced the news on Twitter.

"The great Michael Kopsa, my dear friend and the father of my child, Nora, passed away Oct. 23, 2022, of a brain tumour," Frangione wrote. "He was an incredible stage and screen actor, voice actor, carpenter, musician and painter. Most importantly, he was a loving and richly present father."

Kopsa was born on Jan. 22, 1956, in Toronto, Ontario, and went on to study acting at New York's Circle in the Square Theater School. After four years there, he returned to his native Canada in 1984 to complete an arts and science degree at the University of Toronto.

He made his professional debut as the English dub voice of Char Aznable in the anime series Mobile Suit Gundam in 1979. Kopsa would continue to provide voice work for anime and animated series and movies throughout his career, including Dragon Ball Z, Inuyasha, Death Note, Action Man, X-Men: Evolution, Iron Man: Armored Adventures, Planet Hulk, and Ninjago. Kopsa also reprised his role as Char Aznable in the Gundam video games.

Kopsa made his film debut with 1985's Timing but would find most of his more recognizable roles on television, particularly in genre shows filmed in Canada. He played several characters on the sci-fi anthology series The Outer Limits and guest starred on The X-Files in 1997.

The Canadian actor appeared in small roles in a number of blockbusters, including 2005's Fantastic Four, 2008's Watchmen, 2011's Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and Apollo 18. In 2012, he scored a recurring role in the fifth and final season of the Fox sci-fi series Fringe as the evil Captain Windmark.

Over the course of his career, Kopsa racked up some 227 acting credits.

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