Dragon Ball - Frieza

Comparision of the voice over actors who have been the voice of Frieza with sound clips and images.

"Never ask a group of DBZ fans which dub they prefer" - TV Tropes profile on Dragonball

Frieza is one of the most significant villains in Dragon Ball Z and one of the most powerful fighters in the universe.

Frieza has several forms of transformation which make him more powerful although these forms are actually used to conserve his vast power. Frieza had a huge galactic empire and was responsible for the enslavement and destruction of countless planets.

In the video game Dragon Ball GT: Final Bout Frieza was voiced by Eddie Frierson.

In the English version of the Dragon Ball Z anime, Frieza was voiced by Pauline Newstone for the Ocean Group dub.

In the Funimation dub of Dragon Ball Z Frieza was voiced by Linda Young. Linda Young reprises the role in the video games and the brief recurring role in the Funimation dub of Dragon Ball GT.

She also voiced Frieza in the re-dubbed episodes originally voiced by Pauline Newstone as well as the Dragon Ball Z anime films that the Frieza appeared in. She also voiced Frieza for episode 1 of Dragon Ball Kai.

Christopher Ayres later replaced Linda Young for the rest of the Funimation dub of Dragon Ball Kai.

In the Blue Water dub of Dragon Ball GT Frieza was voiced by Maureen Jones.

Created by Jackson_H on Tue Jan 19 2010, 77 Comments, Add Comment

Special thanks to ItachiIshtar for additional sound clips.

Dragon Ball GT: Final Bout (1997)

Eddie Frierson

Dragon Ball Z (1996)

Pauline Newstone

Dragon Ball Z (1996)

Linda Young

Dragon Ball GT (2003)

Maureen Jones

Dragon Ball Kai (2010)

Christopher Ayres

EDITOR'S OPINION

When fans discuss the English voices for the Dragon Ball franchise one of the biggest complaints is Frieza's voice and how the character is often mistaken as a woman.

Chris Ayres and Linda Young are the best of the bunch IMO.

Jackson_H

Latest Comments

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Cat_Z said at 10:32 PM on Sat May 5 2012

Chris, Trunks (kid) wants his saying back. "Writing on the walls" is copyrighted. Thanks.
Linda's is so much better.

Fulgore2005 said at 5:46 AM on Tue May 1 2012

I'm going with Linda Young. I liked Ayres' Frieza too, but his shouting/screaming was incredibly annoying.

LivChan45 said at 10:14 PM on Mon Apr 16 2012

Out of all of them, Pauline, Chris, and Linda were the best. Maurine had a little too much high-pitch and Eddie absolutely did not cut it.

Spider-Fox said at 6:09 PM on Mon Apr 2 2012

Linda was great back in the day, but Chris just sounds better (plus he reminds me of LittleKuriboh from DBZ Abridged).

P.S. Frieza Rules You

BlueHaired1 said at 8:14 PM on Thu Mar 29 2012

funny that the one that is the highest is a guy :) ( I LOVE YOU CHRIS AYRES!

Starwind Amada said at 7:59 PM on Thu Mar 22 2012

Chris Ayres. Conversation over.

TommyBNSF said at 12:09 AM on Fri Mar 16 2012

1st form Linda Young
2nd form Linda Young (still can't believe that's a woman voice in 2nd form!)
3rd form Chris Ayres
4th form Tie Young and Ayres.

PurpleWarrior13 (Moderator) said at 5:21 AM on Sun Mar 11 2012

I'll somewhat update my opinion (no particular order):

Eddie Frierson was too cartoonish and pretty generic.

Pauline Newstone was... interesting, to say the least. It was pretty feminine sounding, but pretty dark and mysterious to say the least. She never voiced Frieza when the character really got going, but she was decent for the little that she did.

Linda Young worked in the same way that Mercedes McCambridge worked as Pazuzu/the Devil in The Exorcist. Casting a female as a dark male non-human villain is not new, and can be extremely creepy if done right. While some of the voice filters got a little extreme (not Linda's fault), and her voice sometimes got a little scratchy, her delivery was spot on and her laugh was so deliciously evil. Her voice was also far from generic, was interesting to listen to, and was very memorable. While it's never been totally perfect, I've always enjoyed listening to her voice for this character.

Maureen Jones - Possibly the most god-annoying thing I've ever heard...

Christopher Ayres - His voice actually sounded the most feminine out of the bunch, very similar to Newstone. Even though he is a male, his performance is really not much different than Young or Newstone (especially Newstone). He got better as the series went on, but he didn't get as much of a chance to shine since Kai did cut out a lot of scenes with Frieza (including several memorable moments). His delivery was the best part of his performance. Sometimes his voice got a tad annoying and scratchy when the character yelled or got angry (just like Linda), but nothing too distracting. He's actually used that voice for several other characters (the same could be said for Young using a variation of her Frieza voice for Genkai). His performance was, once again, anything but generic, and it was very memorable to say the least.

Overall, I like Linda and Chris about equal, but I'll probably give Linda the slight edge since her voice was a tad more interesting and unique (although Chris's voice wasn't too far away). Newstone would've probably been good had she had more time in the role, and the least said about Frierson and Jones, the better.

SparklyShake12 said at 8:28 AM on Fri Feb 24 2012

I grew up hearing Linda Young, but I absolutely LOVE Chris Ayres' take on him.

Ringworm128 said at 9:53 PM on Wed Feb 22 2012

Chris Ayers is the best IMO he takes all that was great about Linda Young's Freeza and ads a chilling elegant performance while showing just how much of a psychopath Freeza is. Linda Young is 2nd best IMO she may have lacked the elegance of Ayers performance but her voice was still great at showing Freeza's sadistic side, his arogant side, and to some extent his intelligent side. And over all its a great and memorable voice very few voice actors pull the raspy/scratchy villain voice off well IMO Linda Young is one of those few. And she did a decent job in the orginal season 3 dub considering she had no experience as a voice actor back then. Pauline Newstone is 3rd best her voice was good but because of the performance/direction it comes across to me as very generic, something you expect from a saturday morning cartoon. If she had of put on a more elegant performance like ayers with an over all better direction she may have made a good to great Freeza. In short I think she might of had potential but if she did it was never fully shown. Eddie Frierson his voice was fun very cartoon like. Not great but not bad either. Though I can't help but wonder what it would sound like with a more darker direction. Maureen Jones is the worst of the bunch her voice and performance are so over the top that it almost seems like a parody of Linda Young's or Pauline Newstone's Freeza voice. And I don't think a darker performance would have saved the voice, listen to the Chris Ayers audio clip then imagine Maureen Jones as Freeza delivering those lines.

Nightmare Crusher said at 6:41 PM on Mon Jan 30 2012

1.Ryusei Nakao: I know, he's not on the poll, but he has basically never stopped playing Frieza(or rather various ripoffs.) and it really came to fruition in Kai.
2. Chris Ayres: His performance both emulates Ryusei Nakao's performance and can stand on its own too.
3. Linda Young: I really like her Frieza, but the original script really held her back.
4. Pauline Newstone: This one is just kinda bland. It sounds like Frieza had just smoked 20 cigars at the same time.
5. Eddie Frierson: Not really special in any way.
6. Maureen Jones: MY EARS! THEY BLEED!

Nightmare Crusher said at 6:10 PM on Mon Mar 12 2012

@Nightmare Crusher
Andendum: I watched a little bit of the old English Funi dub and I have to say this, final form Frieza's voice is TERRIBLE! I often joke about how most of the characters sound constipate or have strep throat, but final form Fireza sounds like he has both. I'm so glad Linda did the voice differently in the video games.

Gutsy Goat said at 8:31 PM on Tue Dec 27 2011

Linda Young
she has a way of speaking that makes it feel right
also not to change the subject but she was also the voice actor for gen kai on yu yu hakisho

MaryKosmos said at 11:49 AM on Wed Dec 21 2011

I'm used to Frieza sounding like a woman, so I prefer Linda Young.

Cellfan15 said at 1:33 AM on Tue Dec 20 2011

Chris Ayres takes the Cake

Pauline sounds like a snake, so she's a good substitute with Linda

voiceactorfan said at 6:51 PM on Sat Nov 26 2011

chris chris is really good

JSD said at 4:35 PM on Sun Nov 20 2011

1. Ayres (The only Kai voice that's better).
2. Young
3. Newstone
4. Frierson
5. Jones

Cellfan15 said at 1:32 AM on Tue Dec 20 2011

@JSD Cell sounds good too, but others...yeah.

JSD said at 2:22 AM on Sun Jan 1 2012

@Cellfan15

lol. Dameon Clarke always rocked as cell. PERFECTION! rofl.

Madness Abe said at 5:46 PM on Sun Oct 9 2011

Eddie's is the worst here. It just sounds too annoying here. Maureen's is only slightly better but not so great. Pauline and Linda's sound so similar to each other, and they're both equally great. But Chris's the best here by making Frieza sound more like a man, while adding a depth of being proud, cunning, and overconfident.

pokemastanumba1 said at 11:22 PM on Wed Aug 31 2011

Just fyi for everyone here, Frieza is supposed to be a transvestite; the anime (including the original Japanese version, sadly) mistranslated the manga, which explains why Frieza is referred to as a "he" by every other character.

I mean, even if Frieza really is male, "he's" so feminine in SO many different ways (some of those ways being completely inappropriate) that it's just plain WRONG to acknowledge "him" as such.

Anyway, I can't really say which VA I like best.

NCZ (Admin) said at 12:09 AM on Thu Sep 1 2011

@pokemastanumba1 No. Frieza is not a transvestite.

1. A transvestite is a person who enjoys wearing the opposite gender's clothing. Frieza is naked in his true form.
2. Where on Earth are you getting this from? Frieza is male and always has been.
3. Just because somebody acts or looks feminine doesn't mean they aren't male. All that matters is what gender they identify as. Since Frieza isn't a transvestite (there is NO PROOF to this theory) and clearly identifies as male (Cooler calls him "brother", his subordinates say "Lord Frieza" instead of "Lady Frieza"), referring to him with masculine pronouns is correct.

Smarttamarr94 said at 5:37 PM on Sat Sep 3 2011

@NCZ and this is supposed to make it better?!

NCZ (Admin) said at 5:47 PM on Sat Sep 3 2011

@Smarttamarr94 Make what better?

Smarttamarr94 said at 3:34 PM on Mon Sep 5 2011

@NCZ By telling us that Frieza is naked in his true form now I feel like I'm gonna blow chunks

pokemastanumba1 said at 12:32 PM on Tue Sep 6 2011

@Smarttamarr94 If you think Frieza is disgusting, you do NOT want to know anything about Orochimaru from Naruto. @_@

NCZ (Admin) said at 2:56 PM on Wed Sep 7 2011

@Smarttamarr94 Well, considering that he has no visible inappropriate parts, him being naked really isn't a big deal...

penguintruth said at 9:35 PM on Thu Oct 20 2011

@pokemastanumba1 "Frieza is supposed to be a transvestite"

Where do you get this stuff?

No he's not.

Ringworm128 said at 5:46 AM on Sun Feb 12 2012

@penguintruth (Reply to your comment you made before you made a profile) Being a gentleman wasn't the ONLY personality trait Freeza had, he was also sinister, sadistic and power hungry. And as the Freeza saga progressed he became less gentleman like. And Linda Young and Pauline Newstone did a great job at showing these personality traits.

Ranmarotto said at 2:46 PM on Sun Jul 24 2011

Ayres is definitely the definitive voice for Freeza. He has the anger and yet royalty to his voice down perfectly. Young is good enough, but sounds a bit too old and too much like her voice for Genkai. Really didn't care for the others.

crystal_raye said at 12:10 AM on Fri Jul 22 2011

I think it's a tie between Ayres and Young

PerfectSe7en said at 11:26 AM on Fri Jun 24 2011

Chris Ayres. His portrayal is effeminate like the DBZ Frieza (Linda's) but the manner of speaking is a lot like the Japanese Freeza (spelled that way for a reason). Chris voices each form quite well (the 3rd form especially) it's really one of the best things about DBZ Kai.

Music Meister said at 12:16 PM on Tue May 31 2011

I've grown up listening to Linda as Frieza so at first I thought I would always choose her as Frieza but when I heard Ayres was torn.
I like how both change their voices for each of Frieza's forms (at least Linda did for the first time but later for some reason they just used her 1st form Frieza voice, which is kinda disapointing) anyway I like Linda did a deep voice for the 2nd voice and the 3rd form had like a double voice effect but compared to Aryes much deeper voice for the second and even deeper for the third he does do better.
In their first forms both did a good job though Aryes did sound like Invader Zim but that's not all that bad. In all I'm going with Linda for the first.
Now the tie breaker, the final form. Aryes NAILS the parts of Friza when he talks calmly and cocky but when he gets mad and yells he kinda loses me. With Linda she doesn't play the cocky side of Frieza that I would have liked but I like she does play to Frieza angry side and I do like that. One problem I have with Linda's Final Form Frieza is that she has several moments where she sounds like she's forcing the voice. In all I guess Ayres gets my vote though I will always love Linda as Frieza.

Galactic_Cyrus said at 1:52 AM on Sat Apr 16 2011

Chris Ayres is the definitive English Freeza; he nails the effeminate, sophisticated, cruel and psychotic tones for Freeza perfectly.

Linda's performance as Freeza was one of the best ones back in the poorly dubbed Freeza saga and I just loved the voices she had for each form, especially the final one. Afterwards however, she just started using this unfitting "tranny granny" voice for Freeza and sounded obnoxious in the role.

Pauline Newstone is too forced and womanly, Eddie Frierson doesn't sound right, and Maureen Jones is ear shatteringly horrible.

ConfusedPhantom said at 2:07 AM on Wed Apr 13 2011

Chris Ayres. BY A LANDSLIDE.

Truesonic said at 2:33 PM on Sat Mar 19 2011

I voted Maureen by mistake She and Linda sounded a little similar but she was more deeper like a Woman but with a very-husky and bold voice

Linda was more edgy and threatening sounding wheras Chris makes Freeza sound exactly like a boy so They get my actual vote however I like Linda Young a bit more...eh I already voted so I can't change or vote again

But my proper vote is Linda Young with Chris comming in a close second while the other three are last :S

pete said at 9:14 PM on Sat Mar 5 2011

Probably gonna have some cyber whacks for this but I prefer Linda over Chris she had and delivered the best lines. Very well too. Chris was ruthless and menacing and did a good job but they took most of Freiza's best lines from Kai(which pissed me off to no end) so he never got a chance to deliver some of Lind's best quips like " Ouch that almost tickled" (my personal favorite). He did have few quips and them well a shame we couldn't him deliver them all.

penguintruth said at 7:34 PM on Wed Mar 9 2011

@pete They took away those lines because Funimation just made them up and they don't suit the character at all.

SM Scorx said at 11:48 AM on Thu Feb 10 2011

Chris Ayres is the best for me.

kn (Guest) said at 4:59 PM on Fri Feb 4 2011

Chris a million times better than any of them, save Eddie. And even then, it's only because Eddie is an actual man.

yomama (Guest) said at 2:47 PM on Fri Feb 4 2011

christ is better than all of them

pgirts (Guest) said at 1:38 AM on Wed Feb 2 2011

Gotta go with Linda Young, who I still don't particularly like in the role. I was excited when I heard that they recast the role for Kai, but Ayres actually sounds less masculine than Young. It doesn't help that he is not menacing in the least; he's more annoying than anything.

Frieza is a male, not a female, and not a tranny. Give him a male voice.

michael (Guest) said at 11:53 PM on Tue Feb 1 2011

Chris Ayres' performance as Freeza in Kai is absolutely phenomenal..I haven't loved a performance this much since Kent Williams as Father in Brotherhood.

portgasdace574 (Guest) said at 4:53 PM on Thu Jan 27 2011

Chris Ayres.
Pauline Newstone was a complete miscast (along with almost everyone else) and Funi was just trying to keep it consistant when using Linda Young for the voice.
Freeza should NOT sound like an old lady.

I'm glad that Funimation finally decided to change the unfitting voices (well, half of them anyway.)

purplewarrior (Guest) said at 6:38 PM on Sun Jan 2 2011

@confused

According to Chris Sabat, and Chris Ayres himself, combined with the voice in Kai, it's definitely Ayres voicing Frieza this time.

confused (Guest) said at 5:08 PM on Sat Jan 1 2011

i dont think ayes voiced dbzk freiza i think its still linda

austinguy (Guest) said at 1:17 PM on Sat Dec 18 2010

Here, I'll go into a bit more detail. See, Young has a raspy, alien-like voice that sounds actually menacing and would be really fitting had the consonants and somewhat the voice as a whole were less feminine, though, hey, give Linda a break, she's a woman! 'Course she's gonna be feminine. Chris Ayres is also pretty good. He has this smug, "gentlemen" like sound to it, which (though I don't watch the Japanese version) brings to mind the original VA, Ryusei Nakao. It doesn't have enough "evil" to it, though, and I grew up with Linda's voice. Eddie Freirson at least doesn't sound feminine, though he's also terrible in general. Maureen Jones? Ugh. Nothing more than a terribly exaggerated version of Linda's Frieza. And finally, it's Pauline Newstone. You can hear her desperately trying to sound evil, and the "old woman" deep within her voice. No. Just no. Overall,
Young
Ayres
Frierson
Newstone
Jones

jared (Guest) said at 2:42 PM on Sat Dec 11 2010

@mm you're joking, right? Almost all the voices on Final Bout were quite laughable. Yes, most of the voice actors got their start off of the wrong foot, but at least they have talent now. As for some, they were utter annoyances. Chris Ayres and Linda Young are suprisingly good picks. And if someone says Maureen Jones, then no more Frieza fans! Just to let you all know, I'm not biased... This is opinional

michaelkelley (Guest) said at 10:11 AM on Fri Dec 10 2010

Christopher Ayres's voice as Frieza is quite good no doubt but Linda's voice is far greater.

mm (Guest) said at 8:00 AM on Fri Dec 10 2010

Eddie did surprizingly good as Frieza

music (Guest) said at 7:59 AM on Fri Dec 10 2010

For me it's a tie between Linda and Chirs.
Chirs' voice in Freiza's 2nd and third for were badass and batter than linda but in his final Form Chirs doesn't sound threatening as Linda does

czizzi (Guest) said at 5:40 PM on Wed Dec 8 2010

Chris Ayres

ichiron47 (Guest) said at 9:36 PM on Sat Dec 4 2010

Christopher Ayres is the best Frieza for the English Version. :P

austinguy (Guest) said at 5:02 PM on Tue Nov 30 2010

Linda>Ayres>>>The Rest

ItachiIshtar said at 4:10 AM on Sun Nov 28 2010

Yay! If you notice, Chris Ayres and Linda Young's clips now feature the voices for all 4 main forms.

purplewarrior (Guest) said at 7:40 PM on Sun Nov 21 2010

Sound clips UPDATED!

hello (Guest) said at 5:19 PM on Thu Nov 18 2010

I like Chris Ayres. He does sound sinister and fits the profile perfectly. Atlast we have a guy doing his voice, and successing at it.

NCZ (Admin) said at 10:32 PM on Tue Nov 16 2010

Chris Ayres is awesome as Frieza. He makes him sound truly sinister yet also calm and composed. And while his voice sounds a bit feminine like Linda Young's, it's also got some male qualities to it. He's my pick, easily (and Linda's the one I'm used to).

purplewarrior (Guest) said at 11:01 PM on Wed Sep 22 2010

They are from the Ginyu and Frieza sagas respectively. We do plan on redoing Ms. Young's clip.

d20watt (Guest) said at 3:43 AM on Mon Jul 12 2010

I remember Linda Young having that less femine and more manly voice. Where did you find those voices from?

Jackson_H (Admin) said at 2:56 PM on Thu Jun 24 2010

You do a have point. I'll consider changing the clip :)

kaiserneko (Guest) said at 12:09 PM on Thu Jun 24 2010

The example for Ayres is really bad. The lines in the episode after that are MUCH better.

satsohi (Guest) said at 4:48 PM on Fri Jun 18 2010

Hmm I was kinda hoping for Jerry Jewel to voice Freeza in Kai, but I'm interested to hear how Chris Ayeres does. I've loved all his other roles

mgriffin189 (Guest) said at 3:59 PM on Fri Jun 18 2010

I like linda young the best. Then again that's likely because that was the first frieza voice i heard when I originally watched DBZ

PurpleWarrior13 (Moderator) said at 11:39 PM on Thu Jun 17 2010

I actually agree with Penguintruth on this one. I got the very same feeling.

@apex347 Frieza was a guy in the Japanese version too. He was even voiced by a guy.

penguintruth (Guest) said at 10:34 PM on Thu Jun 17 2010

Let's not base our opinions of Ayres' Freeza on his first line.

But thus far, he sounds like a different version of Newstone's.

apex347 (Guest) said at 11:13 PM on Tue Jun 8 2010

I heard that Frieza was a girl in the anime, serious but funimation changed this because Goku beating on a woman in our American perceptions seem horrendous. Namely if you look at the name Frieza, in comparison to Cooler, the truth seems to come out of hiding. Therefore Pauline New stone does a great job. Mrs. Young sounds less intelligent, and more like a crook then the tyrant the annihilated the entire Sayian race.

PurpleWarrior13 (Moderator) said at 6:31 PM on Thu Jun 3 2010

Looks like someone else will play Frieza in DBKai. We will add him as soon as sound clips are made available.

satoshi said at 9:59 PM on Mon May 24 2010

Don't really care for any of them, but I guess Pauline Newstone sounds the best, and holy fucking shit The Blue water studios voice is just.... wow..

smarttamarr94 (Guest) said at 1:02 AM on Fri Apr 2 2010

@ hasbeen
frieza is someone I'd like to call a "Transfestite"

jeff (Guest) said at 5:57 PM on Sun Mar 21 2010

Tie between Young and Newstone. The other two were really bad.

anonymous (Guest) said at 10:55 PM on Tue Mar 2 2010

@ hasbeen

Frieza isn't a girl

hasbeen (Guest) said at 9:00 PM on Sun Feb 28 2010

Uhh no.if freiza didnt look like a little girl,then yes,she should have a girl voice.but asummeing she does look like a girl,lets give her a girl voice :D

czizzi (Guest) said at 11:43 PM on Sun Feb 7 2010

Agreed penguintruth.

penguintruth (Guest) said at 5:40 PM on Wed Jan 20 2010

They're all godawful. Freeza should sound like a refined gentleman, not a granny or a tranny.

The greatest villain in DBZ, ruined by these terrible interpretations.

Ryūsei Nakao, on the other hand (who played Tambourine in DB), is brilliant in the role.

PurpleWarrior13 (Moderator) said at 11:08 PM on Tue Jan 19 2010

I can honestly say that Linda Young's Frieza made me like DBZ. I remember being attracted to the show during Goku's battle with Frieza, and I was obsessed with Frieza because of his chilling voice. Pauline Newstone was also brilliant. Eddie Frierson wasn't all that great, and Maureen Jones was extremely annoying.

Jackson_H (Admin) said at 6:59 PM on Tue Jan 19 2010

hey VC fans. I'm not 100% sure if Maureen Jones voiced Frieza in the Blue Water dub of GT. If anyone can confirm or proove that another VA did the role (providing a valid source) please tell me asap. thanks :)