Shadow the Hedgehog stands above most of theSonic the Hedgehogfranchise. It’s a banner year at the Shadow family. He’s leading his second video game withShadow Generationsand making his big screen debut withSonic the Hedgehog 3. He’s a beloved character who embodies the challenges with the rest of the franchise. Shadow has been around for 23 years with a wide variety of depictions and presentations. In those decades, he’s enjoyed several voice actors, eventually including Keanu Reeves.
Sonic changed forever when he received a voice. One of his greatest accomplishments as a character was his ability to communicate his personality without speaking, but his ability to talk made him even more iconic. Sonic still resolutely maintains hisdictionary of radical 90s coolterminology. The drawn tone of his voice, provided most commonly and recently by Roger Craig Smith, is as iconic as any element of his gameplay. His allies and enemies often have the same level of consistency across performances.
Notable Games and Shows
Sonic Prime
June 13, 2025
By far the most prominent voice actor behind Shadow the Hedgehog is his Japanese portrayer, Kōji Yusa. Yusa is an exceptionally prolific voice actor with a long history of fascinating roles. Unlike the English dubs, theJapaneseSonic the Hedgehogfranchise has relied almost entirely on Yusa to provide the voice of Shadow. He’s the character’s most consistent voice by an extremely wide margin. Outside theSonicfranchise, anime fans would recognize Yusa best as the voice of Gin Ichimaru in multiple iterations ofBleach. He also plays LauinBlack Butler. He’s very much still working in the voice acting space, including providing the most recent iteration of Shadow in this year’sShadow Generations.
Sonic Adventure 2: Battle
June 08, 2025
The first English voice of Shadow the Hedgehog was David Humphrey. Humphrey is a dedicated and celebrated theatrical performer with much more experience on the stage than in the booth. OutsideofSonic Adventure 2andits GameCube port, Humphrey’s only notable video game voice-acting role was in the 2007 point-and-click adventure gameJack Keane. Humphrey reportedly got the job after working with Sonic’s voice actor at the time, Ryan Drummond. Drummond also provided a couple of lines for Shadow in the character’s debut. Humphrey set the English standard, leaving many other actors to follow in his wake.
Sonic and the Black Knight
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games
Jul 17, 2025
Jason Griffith was the second English-language voice actor to portray Shadow. He picked up the role for the dub of the hit 2003 animatedseries,Sonic X. Griffith’s voice work on the character is a little more polished than that of Humphrey, who joined the project when Shadow was still finding his footing. Griffith also provided the voice of Sonic the Hedgehog in more than a dozen titles. Fans who take a look back atShadow the HedgehogorSonic Xmight notice the similarities between the two hedgehogs' voices. It’s a striking choice that adds a lot to their rivalry. His tenure with the characters ran from 2003 to 2010, but it lives on in some archival footage used in a few other sources.
Shadow Generations
June 26, 2025
Kirk Thornton is probably the most prominent English voice of Shadow. He picked up the torch from Jason Griffith and held it to this very day. Thornton’s voice is arguably themost recognizable as Shadow, given his 14 years with the character. Thornton is another extremely prolific voice actor with several iconic characters under his belt. He portrayed Brandon Heat inGungrave, Kisame Hoshigaki inNaruto, and Jin inSamurai Champloo. He’s still working with the Sonic franchise, providing the voice of Shadow inShadow Generations.
One of the most well-received versions of Shadow the Hedgehog comes with a voice no one had ever heard in the role. Ian Hanlin is a Canadian voice actor who started his career in 2010. His voice appeared in many cartoons, includingMy Little PonyandNinjago. He’s also notable for video game roles in titles likeDead Rising 3andFar Cry 5. Hanlin provided the voice of Shadow in Netflix’sSonic Prime, where he also portrayed Big the Cat.Sonic Prime’s Shadow isiconic for its unique maturity and compelling character arc. Even if he’s only played the character in one work, it remains one of the most impactful.
Keanu Reeves will take the role of ShadowinSonic the Hedgehog 3. It seems fitting that the character’s big-screen debut would come with an A-list performer. Keanu might be the most famous example, but Shadow comes with a long history of excellent performers.
