Spike Spencer

Charles Forrest "Spike" Spencer (born December 21, 1968) is an American voice actor and columnist best known for dubbing Japanese anime films. He is known for his roles in ADV Films dubs of Neon Genesis Evangelion as Shinji Ikari, Martian Successor Nadesico as Akito Tenkawa, and Excel Saga as Gojo Shioji. He has also performed voice acting for radio, especially commercials. His anime character voices tend to be either for timid, shy, or weak characters, or for eccentric and comical ones.

Career
Spencer attended the University of Houston for four years. After doing a number of independent films, he met Amanda Winn-Lee, who suggested he audition for anime English dubbing at ADV Films. Spencer first landed a supporting role of Prime Minister Mikoshiba in Super Atragon, then a leading role of Takateru in Suikoden Demon Century. In August 1996, Spencer was cast as the lead role of Shinji Ikari in Neon Genesis Evangelion. After ADV Films' collapse, Funimation acquired the rights to the Rebuild of Evangelion movies. As part of Funimation's goal to get the service of the original voice actors from shows and movies they acquired distributing rights for, Spencer reprised Shinji in the movies.

Spencer has done commercials for Houston Cellular, Applebee's, Kroger, Chevrolet, and Subway. Spencer has done additional acting in live-action films and in TV series such as The Big Easy.

Spencer also travels the world with his panel, Don't Kill Your Date (and Other Cooking Tips), which teaches Spencer's trademark "food game," giving dating advice for men, cooking tips, and easy dinner recipes. Spencer's dating tips have been featured in USA Today and Men's Health. He also frequently writes dating tips for Neil Strauss, Carlos Xuma, and Singles Warehouse.

Personal life
Spencer was once married to Kendra Benham, who worked alongside him in Neon Genesis Evangelion as Maya Ibuki. Spencer holds a brown belt in aikido and a 2nd-degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do. Spencer is married to an entrepreneur, Kim MacKenzie, as of October 4, 2014. He is a foodie and has a website called DontKillYourDate.com. Spike and Kim have two sons, one named Declan, who was born on July 29, 2017, and another named Colton Christopher, who was born on February 4, 2021, in Australia.