‘Pokémon’ Star Dies Following Breast Cancer Diagnosis: Rachael Lillis Was 55

Voice actor Rachael Lillis passed away on Saturday, Aug. 10 at the age of 55. Lillis was best known for voicing the characters Misty and Jessie in the English-language dub of the Pokémon anime series, and fans grieved her passing all over social media. According to a report by The New York Times, Lillis died at home due to breast cancer at the age of 55.

Lillis’ sister Laurie Orr told reporters that Lillis was diagnosed with breast cancer back in May. She died at her home in Los Angeles, California, but the details on her illness are scarce. For the most part, fans seemed to be caught off guard by the sad news, and their comments on social media tell many stories of Lillis’ friendliness and generosity.

Lillis was born in upstate New York in 1969, the youngest of six sisters. Her father was a U.S. Navy veteran who worked as a maintenance manager, while her mother was a homemaker. Lillis graduated from Smith College after studying pre-med, but she found her way into voice acting in the 1980s. However, Pokémon was her real big break beginning in the late 90s.

Lillis showed her range in nearly every episode of the series’ first few seasons, as she voiced both the protagonist Misty and the villainous Jessie of Team Rocket. She voiced numerous other side characters over the years, and she was the voice of many Pokémon who could only say their own names. These included Jigglypuff, Chansey, Vulpix, Ninetales, and Lapras, to name a few.

The Times spoke to Lillis’ co-star Eric Stuart, who voices Jessie’s Team Rocket partner James on the series. Stuart also hired Lillis, as he was directing Pokémon in the early days. He raved about Lillis’ talent, saying: “If you met her, you’d not say this was so natural for her. Rachael in real life was pretty low-key, kind of quiet and sweet. The minute she stepped in that booth it was like this whole other energy came out.”

Pokémon makes up most of Lillis’ best-known work, and it’s no surprise – it is the single most profitable franchise of all time, and its need for voice-over work has grown over time with movies, merchandising tie-ins, video games, and more. Lillis worked on 423 episodes of the main series from 1997 to 2015, and she also relished the chance to meet fans at conventions and other events.

Tributes to Lillis are still popping up online and many of her colleagues are grieving her loss. The easiest place to revisit all of her work on the Pokémon franchise is on Prime Video, which has a dedicated channel featuring most of the Pokémon anime series and movies.