Biography

José Santa Cruz was born on March 14, 1929 in Picuí, Paraíba, Brazil. He was an actor, known for Rear Window (1954), Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) and Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999). He died on April 26, 2024 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

He's the Brazilian voice of three versions of the Transformers' villain Megatron: from the first cartoon (G1 for fans), "Transformers: Armada" and 2007 live-action Michael Bay's movie. Coincidentally, his colleague José Sant'Anna dubbed Starscream in the same three occasions.

He is the Brazilian voice of actor Danny DeVito and animated character Dinossaurs (1991)'s 'Earl Sinclair ("Dino da Silva Sauro" in Brazil), among a lot of others.

Santa Cruz was an actor, comedian, radio host, announcer and one of the main names in Brazilian dubbing, with a career lasting seven decades.

In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic , Santa Cruz stepped away from his artistic work. He later suffered a fall at his home and injured his back, which weakened his health and prevented him from continuing acting and dubbing after the end of the pandemic.

He suffered from Parkinson's disease and, in April 2024, he was hospitalized in Rio de Janeiro because of bronchopneumonia (a subtype of pneumonia).