Samuel E. Wright

Career overview

Samuel E. Wright was born on November 20, 1946 in Camden, South Carolina, United States, and died on May 24, 2021 at the age of 74. An American actor, vocal performer and singer, Wright built a career that spanned film, television and stage. Over the course of his professional life he accumulated thirty‑eight credited roles, a record reflected in his filmography listings.

Wright is most widely recognized for his work as a voice actor. He supplied the distinctive, Caribbean‑inflected voice of the royal fish‑advisor Sebastian in Disney’s animated feature The Little Mermaid, a role that has become iconic in the studio’s musical canon. He also portrayed jazz legend Dizzy Gillespie in the biographical film Bird, contributing both spoken dialogue and vocal performance to the portrayal of the celebrated trumpeter. In addition to his screen work, Wright originated the role of Mufasa in the original Broadway production of Disney’s The Lion King, bringing his vocal talents to the stage in a performance that helped define the musical’s early success.

Throughout his career Wright’s contributions as an actor, singer and vocal artist were marked by a versatility that allowed him to move fluidly between animated characters, live‑action portrayals and theatrical performances, leaving a lasting imprint on each medium in which he worked.