Which actor plays Chief, the stray dog at the center of Wes Anderson’s Isle of Dogs?

Bryan Cranston plays Chief in Wes Anderson’s Isle of Dogs.

Released in 2018, the stop-motion film follows a group of dogs exiled to Trash Island after a fictional Japanese city orders canine deportation. Chief is a stray who initially resists human ownership and becomes the central dog character when Atari Kobayashi arrives searching for his missing pet, Spots.

Cranston’s voice performance gives Chief a rough, skeptical personality that gradually changes as he forms a bond with Atari and the other dogs. The ensemble includes Edward Norton as Rex, Bob Balaban as King, Bill Murray as Boss, Jeff Goldblum as Duke, and Liev Schreiber as Spots.

The film’s dialogue is primarily in English for the dogs, while many human scenes retain Japanese dialogue with subtitles or translation. Chief should not be confused with Spots, the former guard dog whose disappearance begins Atari’s mission. The two characters are narratively connected but voiced by different actors.