Liam O'Brien

Liam Christopher O'Brien (born May 28, 1976) is an American voice actor, writer, and director. He is a regular cast member of the Dungeons & Dragons actual play series Critical Role, playing Vax'ildan ("Vax"), Caleb Widogast, and Orym. He has been involved in many video games, cartoons, and English-language adaptations of Japanese anime. His major anime roles include Gaara in Naruto, Naruto Shippuden, and Boruto, Vincent Law in Ergo Proxy, Captain Jushiro Ukitake in Bleach, Lloyd in Code Geass, Kenzo Tenma in Monster, Akihiko Sanada in Persona 3, and Nephrite in the Viz Media dub of Sailor Moon.

In cartoons, O'Brien has voiced characters in shows such as Star Wars Rebels, Transformers: Robots in Disguise, Avengers Assemble, Wolverine and the X-Men, and Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H.. In video games, he voiced Gollum in Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and its sequel, Caius Ballad in Final Fantasy XIII-2 and Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, War in Darksiders, Asura in Asura's Wrath, Ieyasu Tokugawa in Sengoku Basara: Samurai Heroes, Illidan Stormrage in World of Warcraft and Heroes of the Storm, Yasuo in League of Legends, Grimoire Weiss in Nier and Nier: Replicant ver.1.22474487139..., the Warden in For Honor, and Barker in Titanfall 2.

He is an automated dialog replacement writer for anime and has provided voice direction for over 300 episodes of anime such as Naruto. He has also voice directed for video games such as The Last of Us, Evolve, Resident Evil 5, and Resident Evil 6.

Early life
Liam Christopher O'Brien was born in Weehawken, New Jersey, on May 28, 1976. His mother, Lois Wiltse O'Brien, worked as an educator as well as a quality assurance trainer and consultant. He has a sister named Cara. His family were Reformed Christians, and he was "raised by a Christian mother and attended 15 years of Christian schooling", but would later describe himself as agnostic. He began acting in high school at St. Peter's Preparatory School, resolving to "just be a starving artist" as he knew the chances of success in the field were low. O'Brien moved to New York City to attend the New York University Tisch School of the Arts.

Career
In his early career, O'Brien worked in theater on various productions around the country. He met Crispin Freeman while working on a production of Romeo & Juliet in Cincinnati, Ohio, which helped him get voice-over work back in New York. He and his partner decided to leave the city in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks and pursued a voice acting career. While he enjoyed theater, he gave up on it as the voice work would better allow him to support and spend time with his family.

O'Brien affirms that he often plays characters that are insane or evil geniuses, although he has also voiced comedic characters such as Fukuyama in Girls Bravo. He describes Cumore from Tales of Vesperia as "extremely unhinged". In Darksiders, he voices the lead character War, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. He describes his voicing as deeper than his usual voice, and that he portrayed War as a fairly old soul who isn't surprised at the events around him. In the video game-based film Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, he voiced Red XIII. In addition to voice acting, he has worked as a voice director and writer on various video games and anime shows.

He is also a cast member of the popular web series Critical Role, in which he and other voice actors play Dungeons & Dragons. Critical Role was both the Webby Winner and the People's Voice Winner in the "Games (Video Series & Channels)" category at the 2019 Webby Awards; the show was also both a Finalist and the Audience Honor Winner at the 2019 Shorty Awards. After becoming hugely successful, the Critical Role cast left the Geek & Sundry network in early 2019 and set up their own production company, Critical Role Productions. Soon after, they aimed to raise $750,000 on Kickstarter to create an animated series of their first campaign, but ended up raising over $11 million. In November 2019, Amazon Prime Video announced that they had acquired the streaming rights to this animated series, now titled The Legend of Vox Machina, O'Brien reprised his role as Vax'ildan. In June 2021, O'Brien was added to the cast of Exandria Unlimited, a spinoff of Critical Role. O'Brien is also one of the narrators for the audiobook edition of the novel Critical Role: Vox Machina – Kith & Kin (2021).

Personal life
O'Brien married voice actress Amy Kincaid in 2002. The couple have two children: a daughter and a son. They live in Los Angeles.

He suffers from hyperacusis, a hearing disorder that makes him unusually sensitive to everyday noises.

Anime
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Anime

 * Afro Samurai – Kihachi, Patron #4
 * Black Jack – Sasaki (Ep. 9)
 * Blade of the Immortal – Araya Kawakami
 * Bleach – Jūshirō Ukitake, Sora Inoue (Acid Wire), Rikichi, Sōken Ishida, Baigon, Kaneda
 * Blue Dragon – Dolsk
 * Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo – Kittypoo, OVER, Pana, Not Nice Cream, Crimson
 * Boogiepop Phantom – Yoji Suganuma
 * Busou Renkin – Gouta Nakamura, Hideki Okakura
 * Comic Party – Taishi
 * Daphne in the Brilliant Blue – Jiro, Tony Long
 * Descendants of Darkness – Hisoka Kurosaki
 * DiGi Charat – Yoshima
 * DNA² – Junta Momonari
 * Durarara!! – Morita, Kine
 * 2010 || Durarara!! || Morita
 * Fate/stay night – Archer
 * Figure 17 – Toru
 * Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo – Andrea Cavalcanti
 * Gun Sword – Ray Lundgren
 * Gungrave – Sam
 * Gurren Lagann – Guinble Kaito
 * Haré+Guu – Dr. Clive
 * Hellsing Ultimate – Wild Geese (Ep. 3), Spirit of the Jackal (Ep. 5), Vatican Officer (Ep. 8), Wild Geese Member (Ep. 3), Zeppelin Commander (Eps. 5–6), Walter C. Dornez (Ep. 9)
 * Ikki Tousen – Ganryo, Kayu, Genpou Saji/Shishi Ouin (Seasons 3–4)
 * Kamichu! – Inu Osho, Konoha Kamaitachi, Shika
 * Kannazuki no Miko – Tsubasa
 * KO Beast – Bud Mint
 * Koi Kaze – Kei
 * Lagrange: The Flower of Rin-ne series – Dizelmine, Kojiro Nogami
 * Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic – Jamil (Eps. 1–3), Markkio (The Banker), Isaac (Eps. 23–24), additional voices
 * MÄR: Marchen Awakens Romance – Nanashi
 * Marmalade Boy – Akira Mizutani, Alex
 * Marvel Disk Wars: The Avengers – Red Skull
 * Melody of Oblivion – Horu
 * Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin - Gihren Zabi
 * Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn – Hill Dawson, Sarsel Mitsukerl, Tomura
 * Naruto Shippuden – Gaara, Kotetsu Hagane, Sabiru (Ep. 193)
 * Paradise Kiss – Noriji Sunami, Seiji Kisaragi
 * Revolutionary Girl Utena – Mamiya Chida
 * Saiyuki Reload – Barkeeper, Demon
 * Samurai Champloo – Yamane (young)
 * Scrapped Princess – Furet/Fulle
 * Sengoku Basara: Samurai Kings – Ieyasu Tokugawa
 * The Prince of Tennis – Nanjiro Echizen, Masashi Arai
 * Tiger & Bunny – Yuri Petrov/Lunatic
 * Tenjho Tenge – Shin Natsume
 * Texhnolyze – Haruhiko Toyama, Saburo Yagihashi
 * 2004 || Wolf's Rain || Lord Orkham Soldier
 * Zatch Bell! – Genso

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Video games
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 * Aliens: Colonial Marines – Richard Levy
 * Batman: Arkham Knight – Adam Brewer || ||
 * Baten Kaitos Origins – Lord Krumly
 * BioShock Infinite – Additional voices
 * Bleach series – Jūshirō Ukitake, Nnoitra Gilga
 * Call of Duty: Black Ops – Additional voices
 * Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 – David Mason (E3 2012 demo), ISA Multiplayer Announcer
 * 2012 || Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 || ISA Multiplayer Announcer || ||
 * Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 – Additional voices
 * Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 – PMC Multiplayer Announcer, additional voices
 * Dungeon Siege III – Bogdan, Roderick
 * Eureka Seven vol. 1: The New Wave – Steven Bisson (uncredited)
 * Eureka Seven vol.2: The New Vision – Steven Bisson (uncredited)
 * ''Fallout: New Vegas – Pacer, Cachino, Jessup, additional voices
 * Ghost Rider – Johnny Blaze
 * God of War: Ghost of Sparta – Additional voices
 * Grand Theft Auto V – The Local Population
 * Guild Wars 2 – Mender Serimon, Gavin, Nallas, additional voices
 * Guitar Hero: World Tour – Riki Lee
 * Halo 4 – Shadow leader Spartan ops
 * Heroes of the Storm – Illidan Stormrage
 * Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days – Various
 * Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning – King Titarion, Maxen
 * Fallout 4 - Allen Lee
 * 2014 || Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham || Black Hand, Deathstroke, Dr. Fate, Etrigan The Demon, Man-Bat, Red Tornado, Reverse-Flash, The Question, Dex-Starr, Mr. Freeze. || ||
 * 2015 || Lego Jurassic World || Peter Ludlow || ||
 * Lego The Lord of the Rings – Various different characters in Middle-earth
 * 2016 || Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens || Additional voices || ||
 * Lord of the Rings: War in the North – Elladan, Elrohir
 * Lost Planet 2 – Waysider, various voices
 * MadWorld – Zombie/Soldier 7/Scissors Man
 * Marvel Super Hero Squad – Nightcrawler
 * 2017-11-7 || Middle-earth: Shadow of War || Gollum || ||
 * Ninja Blade – Doctor, various zombies (as Liam O' Brien)
 * Persona 4 Arena – Akihiko Sanada
 * Persona 4 Arena Ultimax – Akihiko Sanada
 * Professor Layton and the Unwound Future – Dimitri Allen, presenter, Subject 3
 * Professor Layton and the Last Specter – Clark Triton
 * Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask – Additional voices
 * ''Red Faction: Armageddon – McMahon
 * Red Faction: Guerrilla – Dan Mason
 * Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles – Additional voices (as Liam O'brien)
 * Rift: Planes of Telara – Various characters
 * Samurai Champloo: Sidetracked – Mugen
 * Sengoku Basara: Samurai Heroes – Ieyasu Tokugawa
 * Seven Samurai 20XX – Natoe (uncredited)
 * Shin Megami Tensei IV – Navarre
 * Singularity – Additional voices
 * Skylanders: Giants – Voice Cast
 * Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure – Additional voices
 * Skylanders: Trap Team – Luminous
 * Space Run – Buck Mann
 * Spider-Man: Web of Shadows – Electro, Miscellaneous Voices
 * StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty – Additional voices (Terran Ghost Unit)
 * Star Ocean: Till the End of Time – Dion Landers (uncredited)
 * Star Trek Online: Delta Rising - Gaul
 * Star Wars: The Old Republic – Various
 * Supreme Commander 2 – Jarren
 * Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World – Orochi, various Vanguard Soldiers (uncredited)
 * Tales of the Abyss – Dist (uncredited)
 * TERA – Navek (uncredited)
 * 2009 || Terminator Salvation || Resistance Soldiers || ||
 * The Bureau: XCOM Declassified – Nico DeSilva
 * The Last Remnant – Allan, various
 * The Saboteur – Additional voices
 * Tomb Raider – Additional voices
 * 2010 || Transformers: War for Cybertron || Air Raid || ||
 * Valkyria Chronicles – Karl Landzaat, Knute Jung, Noce Wordsworth, additional voices
 * Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria – Lezard Valeth
 * WildStar – Captain Thokov, Vorion, Ersoth, Mordesh Male, Bolt, Marauder Eeklu
 * World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade – Darkweaver Syth, Talon King Ikiss, Illidan Stormrage
 * 2016-08-30 || World of Warcraft: Legion || Illidan Stormrage || ||
 * World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King – Marwyn
 * World of Warcraft: Cataclysm – Young Illidan Stormrage
 * World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria – Sha of Violence, Chi-Ji the Red Crane
 * 2016 || World of Warcraft: Legion || Illidan Stormrage || ||
 * 2017 || Marvel Heroes: 2016 || Black Bolt || ||
 * Z.H.P. Unlosing Ranger VS Darkdeath Evilman – Darkdeath Evilman
 * Zatch Bell! Mamodo Fury – Kafk Sunbeam

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