Sam Riegel

Samuel Brent Oscar Riegel (born October 9, 1976) is an American voice actor, director, and writer. He is best known for his voice roles as Donatello in the 2003 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series and Phoenix Wright in the Ace Attorney games. He has also worked for Nickelodeon as the voice director for Fresh Beat Band of Spies and Sanjay and Craig, as well as the voice of Riven in the revival of Winx Club. Since 2015, he has been a regular cast member of the web series Critical Role, in which he and other voice actors play Dungeons & Dragons. In 2022, the show's first campaign was adapted into the first season of the animated series The Legend of Vox Machina.

Early life
Samuel Brent Oscar Riegel was born in Washington, D.C. on October 9, 1976, the son of Lenore and Kurt Riegel. His mother later married author Jerome Charyn. His father works as a radio astronomer, environmental executive, and sailor. Riegel is of Jewish descent, with his grandmother being a Holocaust survivor. He is the older brother of actress Eden Riegel and the younger half-brother of filmmaker Tatiana S. Riegel. He grew up in Northern Virginia, where he began performing in local theater at the age of six. He was cast in the touring production of Les Misérables at the age of 11, and performed in The Sound of Music three years later. He also had television roles on Guiding Light and Another World as a teenager, but opted to pursue a career onstage over screen acting as he preferred the live feedback of a theater audience. He joined the Upright Citizens Brigade shortly after graduating from college.

Career
Riegel has worked for TAJ Productions, 4Kids Entertainment, Bang Zoom! Entertainment, NYAV Post, and Studiopolis. In 2018, he received the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing in an Animated Program for his work on Danger & Eggs.

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. Riegel reprises his role as Scanlan Shorthalt. He hosts the All Work No Play podcast and spinoff web series with his Critical Role co-star and best friend Liam O'Brien.

Personal life
Riegel lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Vietnamese-American cinematographer Quyen Tran, and their two children.

On September 11, 2001, Riegel and Tran witnessed the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center. They were caught in the dust cloud formed by the collapse of the South Tower, but eventually escaped to Battery Park, where they witnessed the collapse of the North Tower; Riegel captured video footage that has since been featured in several documentaries. Shortly after the events, they moved to California when Tran was accepted to UCLA.

In July 2024, Riegel revealed that he had been diagnosed with HPV-positive oropharyngeal cancer earlier in the year and was recovering after undergoing six weeks of radiation therapy and surgery to remove his tonsils alongside parts of his tongue and soft palate, leaving him with a seven-inch scar across his throat.