Who is Taliesin Jaffe?
Taliesin Axelrod Jaffe was born on 19 January 1977, in Los Angeles, California, USA. He is a voice actor, actor, and scriptwriter, best known for being a main cast member of the online role-playing game series “Critical Role”, in which several voice actors play the tabletop game “Dungeons & Dragons” together. He’s also worked on various English dubs of popular anime projects.
The Riches of Taliesin Jaffe
As of early-2020, Taliesin Jaffe’s net worth is estimated to be over $1 million, earned through a successful career in the entertainment industry. His work with “Critical Role” has brought in numerous opportunities as well as consistent work. That coupled with his voice acting projects has helped in building his wealth.
Family Life
Taliesin is the son of actress Nina Axelrod, who is known for her appearance in films and television shows during the 1970s and ‘80s. While she didn’t become a prominent star as an actress, she later became a well-known drama teacher and casting director. Some of her most well-known projects as an actress include “Time Walker”, “Roller Boogie”, “Charlie’s Angels” and “Motel Hell”.
Taliesin grew up in a family that was heavily involved with the entertainment industry. The most prominent member of his family was George Axelrod; he was a screenwriter, director, producer and playwright, who rose to fame with his creation “The Seven Year Itch”, a three-act play that found popularity during the 1950s.
The play was later made into a film that starred Marilyn Monroe. Other notable projects he worked on during his career included “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” and “The Manchurian Candidate”, both of which were adapted from popular novels.
Voice Acting Career
Following in the footsteps of his mother, Jaffe first entered the acting world in the 1980s, with his film debut in “Mr. Mom” which starred Michael Keaton and Teri Garr. The film tells the story of an unemployed man who becomes a stay-at-home dad, trying to figure out how to take care of his children when his wife finds success in her career.
He mainly had small roles in the coming years, with some of his projects including “St. Elsewhere”, “Amazing Stories”, and “The Facts of Life”.
His most notable live-action role during his youth would be in the television sitcom “She’s the Sheriff”, which starred Suzanne Somers. While the show ran for a few years, it was marred by negative reviews, and some publications have noted it one of the worst shows of all time. In the 1990s, he discovered voice acting work, and began doing so with several English dubbed Japanese anime. Some of his earliest work includes “Burn-Up Excess”, “Di Gi Charat” and “3×3 Eyes”.
In the 2000s, he started to become more of a mainstay in the voice acting world, and also began taking more notable projects.
Anime and Video Games
In the 2000s, Taliesin started doing more mainstream anime projects, including voicing for the English dub of “Fullmetal Alchemist” which many consider as one of the best anime series of all time, and which won numerous awards during its run, especially in Japan. He also worked on the anime “Hellsing”, and later on its continuation “Hellsing Ultimate”. He’s continued with both notable and lesser-known anime, voicing the character, Aaron Terzieff in “Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn.
He is also the voice of Britain in “Hetalia: The World Twinkle – at times, he is credited as Taliesin Axelrod in his works.
While working on anime, he also became a mainstay in the video game industry, with his first project being “Suikoden IV” and “Suikoden V”, though he was uncredited for his work. He then joined Blizzard, and voiced Highlord Darion Mograine in “World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King”. More notable video game projects would come his way, such as “Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn” voicing Thancred. He also provided voices for “Final Fantasy XV”, “Tales of Berseria”, “Injustice 2”, and most recently “Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire”.
Critical Role
In 2015, Jaffe’s fame significantly rose as he became one of the cast members of the web series “Critical Role”. In the show, he along with other voice actors play a continuous campaign of “Dungeons and Dragons”, under Dungeon Master (DM) and voice actor Matt Mercer. The show has become very popular and is credited for helping bring “Dungeons and Dragons” to a more mainstream audience. It is noted for the voice actors’ capable ability to act out their characters while many of its fans also credit Matt Mercer’s DM ability, with some even giving him the title of best Dungeon Master in the world.
Mercer has been responsible for creating the entire storyline, improvising based on character decisions, and voicing many of the personalities the other cast members meet.
During its first season, Jaffe played the role of Percival Fredrickstein von Musel Klossowski de Rolo III, or Percy. The show featured a part of adventurers, Vox Machina who go on adventures in the continent of Exandria. The show was initially a continuation of a home campaign they were playing. The first campaign ended in 2018 and they took a year-long break before returning for a second campaign with new characters. He played the role of Mollymauk Tealeaf in the second campaign until the character’s passing; he then switched over to a new character, Caduceus Clay.
Personal Life
Taliesin is single, though he is not the type to talk about any past or present romantic relationships. In 2017 he came out as bisexual to the public, and after that revelation, some of his Dungeons & Dragons characters have also reflected his preference for both genders. During his youth, he inclined more to the goth look and lifestyle, and some influence of it remains, though he is mostly known for sporting unusual hairstyles during live streams of “Critical Role”. The group recently found success on their own, separating from their former partner, Geek and Sundry, to create a new studio.
, Wikipedia