| Intro | American voice actor and voice director | ||
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Actor Screenwriter Voice actor |
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| From | United States of America | ||
| Type | Film, TV, Stage & Radio | ||
| Gender | male | ||
| Birth | 28 May 1976, Belleville, USA | ||
| Age: | 44 years | ||
| Star sign | Gemini | ||
| Residence | Los Angeles, USA | ||
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| Education |
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Liam Christopher O’Brien (born May 28, 1976) is an American voice actor, writer and voice director in the Los Angeles area. He has been involved in many English-language adaptations of Japanese anime, and is also a regular in numerous video games and cartoons. His major anime roles include Gaara in Naruto, Vincent Law in Ergo Proxy, Captain Jushiro Ukitake in Bleach, Lloyd in Code Geass, Kenzo Tenma in Monster, and Nephrite in the Viz Media dub of Sailor Moon. In animation, he voices 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, Caius Ballad in Final Fantasy XIII-2, 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, Zvatto in Lost Planet 2, Grimoire Weiss in NieR, the Warden in For Honor, Barker in Titanfall 2 and most recently, Infinite in Sonic Forces. He has directed for Naruto, The Last of Us, Evolve, Resident Evil 5, and Resident Evil 6. He is a regular cast member of Critical Role, playing Vax’ildan “Vax” Vessar and Caleb Widogast.
Early life
O’Brien grew up in Weehawken, New Jersey. His mother Lois Wiltse O’Brien worked as an educator and as a quality assurance trainer and consultant. He started getting into acting in high school. After attending New York University Tisch School of the Arts, he worked in theater on various productions around the country. While working on a production of Romeo & Juliet in Cincinnati, he met Crispin Freeman, who helped him get into voice-over in cartoons and anime back in New York City.
Personal life
O’Brien married fellow voice actress Amy Kincaid in 2002. They have two children, a son and a daughter. O’Brien also has a sister named Cara. In his interview with Brian W. Foster in Between the Sheets, O’Brien mentioned that he has a condition called hyperacusis, a condition that affects sound perception. O’Brien is also an agnostic.
Career
O’Brien’s characters have varied in terms of styles. He affirms that he plays characters that are typically insane or evil geniuses, although he has also voiced comedic characters such as Fukuyama in Girls Bravo where he said he would “break out in a sweat matching his level of nuttiness”. He describes Cumore from Tales of Vesperia as “slightly 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 him 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, O’Brien has worked as a voice director and writer on various video games and anime shows. He also participates in a popular web series called Critical Role, “where a bunch of nerdy-ass voice actors band together to play Dungeons & Dragons.”