Chris Niosi

Christopher Edwin Niosi (born December 31, 1988), also known by his pseudonym Kirbopher, is an American voice actor, animator, and producer.

His voice-work includes Lord Uroko in '' Nagi-Asu: A Lull in the Sea'', Arataka Reigen in ''Mob Psycho 100'', Dezel in ''Tales of Zestiria'', Tiara in ''Queen's Blade Rebellion'', Tetsuya Kinomoto in ''Dr. Stone'', Khoury and others in the ''Pokémon'' series, Ernesto and others in '' OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes'', Pegasus in the Viz Media dub of ''Sailor Moon'', Haruo Sakaki in '' Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters'', '' Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle'', and '' Godzilla: The Planet Eater'', and Therion and Mattias in ''Octopath Traveler''.

Early life

Niosi was born in Northport, New York and raised in Long Island. He attended the School of Visual Arts in New York City.

Career

Animation

Niosi began making numerous animations for Newgrounds under the name "Kirbopher" in 2004, mostly making Nintendo-based parodies. His first professional animation job was for Eduware providing character design, animation and voices. He has also worked as an animator for the video games '' A Hat in Time'', '' Skullgirls'' and ''Cryamore''.

''Terrain of Magical Expertise''

Niosi is the co-creator of the project ''Terrain of Magical Expertise'', also known as ''TOME'', alongside artist Mike Luckas. The web series is known for its inclusion of several YouTube personalities and voice actors such as Yuri Lowenthal and Kyle Hebert. The series' concept was based on their experiences role-playing on internet forums. The series was eventually crowdfunded through GoFundMe to produce the remaining duration. The majority of the animation services were provided by Niosi himself, along with several guest animators and production assistants. ''TOME'' was first released on Newgrounds on November 11, 2011, and ran for fifteen episodes and nine shorts. The final episode released on July 7, 2015, while the final short released on November 11, 2016.

On September 30, 2017, a Kickstarter for a video game adaption was launched. The game features a customizable avatar known as the White Hat Hacker joining the established characters. The campaign was fully funded on November 4, 2017, successfully funding $111,162.63. The game is produced by NEO-C Productions LLC., (a company in association with Niosi) with Niosi serving as the director, lead designer and character animator of the game, and was published by 1C Company, released on September 9, 2021, on Steam.

Voice acting

Niosi started voice acting on Newgrounds, but would soon move up to get his first ever professional voice-over job playing the role of Khoury and others in '' Pokémon: Diamond and Pearl: Galactic Battles'' after meeting voice director Tom Wayland. Wayland was later removed from the Pokémon dub after a rape accusation.

In 2014, he began voicing several anime characters, such as Yujiro Hattori in ''Bakuman'', Taira in ''Queen's Blade Rebellion'', and Dezel in ''Tales of Zestiria''. In 2016, Niosi voiced Arataka Reigen from ''Mob Psycho 100''. In 2017, he was announced as the voice of Pegasus for the Viz Media dub of ''Sailor Moon SuperS''.

In 2016, Niosi became a series regular in Cartoon Network's '' OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes,'' which started airing on August 1, 2017; he voiced characters such as Nick Army, Neil, Pird, Ernesto. These roles eventually lead Niosi to join SAG-AFTRA during a union strike, and to be represented by Arlene Thornton & Associates. In 2018, Niosi was cast as Therion and Mattias in ''Octopath Traveler''. In 2019, he was cast as the male version of player character Byleth in '' Fire Emblem: Three Houses'' and the mobile spin-off ''Fire Emblem Heroes'', but was recast following a breach of a non-disclosure agreement by Niosi prior to the game's release.

Abuse controversies

In response to Tumblr and Twitter callout posts, on July 18, 2019, Niosi made a post on his Tumblr account confessing that he had been emotionally abusing colleagues, family and partners for over a decade. Niosi's post highlighted specific instances of abuse for which he issued public apologies. In response to one of these incidents where Niosi violated a non-disclosure agreement by leaking his role as the male version of Byleth in the ''Fire Emblem'' series, Nintendo recast him with Zach Aguilar in ''Fire Emblem Heroes'' and ''Fire Emblem: Three Houses''. Niosi's credit was removed from ''Heroes'' as of July 25, 2019, and the distribution of the character was delayed. The following day, Aguilar was also stated to have re-recorded Byleth's lines for ''Three Houses'' and would be replacing the original voiceovers in the following patch, which went live on September 11, 2019. Aguilar would continue to portray the character in the 2018 crossover fighting game, ''Super Smash Bros. Ultimate'', when Byleth was introduced as downloadable content.

Personal life

Niosi has one brother and two sisters; one of them is former actress Alison Fanelli. Niosi was also diagnosed with Asperger syndrome.

Filmography

Animation

Anime

Film dubbing

Video games

Notes

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Niosi, Chris
1988 births
Living people
American people of Italian descent
Animators from New York (state)
American male video game actors
American male voice actors
Internet-related controversies
Male actors from Los Angeles
Sexual harassment in the United States
School of Visual Arts alumni
People from Long Island
People with Asperger syndrome