Mark Justin Roiland (born February 21, 1980) is an American voice actor, animator, writer, producer, and director. He is best known as the co-creator of

Adult Swim Adult Swim (AS; stylized as dult swim'' and often abbreviated as s'') is an American adult-oriented night-time cable television channel that shares channel space with the basic cable network Cartoon Network and is programmed by its in-house ...

's ''

Rick and Morty , creator = Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon , developer = , voices = {{plainlist, * Justin Roiland * Chris Parnell * Spencer Grammer * Sarah Chalke * Kari Wahlgren , composer = Ryan Elder , count ...

'' and its subsequent franchise. He voices the show's titular characters

Rick Sanchez Rick Sanchez is one of the two eponymous characters from the Adult Swim animated television series ''Rick and Morty'' and resulting franchise. Created by Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon and voiced by the former, Sanchez is a misanthropic alco ...

and

Morty Smith Mortimer Chauncey "Morty" Smith, Sr. is one of the eponymous characters from the American animated television series ''Rick and Morty''. Created by Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon, and voiced by the former, Morty is a 14-year-old boy loosely in ...

. Roiland is the co-creator of

Hulu Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television series ...

's '' Solar Opposites'', in which he voices the main character, Korvo. He has also played Earl of Lemongrab on ''

Adventure Time ''Adventure Time'' is an American fantasy animated television series created by Pendleton Ward for Cartoon Network and distributed by Warner Bros. Domestic Television. The series follows the adventures of a boy named Finn (Jeremy Shada) and ...

,'' Blendin Blandin on '' Gravity Falls'', and Oscar on '' Fish Hooks''. He founded the animation studio

Justin Roiland's Solo Vanity Card Productions! Justin Roiland's Solo Vanity Card Productions! is an animation studio founded by animator and voice actor Justin Roiland. The studio is best known for producing ''Rick and Morty'' for Adult Swim, and ''Solar Opposites'' for Hulu. Productions *'' ...

and the video game studio

Squanch Games Squanch Games (formerly known as Squanchtendo) is an American video game development studio based in Burbank, California. The company was founded by Justin Roiland in August 2016. The studio is most known for developing ''Accounting'' (2016), '' ...

Early life

Roiland was born and raised in

Stockton, California Stockton is a city in and the county seat of San Joaquin County in the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. Stockton was founded by Carlos Maria Weber in 1849 after he acquired Rancho Campo de los Franceses. The city is named after R ...

. He attended Sierra High School up until the first quarter of his senior year and then transferred to Manteca High School for the remainder of his senior year, graduating in 1998. After high school he attended Modesto Junior College in

Modesto Modesto () is the county seat and largest city of Stanislaus County, California, United States. With a population of 218,464 at the 2020 census, it is the 19th largest city in the state of California and forms part of the Sacramento-Stockton ...

, California. Roiland is

dyslexic Dyslexia, also known until the 1960s as word blindness, is a disorder characterized by reading below the expected level for one's age. Different people are affected to different degrees. Problems may include difficulties in spelling words, r ...

Career

He got involved with

Channel101 Channel 101 is a non-profit monthly short film festival in Los Angeles, which has a sister festival in New York City, Channel 101 NY. Channel 101 is a creation of Dan Harmon and Rob Schrab in which participants submit a short film in the format ...

, an L.A. media collective started by

Dan Harmon Daniel James Harmon (born January 3, 1973) is an American writer, producer, and actor. He is best known as the creator and producer of the NBC/Yahoo! Screen sitcom ''Community'' (2009–2015), creator and host of the comedy podcast '' Harmontow ...

and Rob Schrab, where he made and acted in numerous movie shorts (such as ''2 Girls One Cup: The Show'', '' House of Cosbys'' and a small role as musician

Christopher Cross Christopher Cross (born Christopher Charles Geppert; May 3, 1951) is an American singer-songwriter from San Antonio, Texas. He won five Grammy Awards for his eponymous debut album released in 1979. The singles "Sailing" (1980), and "Arthur's T ...

in the series '' Yacht Rock'') and in the VH1 television show '' Acceptable TV''. He appeared regularly on '' The Sarah Silverman Program'' on Comedy Central as "Blonde Craig". From 2010 to 2016, he co-hosted The Grandma's Virginity Podcast with future ''Rick and Morty'' writer, Ryan Ridley, and future '' Steven Universe'' producer, Jackie Buscarino. In 2012,

approached Harmon to produce a new animated series for their network. Harmon approached Roiland and together, they created ''

'' which debuted in 2013 to widespread acclaim. The show quickly grew a fan community as audiences praised the show for its unique story telling and incorporation of

science-fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

elements. Roiland voices

and his grandson

. In addition to the voice work, Roiland serves as a co-writer and executive producer alongside

. By the end of season 1, ''Rick and Morty'' became one of the most successful shows Adult Swim ever produced. Justin Roiland, XOXO 2015 (cropped)

The success of Rick and Morty spearheaded an entire franchise around it. Various Rick and Morty themed merchandise have been produced and sold. In addition to the show, Rick and Morty maintains an app called "Pocket Mortys". On August 25, 2016, Roiland launched

virtual reality Virtual reality (VR) is a simulated experience that employs pose tracking and 3D near-eye displays to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video games), edu ...

studio

Squanchtendo Squanch Games (formerly known as Squanchtendo) is an American video game development studio based in Burbank, California. The company was founded by Justin Roiland in August 2016. The studio is most known for developing ''Accounting'' (2016), ''T ...

, a portmanteau of the company Nintendo and ''Rick and Morty'' character

Squanchy ''Rick and Morty'' is an American adult animated multimedia franchise originating with the Adult Swim television series of the same name created by Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon, which premiered in 2013, which revolves around Rick Sanchez, an e ...

. It was later renamed to

. Its first full-length title, ''Accounting+'', made in collaboration with William Pugh's studio, was released for

PSVR The PlayStation VR (PS VR, known by its code name Project Morpheus during development) is a virtual reality headset developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, which was released in October 2016. It is fully functional with the PlayStation 4 a ...

on December 19, 2017.

Artist

In January 2021, Roiland offered over a dozen artworks in his first NFT art collection, titled "The Best I Could Do". His highest-selling piece was by his Simpsons homage ''The Smintons'', sold at $290,100. The collection sold for a total of $1.65 million. Roiland also sold his first painting, titled ''mypeoplefriend'', via auction by

Sotheby's Sotheby's () is a British-founded American multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, an ...

in July 2021. On Halloween 2022, Roiland released a generative NFT project named "Art Gobblers" with Paradigm Ventures.

Filmography

Film

Television

Web

Video games

In August 2016, Roiland set up a video game studio, Squanchtendo, which was later renamed to

in December 2017.

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * *
The Grandma's Virginity Podcast

Cartoons, Comics, and stuff by Justin Roiland
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roiland, Justin 1980 births Living people 21st-century American comedians Animators from California American male voice actors American male television actors American satirists American surrealist artists American cartoonists American animated film directors American animated film producers American television directors American television writers Comedians from California Journalists from California Male actors from California American male television writers People from Manteca, California People from Stockton, California People with dyslexia Primetime Emmy Award winners Annie Award winners Screenwriters from California Television show creators Showrunners Television producers from California 21st-century American screenwriters 21st-century American male writers American people of Norwegian descent