Liam Christopher O'Brien (born May 28, 1976) is an American voice actor, writer, and director. He is a regular cast member of the ''
Dungeons & Dragons'' actual play series ''
Critical Role,'' playing Vax'ildan ("Vax"), Caleb Widogast, and Orym. He has been involved in many video games, cartoons, and English-language adaptations of Japanese anime. 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'', Akihiko Sanada in ''
Persona 3'', and Nephrite in the
Viz Media dub of ''
Sailor Moon''.
In cartoons, O'Brien has voiced characters 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.
''Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H.'' is an American animated television series based on the superhero character by Marvel Comics. The series premiered on August 11, 2013, on Disney XD as part of the ''Marvel Universe'' block, and ended on June 2 ...
''. In video games, he voiced
Gollum in ''
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor'' and ''
its sequel'',
Caius Ballad in ''
Final Fantasy XIII-2'' and ''
Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII'', War in ''
Darksiders'', Asura in ''
Asura's Wrath'',
Ieyasu Tokugawa in ''
Sengoku Basara: Samurai Heroes'',
Illidan Stormrage in ''
World of Warcraft
''World of Warcraft'' (''WoW'') is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) released in 2004 by Blizzard Entertainment. Set in the '' Warcraft'' fantasy universe, ''World of Warcraft'' takes place within the world of Azer ...
'' and ''
Heroes of the Storm'', Yasuo in ''
League of Legends'', Grimoire Weiss in ''
NieR'' and ''
Nier Replicant ver.1.22474487139...'', the Warden in ''
For Honor'', and Barker in ''
Titanfall 2''.
He is an automated dialog replacement writer for anime and has provided voice direction for over 300 episodes of anime such as ''
Naruto''. He has also voice directed for video games such as ''
The Last of Us'', ''
Evolve'', ''
Resident Evil 5'', and ''
Resident Evil 6''.
[http://www.sacanime.com/?page_id=4445]
Early life
Liam Christopher O'Brien was born in
Weehawken, New Jersey,
on May 28, 1976. His mother, Lois Wiltse O'Brien, worked as an educator as well as a quality assurance trainer and consultant.
He has a sister named Cara.
His family were
Reformed Christians, and he was "raised by a
Christian mother and attended 15 years of Christian schooling", but would later describe himself as
agnostic. He began acting in high school at
St. Peter's Preparatory School
Saint Peter's Preparatory School ("Saint Peter's Prep" or "Prep") is a private, all-male, Jesuit, college-preparatory school located in Jersey City, in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States, within the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark. T ...
. After moving to
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
to attend the
New York University Tisch School of the Arts,
he worked in theater on various productions around the country.
He met
Crispin Freeman while working on a production of ''
Romeo & Juliet
''Romeo and Juliet'' is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about the romance between two Italian youths from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetime and, along with ''Ham ...
'' in
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line w ...
, which helped him get voice-over work back in New York.
Career
O'Brien affirms that he often plays characters that are insane or evil geniuses, although he has also voiced comedic characters such as Fukuyama in ''
Girls Bravo''. 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 War 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, he has worked as a voice director and writer on various video games and anime shows.
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;''
O'Brien reprised his role as Vax'ildan. In June 2021, O'Brien was added to the cast of ''
Exandria Unlimited'', a spinoff of ''Critical Role''.
O'Brien is also one of the narrators for the
audiobook edition of the novel ''
Critical Role: Vox Machina – Kith & Kin'' (2021).
Personal life
O'Brien married voice actress Amy Kincaid in 2002.
The couple have two children: a daughter and a son. They live in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...
.
He suffers from
hyperacusis, a hearing disorder that makes him unusually sensitive to everyday noises.
Filmography
Anime
Animation
Film
Other dubbing
Video games
Live action
References
Further reading
*
*
"Kana's Korner" Interview With Liam O'Brienon 91.8 The Fan
External links
*
*
Liam O'Brienat Crystal Acids Voice Actor Database
*
Between the Sheets: Liam O'Brien– 2018 video interview by ''
Critical Role''
{{DEFAULTSORT:OBrien, Liam
1976 births
American agnostics
American male screenwriters
American male video game actors
American male voice actors
American male web series actors
American television writers
Living people
American male television writers
People from Weehawken, New Jersey
Tisch School of the Arts alumni
American voice directors
21st-century American male actors