Matthew Mercer | Biography 2021

• By Chetana
• Update : April 21, 2021

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Matthew Mercer is an American voice actor and the Dungeon Master of the web series Critical Role.

Who is Matthew Mercer?

Matthew Mercer is a voice actor, producer, and professional Dungeon Master. His notable performances include Dragon Ball Super, One Piece, Sailor Moon, DC Super Friends, Wabbit, Justice Society: World War II, Avengers Assemble, Marvel's Spider-Man, etc.

Mercer did theater acting from his high school and even after that. He did voiceovers for the Japanese anime characters in school. Mercer is a part of hundreds of anime, animations, and video games. He also organizes and hosts video/game/anime conventions. Mercer has dubbed in famous movies such as Resident Evil 6, Promare, Iron Man: Rise of Technovore, One Piece: Stampede, Justice League: War, and K: Missing Kings. He is the recipient of several Behind the Voice Actor Awards (BTVA).

As a Dungeons & Dragons fanatic, he started campaigning the same as a Dungeon Master since his high school anime/game club. He is well known for his performance in Critical Role: Dungeons and Dragons as a Dungeon Master. Mercer created a distinct imaginative land called Exandria. It has become an official Dungeons and Dragons campaign setting after publishing two campaign books - 'Critical Role: Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting' and 'Explorer's Guide to Wildemount.'

Early Life

Matthew Mercer, originally Matthew Christopher Miller, was born on 29 June 1982 in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. He attended high school at Agoura High School. He used to participate in school plays like 'The Crucible' and 'South Pacific.' After graduation, he joined the Educational Theatre Association and performed at the California Thespian Convention in 1999 and 2000.

Mercer was also trained from the AIA Prime Time workshop and Bobby Chance Acting Studio. He practiced improv from the L.A. Connection Dramatic and Comedic Improv.

Career

Mercer began his path in voiceover from his high school days. He did English Walla and Japanese anime characters. His notable anime voiceover includes Dragon Ball Super, Kill la Kill, One Piece, Sailor Moon, Attack on the Titan: Junior High, Hunter x Hunter, Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, Ultraman, and JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.  

Mercer also contributed to more than 70 video games like Batman: Arkham Knight, Arkham Origins and The Enemy Within, Fire Emblem: Fates, Heroes, Awakening, Persona 4 and 5, and XenoBlade Chronicles X.  

Further, Mercer's animation performances were, Beware the Batman, DC Super Friends, Wabbit, Regular Show, Justice Society: World War II, Avengers Assemble, Marvel's Spider-Man, Zak Storm, and Blood of Zeus.

Mercer was a D.C. Comics fan while growing up. His career milestone was to perform on the animated versions of D.C. Universe. His role was Hourman in Justice Society: World War II. While talking about being a part of the animated universe, Mercer said, "I am always proud to be a part of the D.C. Animated Universe. I grew up with it. It's always carried this legacy of high-quality storytelling and animation so even to be a part of it was a huge honor but also, to your point earlier, to establish a character that really hasn't been brought to the forefront before in a lot of media. I'm excited for people to get to learn about and get to know Hourman and hopefully give them a reason to be invested in his story amongst all these more recognizable and established characters."

Mercer had also dubbed in movies like Resident Evil 6, Resident Evil Damnation, Promare, Iron Man: Rise of Technovore, One Piece: Stampede, Justice League: War, Tiger, and Bunny: The Rising, Batman Unlimited: Animal Instincts, Batman: Bad Blood and K: Missing Kings.

Mercer had also appeared in radio commercials and had been a guest at conventions all around the world. He had organized many video game conventions in Las Vegas and hosted events such as Anime Expo and Anime Matsuri.

Mercer also indulged in producing. He had produced the web series There Will be Brawl based on the Japanese video game series Super Smash Bros and Fear News with the Last Girl.    

Dungeon Master

Mercer was a video game junkie from high school. One of his friends invited him to an anime/video gaming club where they played Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition. It was a role-playing game, where scenes from a book were set and narrated by the Dungeon Master, and the players could choose their actions. On his first game, Mercer was a Wizard with a militant kit. He got addicted to it and started campaigning his own game within four months.

In 2015, Mercer started a web series Critical Role: D&D as a Dungeon Master in association with Geek & Sundry and later with Geek & Sundry Twitch Channel and YouTube Channel.

As a Dungeon Master, Mercer led a group of other voice actors like Laura Bailey, Ashley Johnson, Travis Willingham, Marisha Ray, Sam Riegel, Taliesin Jaffee, and Liam O'Brien to an adventure full of imaginations of D&D. The web series attracted more than 100,000 live views and 100 million views each week.

Two campaign books have been developed from Mercer's work in Critical Role - the first book 'Critical Role: Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting,' published under Green Ronin Publishing, and the second book 'Explorer's Guide to Wildemount' published under Wizards of the Coast.

Mercer had mentioned that the second book was an improvised version of the first book with the inclusion of the parts that were missing in the 'Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting.' In an interview with Forbes, he said, "Ever since I finished [the Tal'Dorei guide], my world-building and note-taking had taken more of a formal approach. So, thankfully when this [the Wildemount guide] came around, I had more thorough notes and ideas that didn't completely need an overhaul. Of course, I only developed enough to touch on the campaign that I was running…'

Both books were set in an imaginative world created by Mercer, named Exandria. After the release of the books, Exandria became an official Dungeons and Dragons campaign setting.

In 2016, Mercer was the Dungeon Master of another web series, 'Master for Force Grey: Giant Hunters,' for two seasons. He was also the Dungeon Master at the Nerdist Show 'CelebriD&D.' Celebrities were the show players, and they played in small mini-campaigns with paired role-players.

Nominations and Awards

Mercer had bagged several awards in voice acting since his dawn in the arena. In 2011, he was nominated under 'Breakthrough Voice Actor of the Year' in the 2011 BTVA Voice Acting Awards.

He won the 'Best Male Supporting Vocal Performance' in the Anime Dub Movie/Special category in the BTVA Voice Acting Awards 2012 for his role in Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos. Mercer also won the 'Best Male Lead Vocal Performance' in Television Series - Action/Drama category in the BTVA Voice Acting Awards 2012 for his role in 'ThunderCats (2011).

The following year, he was nominated under 'Voice Actor Of The Year' in the BTVA Anime Dub Awards 2013 but won the 'Best Male Lead Vocal Performance' in the anime television series - Original Video Animation (OVA) category for his role in Fate/Zero. He also won the 'Best Male Vocal Performance' in a Video Game for his performance in Tales of Xillia at the BTVA Voice Acting Awards 2013. 

Further in 2014, he won the 2014 BTVA Anime Dub Awards in two categories - 'Voice Actor of the Year' and 'Best Male Vocal Performance in a Video Game in a Supporting Role,' for his performance. He won the awards for the same category in 2016 too.

In 2017, Mercer won the 'Best Male Lead Vocal Performance' in an Anime Movie/Special category for K: Missing Kings in the BTVA Anime Dub Awards.

Personal Life

Mercer got married to Marisha Ray, a voice actress, and a producer.  

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