Marisha Ray Huber is an American voice actress, host, producer, and creative director. She is best known for her roles as herself and her characters Keyleth, Beauregard, and Laudna on the Dungeons & Dragons web series Critical Role. In video games, she most notably voiced Margaret in Persona 4 Arena Ultimax and Persona Q, Laura S. Arseid in The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel series, and Miranda in Metal Gear: Survive.[1]

Marisha Ray
Ray at WonderCon in April 2017
Born
Marisha Ray Huber

May 10, 1989
Occupation(s)Voice actress, host, producer, creative director
Years active2005–present
Spouse
(m. 2017)

Early life edit

Marisha Ray Huber[Note 1] was born in Mount Washington, Kentucky,[3] the daughter of a mother who works as a dog groomer and a father who sells truck tires. She hails from an extended family of Louisville farmers, having helped her grandfather with chores around his tobacco farm as she was growing up from when she was around six years old.[Note 2] At the age of 12, she began acting at the Actors Theater of Louisville.[4] In 2008, at the age of 19, she moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in entertainment.[5] Her parents supported the decision and drove her there.[Note 3] She arrived around the time of the Writers Guild strike and so, having difficulty in finding auditions, she began canvassing for the 2008 presidential election to support herself financially.[Note 4] As the election came to a close, she took up street performing on Hollywood Boulevard by tap-dancing for a short time, before eventually moving on to full-time busking by dressing up as Tinkerbell for three years.[Note 5]

Career edit

Web series edit

Ray produced a Batgirl fan series in 2012 called Batgirl: Spoiled, in which she played the titular character.[6][7][8] In 2015, she began co-starring in the web series Critical Role, on which she joins fellow voice actors in playing Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition. Her character for the first campaign was Keyleth, a half-elf druid.[9][10] Her character for the second campaign was Beauregard, a human monk.[11] In the third campaign, she plays as the multiclassed warlock/sorcerer Laudna.[12][13]

She was involved in many of Geek & Sundry's other productions, including co-hosting Key Questions,[14][15] acting in Sagas of Sundry,[16] and producing Signal Boost![17] She announced her appointment to the post of creative director for Geek & Sundry on July 28, 2017;[18] however, she stepped down from the position in June 2018.[19][20]

Critical Role Productions edit

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;[21][22][23][24] Ray became the creative director for the company.[19][20] In February 2019, Critical Role began to air on its own channel and was no longer broadcast by Geek & Sundry.[25] Soon after, Critical Role Productions aimed to raise $750,000 on Kickstarter to create an animated series of their first campaign, but ended up raising over $11 million.[26] 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;[27] Ray reprised her role as Keyleth.[28] Ahead of the series premiere in January 2022, Amazon renewed the series for a second season[29] which premiered in January 2023.[30] On October 6, 2022, Amazon renewed the series for a third season.[31][32] Madison Durham, for Polygon in February 2022, commented that "Ray has been instrumental in making Critical Role into the sprawling multimedia company that it is today, contributing as the creative lead for shows like All Work No Play, Exandria Unlimited, and more. In interviews and media appearances, the persona she presents behind the scenes is distinctly different from Keyleth's brand of awkward deference. Ray appears to command the room, regularly making difficult decisions that impact the entire organization".[33]

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;[34] the show was also both a Finalist and the Audience Honor Winner at the 2019 Shorty Awards.[35]

A Familiar Problem, a one-page RPG co-written by Ray and Grant Howitt, was released in June 2022; it was published by the Critical Role Productions imprint Darrington Press.[36] Also in June 2022, Critical Role Productions launched a new record label, Scanlan Shorthalt Music, to release original music inspired by Critical Role and the Exandria setting. Along with the label announcement, they released their first album titled Welcome to Tal'Dorei. The new project is led by Ray and Senior Producer Maxwell James.[37][38][39] In November 2022, the label released a second album titled Welcome to Wildemount.[40]

Personal life edit

Ray married fellow voice actor and Critical Role co-star Matthew Mercer on October 21, 2017.[41][42][43]

In January 2023, Ray was announced as part of the Creator Clash 2 charity boxing card, scheduled for April 15, 2023.[44][45]

Boxing record edit

1 fight 0 wins 1 loss
By decision 0 1
No. Result Record Opponent Type Round, time Date Location Notes
1 Loss 0–1 Haley Sharpe UD 5 April 15, 2023 Amalie Arena, Tampa, Florida, U.S.

Filmography edit

Voice-over filmography edit

List of voice-over performances
Year Title Role(s) Notes Source
2014 Persona 4 Arena Ultimax Margaret [46][6][47]
Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth [46][6][48]
2015 Lego Dimensions Amy Allen
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain Diamond Dog Soldier [46][6]
Persona 4: Dancing All Night Margaret [46][6]
Star Wars: Battlefront Stormtrooper Female [6][49]
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel Laura S. Arseid [46][47]
2016 The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II [46][47]
Fire Emblem Fates Mikoto, Effie, Oboro [46]
Lego Marvel's Avengers S.H.I.E.L.D. Scientist [49]
2017 Fire Emblem Heroes Shanna, Oboro, Effie [46]
Fire Emblem Warriors Oboro [50]
Friday the 13th: The Game AJ Mason [46][49]
Final Fantasy XV: Comrades Jeanne Labreigh [51]
2018 Metal Gear Survive Player, Miranda [49]
Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire Keyleth, Maia Rua Critical Role DLC [50]
2019 The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III Laura S. Arseid [47]
Far Cry New Dawn Voice Talents [49][51][52]
2020 Fallout 76: Wastelanders Eugenie [53]
2022 The Legend of Vox Machina Keyleth [54][55]

Live-action filmography edit

List of live-action performances
Year Title Role(s) Notes Source
2010–11 1000 Ways to Die Tina the Video Gamer, Trudie the Karaoke Girl Television series

Episodes: "Stupid Is As Death Does" and "Death On A Stick"

[56]
2012 Batgirl: Spoiled Stephanie Brown Fan-made web series [6][7][8]
2012–16 Super Power Beat Down Herself Web series [57]
2013 School of Thrones Melisandre Parody web series [6][58][59]
Walk of Shame Anne Television series [56]
Chastity Bites Flashback Virgin 5 Film [60]
2015–present Critical Role
RPG Web series [6][61]
2016–21 Talks Machina Herself Web talk show [62][63]
2017 Sagas of Sundry: Madness Abigail Persimmon RPG Web series [16]
2018 Key Question Herself; co-host Web series [15]
2018–21 L.A. by Night Ellenore RPG Web series

Episodes: "Find My Home" and "Live on the Moon"

[64][65]
2019 Pub Draw Herself Web series [66][67]
2019 UnDeadwood Arabella Whitlock Web limited series [68][69]
2020 Dimension 20: Pirates of Leviathan Sunny Biscotto RPG Web anthology series [70]
2022–present 4-Sided Dive Herself Web talk show [71][72]
2022 Exandria Unlimited: Calamity Patia Por'Co RPG Web anthology series [73][74]
2023 Candela Obscura Beatrix Monroe Actual play web series using the Illuminated Worlds system; 3 episodes [75]

Notes edit

  1. ^ "Ray discussing her legal name in 2021".[2]
  2. ^ "Ray on her family history".[2]
  3. ^ "Ray on her parents".[2]
  4. ^ "Ray on first moving to Los Angeles".[2]
  5. ^ "Ray on being a street performer".[2]

References edit

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External links edit