Matthew Mercer

Matthew Christopher Miller was born in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. He is primarily of Scottish descent. His family moved to Los Angeles when he was eight years old.{{Citation |title=Between the Sheets: Matthew Mercer |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iN6A82H6VCI |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/iN6A82H6VCI |language=en |access-date=June 6, 2021 |archive-date=December 21, 2021 |url-status=live}}{{cbignore}} He attended Agoura High School in Agoura Hills, California.{{Cite web |title=MATTHEW MERCER - Resume | Actors Access |url=https://resumes.actorsaccess.com/matthewmercer |website=resumes.actorsaccess.com}} He has a brother who is a musician under the stage name Dave Heatwave. He spoke with a stutter when he was young, leading his father (who also stuttered) to recruit a speech therapist who managed to reduce the effects to the point that only certain words trigger it. He adopted "Mercer", which members of his family had used in the past, as his stage surname because his birth name was too similar to someone already represented by SAG-AFTRA. He had a stint as a member of The Groundlings.

File:Matthew Mercer by Gage Skidmore.jpg.]]

Mercer's family advised him against moving into theatre as a career, and so he initially considered working in animation. He was dissuaded by advice from professional animators about the working conditions in that field however, and joined the games industry instead. In his early career he worked as a QA tester and later associate producer on a number of Edutainment titles developed by Sound Source Interactive and TDK Mediactive. After "friends of his father got him some odd jobs in voiceover", Mercer decided to pursue the profession, and resigned from his game development job.{{cite book |last1=Marsham |first1=Liz |title=The World of Critical Role |collaboration=Cast of Critical Role |date=October 20, 2020 |publisher=Ten Speed Press |isbn=9780593157435 |pages=27–108}}{{cite web |url=https://x.com/matthewmercer/status/985747360591396864?lang=en | title=Matthew Mercer (@matthewmercer) on X | work=X (formerly Twitter) }}

Mercer began his voice acting career performing English walla and additional characters in several Japanese anime, and has since also worked in cartoons, video games, and radio commercials. He has been a guest at conventions around the world, hosting at events such as Anime Expo and Anime Matsuri. His work has expanded to a multitude of roles in cartoons, video games and radio commercials. He directed and produced the web series There Will Be Brawl,{{Cite web |last=Skylar Shelton |title=Info - ThereWillBeBrawl.com |url=http://therewillbebrawl.com/info.php |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303190141/http://www.therewillbebrawl.com/info.php |archive-date=March 3, 2016 |access-date=March 22, 2016 |website=therewillbebrawl.com}} based on the Super Smash Bros. video game series, where he provided the voices for both Meta Knight and Kirby, and portrayed the role of Ganondorf. He also acted in several shows from the Geek & Sundry and Nerdist networks and produced the web series Fear News with the Last Girl for FEARnet which was a 2010 Webby Awards Honoree for the Experimental & Weird category.{{Cite web |title=Fear News with the Last Girl |url=http://winners.webbyawards.com/2010/video/general-video/experimental-weird/141926/fear-news-with-the-last-girl |access-date=October 12, 2021 |website=Webby Awards Index |language=en}}

In 2016, Mercer served as the Dungeon Master for Force Grey: Giant Hunters, which ran for 2 seasons. In 2017, he was the Dungeon Master for the Nerdist show CelebriD&D, which puts D&D-playing celebrities into a small, mini-campaign where they are paired with role-players.{{Cite web |title=CelebriD&D |url=http://nerdist.com/videos/celebridd/ |access-date=October 7, 2017 |website=Nerdist |language=en}} He has also been a player in other actual play web series such as Dimension 20 and L.A. by Night.

File:Matthew_Mercer_at_Wembley.jpg.]]

Mercer is the Dungeon Master of the web series Critical Role,{{Cite news |last=Spangler |first=Todd |date=March 8, 2019 |title=Critical Role Team, After Record-Breaking Fan Crowdfunding Response, Vows to Make 'The Best Goddamn Cartoon Anyone Has Ever Seen' |language=en |work=Variety |url=https://variety.com/2019/digital/news/critical-role-record-breaking-kickstarter-vox-machina-1203158561/ |access-date=May 11, 2019}} which launched on Geek & Sundry in 2015, where he leads several other voice actors through a Dungeons & Dragons campaign.{{Cite web |last=Barton |first=Steve |date=June 15, 2012 |title=Get Your Fear News With The Last Girl |url=http://www.dreadcentral.com/news/34637/get-your-fear-news-with-the-last-girl |access-date=March 22, 2016 |website=Dread Central}}{{Cite web |last=Duncan |first=Emily A. |date=March 9, 2021 |title=An Introduction to Critical Role: Prepare Your Emotions |url=https://www.tor.com/2021/03/09/an-introduction-to-critical-role-podcast/ |access-date=June 11, 2021 |website=Tor.com |language=en-US}} 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;{{Cite web |title=Critical Role |url=https://www.webbyawards.com/winners/2019/video/video-series-channels/games/critical-role/ |access-date=April 23, 2019 |publisher=The Webby Awards}} the show was also both a Finalist and the Audience Honor Winner in the "Games" category at the 2019 Shorty Awards.{{Cite web |title=Critical Role - The Shorty Awards |url=http://shortyawards.com/11th/critical-role |access-date=May 6, 2019 |website=ShortyAwards.com}} 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;{{Cite web |date=September 12, 2020 |title=Why Critical Role's D&D Streams Are So Popular |url=https://screenrant.com/critical-role-dungeons-dragons-campaign-dnd-matt-mercer/ |access-date=June 11, 2021 |website=Screen Rant |language=en-US}}{{Cite news |last=Hoffer |first=Christian |date=June 18, 2018 |title=Critical Role Teases New Content With Opening of New Studio, Twitch and Youtube Channel |work=ComicBook.com |url=http://comicbook.com/gaming/2018/06/18/critical-role-new-studio-content/ |accessdate=August 14, 2018}}{{Cite web |last=Phillips |first=Jevon |date=November 6, 2019 |title=They started out playing Dungeons & Dragons. Now they're coming to Amazon Prime |url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2019-11-06/amazon-prime-critical-role-vox-machina |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191119050025/https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2019-11-06/amazon-prime-critical-role-vox-machina |archive-date=November 19, 2019 |access-date=June 27, 2020 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Whitten |first=Sarah |date=March 14, 2020 |title=How Critical Role helped spark a Dungeons & Dragons renaissance |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/14/critical-role-helped-spark-a-dungeons-dragons-renaissance.html |access-date=June 30, 2020 |website=CNBC |language=en}} Mercer is the company's chief creative officer. 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.{{Cite web |last=Whitten |first=Sarah |date=April 19, 2019 |title='Dungeons and Dragons' Kickstarter breaks record with $11.3 million campaign |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/19/critical-role-vox-machina-kickstarter-ends-with-11-million-in-funding.html |access-date=June 11, 2021 |website=CNBC |language=en}} 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;{{Cite web |last=Spangler |first=Todd |date=November 5, 2019 |title=Amazon Orders Two Seasons of Critical Role's Animated D&D Series |url=https://variety.com/2019/digital/news/critical-role-amazon-prime-video-legend-of-vox-machina-1203388522/ |website=Variety |accessdate=November 5, 2019}}{{Cite web |last=Burton |first=Bonnie |date=March 7, 2019 |title=New Dungeons & Dragons animated series breaks Kickstarter record |url=https://www.cnet.com/news/new-critical-role-dungeons-and-dragons-animated-series-breaks-kickstarter-record/ |access-date=June 11, 2021 |website=CNET |language=en}} Mercer reprised his role as Sylas Briarwood and other characters.

Luke Winkie, in a human-interest story for Slate, called Mercer "an expert improviser" and "a maestro with the dice in his hands, weaving interlocking plot lines and complex thematic threads out of thin air" with "the innate ability to make a Dungeons & Dragons campaign feel like a tightly wound limited drama".{{Cite news |last=Winkie |first=Luke |date=2023-08-13 |title=The Game Master |language=en-US |work=Slate |url=https://slate.com/human-interest/2023/08/dungeons-dragons-critical-role-matthew-mercer-twitch.html |access-date=2023-08-13 |issn=1091-2339}} Winkie commented that "it can be downright intimidating to watch Mercer when he's at the peak of his powers. As a career voice actor, he possesses all of the subtle performance intangibles that saturate his storytelling with life: the timing, the verve, the language flourishes". Academics Zac Boyd and Míša Hejná, in the journal Language in Society, highlighted that Mercer "introduced 1,144 unique NPC characters during" the second campaign of Critical Role.{{Cite journal |last=Boyd |first=Zac |last2=Hejná |first2=Míša |date=2025-05-08 |title=The ‘Critical Role’ of voice quality in Dungeons and Dragons: A case study of non-player characters voiced by Matthew Mercer |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0047404525000053/type/journal_article |journal=Language in Society |language=en |pages=1–26 |doi=10.1017/S0047404525000053 |issn=0047-4045|url-access=subscription }} They analyzed nineteen characters based on exceeding a threshold of minimum voice time and plot relevance and determined through "holistic analysis of voice quality" of these characters that "breathiness" in Mercer's voice "emerged as signalling positive morality and stances of safety, comfort, and trust, where whisperiness signals negative morality and stances of threat. Qualitatively, pitch dynamism was also found to correlate with morality and stancetaking: the more limited the pitch dynamism, the more likely it is that the character portrayed is an Enemy and that they adopt stances of threat".

In October 2020, Mercer became the creative advisor for the Critical Role board and card game imprint called Darrington Press.{{Cite web |last=Dornbush |first=Jonathon |date=October 27, 2020 |title=Critical Role Announces New Board Game Publishing Label, Darrington Press; 4 Games Planned for 2021 |url=https://www.ign.com/articles/critical-role-announces-new-board-game-publishing-label-darrington-press-4-games-planned-for-2021 |access-date=October 27, 2020 |website=IGN}} From June to August 2021, Mercer appeared on Exandria Unlimited, a spinoff of Critical Role, as a player.{{Cite web |date=June 10, 2021 |title=Critical Role Stars Lift the Lid on Their New Show, Exandria Unlimited |url=https://gizmodo.com/critical-role-veterans-and-newcomers-lift-the-lid-on-th-1847065584 |access-date=June 10, 2021 |website=Gizmodo |language=en-us}}{{Cite web |last=King |first=Chris |date=June 10, 2021 |title=Critical Role's next campaign launches this month with a new Dungeon Master |url=https://www.polygon.com/22524297/critical-role-next-campaign-new-dm-matt-mercer-aabria-iyengar |access-date=June 10, 2021 |website=Polygon |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=June 10, 2021 |title=Critical Role's next show is Exandria Unlimited |url=https://venturebeat.com/2021/06/10/critical-roles-next-show-is-exandria-unlimited/ |access-date=June 10, 2021 |website=VentureBeat |language=en-US}} In March 2022, he reprised his role in the two part special Exandria Unlimited: Kymal.{{Cite web |last=Sheehan |first=Gavin |date=March 14, 2022 |title=Critical Role Announces Two New Shows In Latest Video |url=https://bleedingcool.com/games/critical-role-announces-two-new-shows-in-latest-video/ |access-date=March 14, 2022 |website=Bleeding Cool News And Rumors |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Radulovic |first=Petrana |date=March 14, 2022 |title=Critical Role announces two new series to celebrate its 7th anniversary |url=https://www.polygon.com/22977603/critical-role-new-series-7-year-anniversary |access-date=March 14, 2022 |website=Polygon |language=en-US}} In 2025, he was the game master for the Age of Umbra limited series.{{Cite news |last=Villagracia |first=Michelle |date=May 29, 2025 |title=Tabletop role-playing games can be intimidating. Here's one anyone can jump into |url=https://www.cbc.ca/arts/critical-role-daggerheart-matthew-mercer-spenser-starke-sam-maggs-1.7547384 |access-date=May 31, 2025 |work=CBC Arts}}{{Cite web |last=Chancey |first=Tyler |date=2025-02-12 |title=New Daggerheart Miniseries Announced, Featuring the Age of Umbra Campaign Frame |url=https://techraptor.net/tabletop/news/new-daggerheart-miniseries-announced-featuring-age-of-umbra-campaign-frame |access-date=2025-05-09 |website=TechRaptor |language=en}}

Hayley McCullough, for the American Journalism, commented that "Mercer is well-known for his homebrew mechanics, character classes, and feats".{{Cite journal |last=McCullough |first=Hayley |date=2024-07-02 |title=Critical Role: https://critrole.com/ |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08821127.2024.2376467 |journal=American Journalism |language=en |volume=41 |issue=3 |pages=415–417 |doi=10.1080/08821127.2024.2376467 |issn=0882-1127|url-access=subscription }} Mercer's work as Dungeon Master has led to the development of three campaign setting books being published about his world of Exandria. The first is the Critical Role: Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting (2017) published through Green Ronin Publishing.{{Cite web |last=Haeck |first=James |date=August 8, 2016 |title=Matthew Mercer and Green Ronin Announce the Critical Role Campaign Setting! |url=http://geekandsundry.com/matthew-mercer-and-green-ronin-announce-the-critical-role-campaign-setting/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170207020056/http://geekandsundry.com/matthew-mercer-and-green-ronin-announce-the-critical-role-campaign-setting/ |archive-date=February 7, 2017 |access-date=May 20, 2017 |publisher=Geek & Sundry}} The second is the Explorer's Guide to Wildemount (2020) published through Wizards of the Coast, thus making Exandria an official Dungeons & Dragons campaign setting.{{Cite web |last=Hall |first=Charlie |date=January 13, 2020 |title=The next D&D book is a Critical Role tie-in |url=https://www.polygon.com/2020/1/13/21063626/critical-role-dungeons-and-dragons-book-pre-order-release-date-price |access-date=January 16, 2020 |website=Polygon |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Plante |first=Corey |date=January 13, 2020 |title='Critical Role' becomes 'D&D' canon with 'Explorer's Guide to Wildemount' |url=https://www.inverse.com/article/62252-d-d-explorer-s-guide-to-wildemount-critical-role-sourcebook-dunamancy |access-date=January 16, 2020 |website=Inverse |language=en}} The third is Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn (2022), a revised and expanded edition of the Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting, which was published by Darrington Press, the publishing label created by Critical Role Productions.{{Cite web |last=King |first=Chris |date=January 21, 2022 |title=The new Critical Role campaign book is one part D&D setting, two parts history lesson |url=https://www.polygon.com/reviews/22894838/critical-role-tal-dorai-reborn-campaign-setting-book-review |access-date=January 21, 2022 |website=Polygon |language=en-US}} Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn was nominated for the 2022 ENNIE Awards in the "Best Setting" category.{{Cite web |title=2022 Nominations – ENNIE Awards |url=https://ennie-awards.com/2022-nominations/ |access-date=July 8, 2022 |language=en-US}}

On March 15, 2022, a new adventure module titled Critical Role: Call of the Netherdeep (2022), with Mercer, James Haeck and Chris Perkins as lead designers, was released. It is the second collaboration book between Wizards of the Coast and Critical Role Productions.{{Cite web |last=Spangler |first=Todd |date=October 12, 2021 |title=Critical Role Official D&D Book 'Call of the Netherdeep' Due Out in Early 2022 |url=https://variety.com/2021/digital/news/critical-role-call-of-the-netherdeep-release-date-1235086512/ |access-date=October 12, 2021 |website=Variety |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |date=March 15, 2022 |title=Call Of The Netherdeep Is A Suspense Thriller Full Of Critical Role Spoilers |url=https://www.kotaku.com.au/2022/03/call-of-the-netherdeep-critical-role-spoilers/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220316034031/https://www.kotaku.com.au/2022/03/call-of-the-netherdeep-critical-role-spoilers/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 16, 2022 |access-date=March 16, 2022 |website=Kotaku Australia |language=en-AU}} Mercer was then a consultant on the Dungeon Master's Guide (2024) for the revised 5th Edition of Dungeons & Dragons.{{Cite web |last=Tyrrell |first=Caitlin |date=August 3, 2024 |title=Chris Perkins Reveals That Matt Mercer Consulted On The New 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide |url=https://screenrant.com/dungeons-dragons-2024-dungeon-masters-guide-chris-perkins-interview/ |access-date=August 4, 2024 |website=Screen Rant |language=en}} Mercer was a designer on Daggerheart (2025), a tabletop role-playing game system by Darrington Press, and created the "Age of Umbra" campaign frame for the system.{{Cite web |last=Miller |first=Matt |date=May 15, 2025 |title=Exclusive – Diving Deep Into Critical Role’s Daggerheart |url=https://www.gameinformer.com/tabletop/2025/05/15/exclusive-diving-deep-into-critical-roles-daggerheart |access-date=May 31, 2025 |website=Game Informer |language=en}}

Mercer began dating voice actress and Critical Role co-star Marisha Ray in 2011, and they were engaged in 2016 before marrying on October 21, 2017.{{Cite tweet |number=922006496723865600 |user=marisha_ray |title=It is done! |date=October 22, 2017}} The video of his proposal became popular among fans as it involved an entire escape room game he secretly created with the Critical Role cast as a surprise for Ray.{{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdVn0xvnBf8 | title=Marisha and Matthew Engagement Video Highlights | website=YouTube | date=October 21, 2020 }} They live in Topanga, CA and have a pet corgi named Omar.{{Cite web |last=Ray |first=Marisha |author-link=Marisha Ray |title=World, meet Omar. Omar > World. @matthewmercervo and I have been looking for you for so long. {{!}} Instagram |url=https://www.instagram.com/p/CBbUxTonIiu |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231217161100/https://www.instagram.com/p/CBbUxTonIiu/ |archive-date=December 17, 2023 |via=Instagram |access-date=September 5, 2021 |url-status=bot: unknown }}

Mercer said in 2017 that, while he is heterosexual, he has also been attracted to men in the past and experienced homophobia while growing up as a boy who liked to experiment with an androgynous appearance.{{Citation |title=Fireside Q&A with Matthew Mercer {{!}} Talks Machina | date=April 28, 2017 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCBfJBf-t2Y |access-date=2023-07-13 |language=en}} He explained that he tries his best in storytelling to also represent the experiences of close LGBT family and friends. As an activist, he works with various LGBT rights charities like OutRight Action International.{{Cite web |date=November 7, 2019 |title=An Interview With Matthew Mercer Of Chief Creative Officer At Critical Role |url=https://outrightinternational.org/content/interview-matthew-mercer-chief-creative-officer-critical-role |website=OutRight Action International |access-date=September 22, 2021 |archive-date=June 5, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220605230310/https://outrightinternational.org/content/interview-matthew-mercer-chief-creative-officer-critical-role |url-status=dead }} In 2018, he revealed that he suffers from body dysmorphic disorder and has always struggled with his physical appearance.

{{Pending series key}}

• Critical Role: Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting (writer and designer, Green Ronin Publishing, 2017)
• Explorer's Guide to Wildemount (lead writer, Wizards of the Coast, 2020)
• Doom Eternal Assault on Armaros Station (writer, Critical Role Productions, 2020){{Cite web |title=DOOM Eternal: Assault on Armaros Station |url=https://shop.critrole.com/products/doom-eternal-assault-on-armaros-station |access-date=December 19, 2020 |website=Critical Role |language=en |archive-date=May 23, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220523190636/https://shop.critrole.com/products/doom-eternal-assault-on-armaros-station |url-status=dead }}
• Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn (lead designer, Darrington Press, 2022){{Cite web |date=December 15, 2021 |title=Critical Role's Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn Release Date Revealed |url=https://comicbook.com/gaming/news/critical-role-taldorei-reborn-release-date-revealed/ |access-date=December 16, 2021 |website=ComicBook.com |language=en}}
• Critical Role: Call of the Netherdeep (project lead, Wizards of the Coast, 2022)
• Daggerheart (designer, Darrington Press, 2025){{Cite web |title=Daggerheart Tabletop RPG FAQs |url=https://www.daggerheart.com/faq/ |access-date=2025-05-28 |website=Daggerheart |language=en-US |quote=Who is in the Daggerheart Core Set credits? [...] ADDITIONAL GAME DESIGNERS: Carlos Cisco, Rowan Hall, John Harper, Matthew Mercer, Alex Uboldi, Mike Underwood}}

{{Notelist}}

{{Reflist|refs=

{{Cite web |title=Matthew Mercer (visual voices guide) |url=http://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/Matthew-Mercer/ |access-date=June 20, 2017 |publisher=Behind The Voice Actors |at=A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.}}

}}

{{Commons category}}

{{Portal|Biography}}

• {{Twitter}}
• {{AnimeCons name|1880}}
• {{anime News Network|people|62521}}
• {{IMDb name|id=2233310}}

{{Authority control}}

{{Critical Role}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mercer, Matthew}}

Category:Living people

Category:20th-century American male actors

Category:21st-century American male actors

Category:Actual play performers

Category:Agoura High School alumni

Category:American LGBTQ rights activists

Category:American male video game actors

Category:American male voice actors

Category:American male web series actors

Category:American people of Scottish descent

Category:CollegeHumor people

Category:Male actors from Los Angeles

Category:People from Palm Beach Gardens, Florida

Category:Web series producers

Category:Year of birth missing (living people)