Sam Riegel

Samuel Brent Oscar Riegel (born October 9, 1976) is an American voice actor. He is best known for his voice roles as Donatello in the 2003 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series and Phoenix Wright in the Ace Attorney games. He has also worked for Nickelodeon as the voice director for Fresh Beat Band of Spies and Sanjay and Craig, as well as the voice of Riven in the revival of Winx Club. Since 2015, he has been a regular cast member of the web series Critical Role, in which he and other voice actors play Dungeons & Dragons. In 2022, the show's first campaign was adapted into the animated series The Legend of Vox Machina.

Sam Riegel
Born	Samuel Brent Oscar Riegel (1976-10-09) October 9, 1976 (age 48) Washington, D.C., U.S.
Other names	Sam Regal Jack Lingo Burt Reynolds, Esq. The Meat Man
Occupations	Voice actor writer
Years active	1997–present
Spouse	Quyen Tran
Children	2
Relatives	Eden Riegel (sister) Tatiana S. Riegel (half-sister) Jerome Charyn (stepfather)

Early life

Samuel Brent Oscar Riegel^[1] was born in Washington, D.C. on October 9, 1976,^[2] the son of Lenore and Kurt Riegel. His mother later married author Jerome Charyn.^[3] His father works as a radio astronomer, environmental executive, and sailor. Riegel is of Jewish descent, with his grandmother being a Holocaust survivor.^[4] He is the older brother of actress Eden Riegel and the younger half-brother of filmmaker Tatiana S. Riegel. He grew up in Northern Virginia, where he began performing in local theater at the age of six. He was cast in the touring production of Les Misérables at the age of 11, and performed in The Sound of Music three years later. He also had television roles on Guiding Light and Another World as a teenager, but opted to pursue a career onstage over screen acting as he preferred the live feedback of a theater audience. He joined the Upright Citizens Brigade shortly after graduating from college.^[5]

Career

Riegel at WonderCon 2017

Riegel has worked for TAJ Productions, 4Kids Entertainment, Bang Zoom! Entertainment, NYAV Post, and Studiopolis. In 2018, he received the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing in an Animated Program for his work on Danger & Eggs.^[6][7][8]

He is also a cast member of the popular web series Critical Role, in which he and other voice actors play Dungeons & Dragons.^[9][10][11] 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;^[12] the show was also both a Finalist and the Audience Honor Winner at the 2019 Shorty Awards.^[13] 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.^{[10][14][15][16]} 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.^[11][17] 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.^[18] Riegel reprises his role as Scanlan Shorthalt.^[19] He hosts the All Work No Play podcast and spinoff web series with his Critical Role co-star and best friend Liam O'Brien.^[20][21][22]

Personal life

Riegel lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Vietnamese-American cinematographer Quyen Tran,^[23][24] and their two children.^[25]

On September 11, 2001, Riegel and Tran witnessed the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center.^[26] They were caught in the dust cloud formed by the collapse of the South Tower, but eventually escaped to Battery Park, where they witnessed the collapse of the North Tower; Riegel captured video footage that has since been featured in several documentaries.^{[23][additional citation(s) needed]} Shortly after the events, they moved to California when Tran was accepted to UCLA.^[27]

In July 2024, Riegel revealed that he had been diagnosed with HPV-positive oropharyngeal cancer earlier in the year and was recovering after undergoing six weeks of radiation therapy and surgery to remove his tonsils alongside parts of his tongue and soft palate, leaving him with a seven-inch scar across his throat.^[28][29][30]

Filmography

Anime

List of dubbing performances in anime

Year	Title	Role	Crew role, notes	Source
2001	Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters	Tristan Taylor (Ep 1–10), Rex Raptor (Ep 2–144), Para, Arkana	1st voice of Tristan and Rex	[31]
2003	Samurai Deeper Kyo	Kotaro Makaora	As Jack Lingo	[32]
	Animation Runner Kuromi	Nonki Hayama		[32][33]
	K.O. Beast	Wan Derbard	As Sam Riegel	[34]
	Space Pirate Mito	Aoi Mitsukuni	As Jack Lingo	[32]
2004	Comic Party	Kazuki Sendou	As Jack Lingo Also specials
	Gungrave	Various characters	As Sam Riegel	[34]
	Here is Greenwood	Tenma Koizumi, Masato Ikeda
	Ikki Tousen	Chuei Totaku, Student A
	Marmalade Boy	Michael Grant, others	As Sam Riegel and Jack Lingo	[32][34]
	Paranoia Agent	Lil' Slugger, others	As Sam Riegel	[34]
	R.O.D	Criminal #2, Cafe Owner, Young Owner		[33][34]
	Shaman King	Faust VIII, Yohmei Asakura	1st Voice of Faust VIII
	Texhnolyze	Kazuho Yoshii, others	As Sam Riegel	[34]
2005	Daphne in the Brilliant Blue	Chang, others	As Sam Riegel and Jack Lingo	[32][34]
	DearS	Hikoro 'Oihiko' Oikawa, Assassin, others
	Di Gi Charat	Mishter Manager	As Sam Riegel	[34]
	Fafner in the Azure	Hiroto Doma, others
	Ghost Talker's Daydream	Souichiro Kadotake, others	As Sam Riegel and Jack Lingo	[32][34]
	Grenadier - The Senshi of Smiles	Yajiro Kojima	As Sam Riegel	[34]
	Koi Kaze	Various characters
	Kyo Kara Maoh!	Gunter	As Jack Lingo	[32]
	Le Portrait de Petit Cossette	Eiri's Friend	As Sam Riegel	[34]
	Leave it to Piyoko!	BGG Member C, Store Manager, Various characters
	Marmalade Boy movie	Manager
	Mermaid Forest	Fisherman, Sailor, Toba Islander
	Naruto	Zaku Abumi, Shino Aburame, others	1st voice of Shino Aburame	[35]
	New Getter Robo	Lab Staff, Guard	As Sam Riegel	[34]
	Rumiko Takahashi Anthology	Various characters
	Saiyuki Reload	Impostor Demon, Mob Leader, Gate Guard
	Samurai Champloo	Various characters
	Scrapped Princess	Dennis, Officer, Soldier		[35]
	Shingu: Secret of the Stellar Wars	Toshio Mikami, others	As Sam Riegel and Jack Lingo Also Director and Script Adaptation	[32][34][36]
	Skyhigh	Various characters	live-action film As Sam Riegel	[34]
	Tenjho Tenge	Masayuki Sanada, Dan Inosato	As Sam Riegel
	The Melody of Oblivion	Male Student A, Male Guest, Person of the Cape, Eichi Hikoyama
	The Twelve Kingdoms	Seishou
	Ultra Maniac	Student
	Zatch Bell!	Purio, others		[35]
2006	The Prince of Tennis	Additional voices	As Jack Lingo	[32]
	Boys Be...	Kyoichi Kanzaki	Voice director, script As Sam Riegel	[34][37][38]
	Ergo Proxy	Pull	As Sam Riegel	[34]
	Fate/stay night	Shirou Emiya
	Gun Sword	Klatt, others
	Haré+Guu	Ashio
	Yu-Gi-Oh! GX	Blaze	As Sam Riegel (Episode 77)
	Kamichu!	Ino, others	As Sam Riegel
	Saiyuki Reload Gunlock	Demon, Taizou
2007	Digimon Data Squad	Kudamon		[35]
	Mega Man Star Force	Tom Dubius
	The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya	Taniguchi, Eijirou Ohmori (Appliance Store Owner), others		[35]
	The Third: The Girl With the Blue Eye	Joey, others	As Sam Riegel	[34][39]
	To Heart	Various characters		[34]
2008	Aika R-16: Virgin Mission	Gusto		[33][34]
	Buso Renkin	Madoka Maruyama		[34]
	Code Geass	Clovis la Britannia		[35]
	Lucky Star	Minoru Shiraishi, Narration		[33][35]
	Gurren Lagann	Viral	as Sam Riegel	[40]
2010	Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's	Radley		[35]
2012	Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL	Chills
	Hellsing Ultimate	Wild Geese, Vatican Officers	Ep. 6, 8	[41][42]
2012–13	Persona 4: The Animation	Teddie		[33]
	Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan	Kiyotsugu Kiyojuji	As Sam Riegel
2012–17	Blue Exorcist	Mephisto Pheles		[43][44]
2013	K	Yashiro Isana, Fox Spirit (Current Colorless King)		[45]
2013–14	B-Daman Crossfire	Reggie Mak, others		[33]
2013	Digimon Fusion	BlueMeramon
2016–17	One-Punch Man	Metal Bat	As Sam Riegel also OVA's	[46]
2016	Sengoku Basara: End of Judgement	Motonari Mōri		[47]
2018	Ace Attorney	Furio Tigre		[48]
2020	Ghost in the Shell: SAC 2045	One Man, Agents, ISAF Officer		[33]

Animation

Key

†	Denotes series that have not yet been released

List of voice performances in animation

Year	Title	Role	Crew role	Notes	Source
2003–09	Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles	Donatello, Delivery Man, Utrom, Triceraton Guard, Swordsmith, Zippy Lad, Shellectro, Yellow Triple Threat, Dark Donatello, Mr. Hambrath, Dr. Chaplin,			[49]
2011–14	Winx Club	Riven, Acheron, Sphinx, Lu Wei, Rumpelstiltskin			[50]
2013–18	Sofia the First	Squirrel, Doctor, Smokelee, Royal Builder, Coachman, Yellowbelly, Additional Voices	Dialogue Director		[33]
2013–16	Wander Over Yonder	Emperor Awesome, Ship Computer, Something the So and So, Cartoon Awesome, Jimmy, Admiral Admirable, Additional Voices	Dialogue Director		[33][49][51]
2013–17	Doc McStuffins	Wilbur, Orville	Into the Hundred Acre Wood!		[33]
2014-16	Sanjay and Craig	N/A	Voice Director[52]
2015–16	Fresh Beat Band of Spies	Mate, Pirate Guard, Curtis, Kid #1 (2), Fan (3), Audience Guy	Casting Director and Voice Director		[33][53]
2015–18	Pickle and Peanut	Sultry Dog, Chent, Salesman, College Professor, Party Goer, Mayor, Cody, Additional Voices	Dialogue Director		[54][55]
2016–20	Elena of Avalor	Additional Voices, Referee	Dialogue Director	[56]
2016–18	Home: Adventures with Tip & Oh	Trystane	Voice Director		[33]
2016–18	Future-Worm!	Villager #2, Lew Cregger, Carl, Alien Sam Riegel	Dialogue Director	[33]
2017	Danger & Eggs	Phillip's Brother, Lt. Second in Command	Casting Director and Voice Director		[33]
2017–21	DuckTales	Hack, Slash, Tenderfeet / Gavin, Stinky Boot, Two-Toed Jack, Moonlanders, Gilded Man, Pirates	Dialogue Director		[33][57]
2018–22	Fancy Nancy	Male Announcer, Male Narrator, Dying Old Man, Poor Neighbor, Rabbi Katz, Prison Security Guard			[33]
2019–22	Amphibia	Ab-Snatchers Actor, Movie Announcer, Blue Frog With Hat, Gary, Janitor, Brown Overalls Frog, Dartboard Frog, Dark Green Male Frog, Glass Artisan, Grub N Go Hirer, Bell Ringer, Chief McClintock, Cop 2, Arrested Civilian, Patrick, Bearded Frog, Neckerchief Betting Frog, Kurt, Neckerchief Frog, Frog DJ, Orange Haired Frog, Vince, Dragonfly Frog, Scared Hat Bittie, Neckerchief Bittie, Brown Slicked Hair Bittie, Bird Seller Trucker, Ushanka Hat Frog, Bartley, Branson, Ant Cream Worker, Gift Shop Worker, Fleafy, Red Eyed Frog, Blue Toad Soldier, Green Frog with Hat, Leander, Tyler, Tyler's Boyfriend, Hat Customer, Bearded Tough Guy Bus Passenger, Glasses Customer, Mitch Harper, Branson, Blair, Butterfly Drone Soldier Prototype, Scared Museum Observer, Worried Amphibians
2021–22	Kid Cosmic	PT-SB, Jerry, Feeble Pilot, Travis	Casting Director and Voice Director
2022	American Dad!	Benny, Athletic Spectator
2022–present	The Legend of Vox Machina	Scanlan Shorthalt	Executive Producer, Writer, and Casting Director		[58][59]
2022–2023	Firebuds	Vin Voltage	Dialogue Director	Season 1
2023-2025	Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur
2023-2024	Kiff		Voice Director	Season 1
TBA	Mighty Nein †	Nott the Brave	Executive Producer	In production	[60]

Films

List of voice performances in direct-to-video and television films

Year	Title	Role	Crew role, notes	Source
2006	Patlabor the Movie	Isao Ota	As Sam Riegel	[34]
	Patlabor 2
2009	Redline	Miki		[61]
	Tales of Vesperia: The First Strike	Flynn Scifo	As Sam Riegel	[33]
	Turtles Forever	2003 Donnie
2010	Freak Dance	Bario
2011	Little Big Panda	Kung Fucios
	Sengoku Basara: The Last Party	Mori Motonari
2012	Back to the Sea	Short Seagull
2013	Zambezia	Hurricanes
2014	Khumba	Jock
2015	Tiger and Bunny: The Rising	Mark Schneider		[62]
2017	K: Missing Kings	Yashiro Isana	As Sam Riegel	[63]

Video games

List of voice performances in video games

Year	Title	Role	Crew role, notes	Source
2004	Obscure	Josh Carter		[33]
2006	Blue Dragon	King Jibral, Turbulent Mai	As Sam Regal
	God Hand	Azel, Bruce, Ravel, Sensei, Villagers
2006–07	.hack//G.U. series	Silabus, miscellaneous voices
2007	Eternal Sonata	Allegretto	As Sam Regal
	Digimon World Data Squad	Kudamon, Reppamon, Tyilinmon
	Time Crisis 4	Captain Marcus Black	Credited as Jack Lingo
2008	Final Fantasy IV	Edward	As Sam Regal
	Tales of Vesperia	Flynn Scifo		[33]
2009	Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles	Steve Burnside		[33]
	Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Smash Up	Donatello
	Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time Re-Shelled	Donatello, Baxter Stockman, Foot Soldiers
	Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight	Incisor, System Voice	As Sam Regal
2010	Final Fantasy XIII	Cocoon Inhabitants		[64]
	Resonance of Fate	Jean-Paulet		[33]
	Fallout: New Vegas	Chris Haversam, Ghouls, Additional Voices	As Sam "Jack Lingo" Riegel
	Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker	Soldiers / Extras
	Transformers: War for Cybertron	Starscream
	Sengoku Basara: Samurai Heroes	Motonari Mori, Yoritsuna Anegakōji		[65]
2011	Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3	Phoenix Wright		[66]
2012	Battleship	Captain Brent Franklin	As Sam Regal	[33]
	The Amazing Spider-Man	Peter Parker / Spider-Man
	Persona 4 Golden	Teddie, Shu Nakajima
	Transformers: Fall of Cybertron	Starscream
	Resident Evil 6	Enemies
2013	Tales of Xillia	Jude Mathis		[33]
	Fire Emblem Awakening	Stahl, Donnel	As Sam Regal	[33]
	Aliens: Colonial Marines	Marines
	Naruto video games	Baki
	Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Dual Destinies	Phoenix Wright		[67]
	Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time	Tennessee Kid Cooper, Red-Eye Robles		[33]
	Gears of War: Judgment	Aftermath Survivor, Survivor Three, Lab Polanski		[68]
	Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn	Alphinaud Leveilleur	As Sam Regal	[69]
	Rune Factory 4	Arthur	Also Special	[33]
	Call of Juarez: Gunslinger	Dwight
2014	The Amazing Spider-Man 2	Peter Parker / Spider-Man
	Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark	Starscream, Autobot Soldier 02
2015	Pillars of Eternity	Heodan	As Sam Regal	[70]
	Minecraft: Story Mode	Griefer		[33]
	Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns	Braham		[71][72]
2016	Fallout 4: Far Harbor	Faraday, Devin, Cole		[73]
	Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Spirit of Justice	Phoenix Wright		[74]
	Ratchet & Clank	Zed, Zurkon Jr.		[33]
	World of Final Fantasy	Ultros
	Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links	Rex Raptor, Arkana and Para
2017	Fire Emblem Heroes	Stahl, Raigh, Donnel	As Sam Regal	[33]
2018	Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire	Rekke		[75]
	Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire: Critical Role Pack	Scanlan Shorthalt		[76]
	Guild Wars 2: Path of Fire	Qadim		[77][78]
	Fallout 76	Ranger Ross, Victor, Quentin Arlen		[79]
2019	Rage 2	Walker (Male)	As Sam Regal	[80]
	Indivisible	Ren, Iron Kingdom Soldier, Monk (voice)		[81]
	Freedom Finger	Mission Control		[82]
2020	One Punch Man: A Hero Nobody Knows	Metal Bat		[33]
	Bugsnax	Gramble Gigglefunny		[83]
2021	Nier Replicant ver.1.22474487139...	Jakob, additional voices		[84]
	Teppen	Phoenix Wright		[85]
2022	Chocobo GP	Ifrit, Ultros		[33]
	Return to Monkey Island	Quarantined Pirate
2023	Disgaea 7: Vows of the Virtueless	Prinny
2024	Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth	Additional voices		[86]

Documentary

List of acting performances in documentaries

Year	Title	Role	Crew role, notes	Source
2011	"Sam Riegel and Quyen Tran on 9/11"	Himself	Documentary footage on 9/11 attack, used in 102 Minutes That Changed America and other documentaries	[23][additional citation(s) needed]

Web series

List of appearances in web series

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Source
2015–present	Critical Role	Scanlan Shorthalt, Taryon Darrington (campaign 1)	Cast member; Dungeons & Dragons actual play web series	[87][88]
		Nott the Brave/Veth Brenatto, Luc Brenatto (campaign 2)		[87][89][90]
		Fresh Cut Grass (F.C.G.), Braius Doomseed (campaign 3)		[91][92]
2016–21	Talks Machina	Himself	A Critical Role aftershow	[93][94]
2018	Between the Sheets		Episode: "Between the Sheets: Sam Riegel"	[95]
2018–2020	All Work No Play		A web series where Riegel and Liam O'Brien catch up over a drink and try a new activity each episode. The show was developed from their original AWNP podcast (2012–2017).	[96][97]
2020	AWNP: Unplugged		A spinoff web series during the COVID-19 pandemic where Riegel and O'Brien caught-up via video chat.	[98][22]
2022–2024	4-Sided Dive		A Critical Role aftershow	[99][100]
2022	Exandria Unlimited: Calamity	Loquatius Seelie	Actual play anthology series; 4 episodes	[101][102]
2025	Wildemount Wildlings	Game master	Actual play limited series; 3 episodes	[103]

Audio books

List of voice performances in audio books

Year	Title	Role	Source
2022	Critical Role: The Mighty Nein – The Nine Eyes of Lucien	Veth Brenatto	[104]
2025	Critical Role: Vox Machina – Stories Untold	Narrator, Taryon Darrington	[105]