Travis Willingham is an American voice actor known for his character portrayals in video games and English anime dubs. His notable roles include Roy Mustang in the Fullmetal Alchemist franchise, Cleo in Glass Fleet, Ginko in Mushishi, Portgas D. Ace in One Piece, Takashi "Mori" Morinozuka in Ouran High School Host Club, Yu Kanda in D. Gray-man, and Cameron Campbell in Camp Camp. Willingham's video game roles include Guile in the Street Fighter franchise, Knuckles the Echidna in the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, Thor in various Marvel games, and Issac Frost in "Fight Night Champion". He has been a recurring cast member of the web series Critical Role since 2015, in which he and other voice actors play Dungeons & Dragons. He co-founded the production company Critical Role Productions that same year, for which he has served as chief executive officer (CEO) since 2019.

Early life

Travis Willingham was born in Dallas. He has a brother named Carson. He became interested in acting in fifth grade. After sixth grade, he moved from a private school to J.L. Long Middle School. He later graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School, and studied at Texas Christian University.

Career

Willingham learned that the English dub of Dragon Ball Z was being recorded in Dallas, and asked Laura Bailey, who he knew through their talent agency, to "put in a good word for him". A director there asked him to audition for the part of Roy Mustang in Fullmetal Alchemist, and he received the role. While he described it as "the most intensive, spirit-crushing time ever in voiceover”, it ultimately led to his rise to prominence in the industry. He later reprised the role in Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. After moving to Los Angeles, Willingham attempted to pursue a career in acting but fared poorly due to his tall height (6ft 4in). He returned to voice acting at the suggestion of his agent; Willingham had been unaware that so much voice work was recorded in the city. He went on to perform in a number of notable roles including Yu Kanda in D.Gray-man, Cleo in Glass Fleet, Ginko in Mushishi, Portgas D. Ace in the Funimation re-dub of One Piece and Takashi Morinozuka in Ouran High School Host Club. He also voices Thor in several Marvel projects and King Roland II in Disney Junior's Sofia the First. From 2010 to 2018, he was the voice of Knuckles the Echidna in the Sonic the Hedgehog series. Willingham is also a main cast member of the popular Dungeons & Dragons web series Critical Role, where he played Grog in the first campaign, Fjord in the second campaign, and a dual role as Sir Bertrand Bell and Chetney Pock O'Pea in the third campaign. 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 called Critical Role Productions, for which Willingham serves as CEO. 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; Willingham reprised his role as Grog.

Personal life

On September 25, 2011, Willingham married voice actress Laura Bailey in Camarillo, California. They reside in Los Angeles and have a son named Ronin (b. 2018). Willingham is a lifelong fan of the Dallas Cowboys. Noted by some fans for his height of 6ft 4in and athletic build, he has participated in some triathlons.

Filmography

Voice acting

Anime

Animation

Film

Video games

<!-- NEED SOURCE -->

Audio books

Live-action

Film

Television

Web series