Samuel Brent Oscar Riegel, sometimes credited as Jack Lingo, is an American voice actor, director, and writer. He is a regular cast member of the web series ''

Critical Role ''Critical Role'' is an American web series in which a group of professional voice actors play ''Dungeons & Dragons''. The show started streaming partway through the cast's first campaign in March 2015. Campaign one ended in October 2017 afte ...

'', in which he and other fellow voice actors play ''

Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. (T ...

''. He is best known for voice roles as

Donatello Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi ( – 13 December 1466), better known as Donatello ( ), was a Florentine sculptor of the Renaissance period. Born in Florence, he studied classical sculpture and used this to develop a complete Renaissance st ...

in the 2003 ''

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' is an American media franchise created by the comic book artists Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. It follows Leonardo (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Leonardo, Michelangelo (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Miche ...

'' series and Phoenix Wright in the '' Ace Attorney'' games. For

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...

, he was the voice director for '' Fresh Beat Band of Spies'' and ''

Sanjay and Craig ''Sanjay and Craig'' is an American animated sitcom created by Jim Dirschberger, Jay Howell, and Andreas Trolf for Nickelodeon. Produced by Will McRobb and Chris Viscardi, the series revolves around Sanjay, voiced by Maulik Pancholy, and his be ...

'', as well as the voice of Riven in the revival of ''

Winx Club ''Winx Club'' is an animated series co-produced by Rainbow SpA and later Nickelodeon. It was created by Italian animator Iginio Straffi. The show is set in a magical universe that is inhabited by fairies, witches, and other mythical creatures. ...

''.

Career

He has worked for 4Kids Entertainment, Bang Zoom! Entertainment, TAJ Productions, NYAV Post, and Studiopolis. In 2018, he received the

Daytime Emmy Award The Daytime Emmy Awards, or Daytime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the New York–based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences ...

for Outstanding Directing in an Animated Program for his work on '' Danger & Eggs''. He is also a cast member of the popular web series ''

'', in which he and other voice actors play ''

.'' ''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 Webby Awards are awards for excellence on the Internet presented annually by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, a judging body composed of over two thousand industry experts and technology innovators. Categories includ ...

; the show was also both a Finalist and the Audience Honor Winner at the 2019

Shorty Awards The Shorty Awards (also known as “The Shortys”) honors the most innovative work globally in digital and social media by brands, agencies, nonprofits and creators. The Shortys’ mission is to celebrate, inspire and push the boundaries of exce ...

. 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.'''' Soon after, they aimed to raise $750,000 on

Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, K ...

to create an animated series of their first campaign, but ended up raising over $11 million.'''' In November 2019,

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, also known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming and rental service of Amazon offered as a standalone service or as part of Amazon's Prime subscription. The service p ...

announced that they had acquired the streaming rights to this animated series, now titled '' The Legend of Vox Machina;'' Riegel reprises his role as Scanlan Shorthalt. He hosts the ''All Work No Play'' podcast and spinoff web series with his ''Critical Role'' co-star and best friend Liam O'Brien.

Personal life

Riegel is of

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

descent. His grandmother was a

Holocaust survivor Holocaust survivors are people who survived the Holocaust, defined as the persecution and attempted annihilation of the Jews by Nazi Germany and its allies before and during World War II in Europe and North Africa. There is no universally accep ...

. He is the brother of actress Eden Riegel and the half-brother of filmmaker Tatiana S. Riegel. His father, Kurt Riegel, is a radio astronomer, environmental executive, and sailor. His mother, Lenore, is married to author Jerome Charyn. Riegel lives in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

with his wife, cinematographer Quyen Tran. They have a daughter and son together. On September 11, 2001, Riegel and Tran witnessed the

9/11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...

. They were caught in the dust cloud formed by the collapse of the South Tower, but eventually escaped to

Battery Park The Battery, formerly known as Battery Park, is a public park located at the southern tip of Manhattan Island in New York City facing New York Harbor. It is bounded by Battery Place on the north, State Street on the east, New York Harbor to ...

, where they witnessed the collapse of the North Tower; Riegel captured video footage that has since been featured in several documentaries. Shortly after the events, they moved to

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

where Tran was accepted to

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a Normal school, teachers colle ...

Filmography

Anime

Animation

Films

Video games

Documentary

Web shows and series

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Riegel, Sam Living people 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American male actors American male video game actors American male voice actors American television writers American male screenwriters American male television writers American voice directors Jewish American male actors Jewish American writers Male actors from Los Angeles Screenwriters from California Place of birth missing (living people) Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American Jews