Vic Mignogna


Victor Joseph Mignogna is an American voice actor and musician known for his voice-over work in the English dubs of Japanese anime shows, the most notable being Edward Elric from the Fullmetal Alchemist series, for which he earned the American Anime Award for Best Actor in 2007. Other notable animation roles include Broly from the Dragon Ball films, Tamaki Suoh in Ouran High School Host Club, Fai D. Flowright in , Dark in D.N.Angel, Kurz Weber in the Full Metal Panic! series, Zero and Ichiru Kiryu in the Vampire Knight series, Christopher Aonuma in Digimon Fusion, Nagato and [|Obito Uchiha] in Naruto Shippuden, Ikkaku Madarame in Bleach, Qrow Branwen in RWBY, and Matt Ishida in Digimon Adventure tri. In video games, he is the voice of E-123 Omega in the Sonic the Hedgehog series and Junpei Iori from Persona 3. In live-action work, he has participated in several Star Trek fan productions, including Star Trek Continues, where he plays Captain James T. Kirk. Mignogna has an official fanclub called Risembool Rangers.
In February 2019, studios Funimation and Rooster Teeth cut ties with Mignogna after a number of sexual harassment allegations surfaced. Mignogna has denied the allegations and unsuccessfully sued Funimation and several individuals in April 2019 alleging defamation and tortious interference.

Early life

Mignogna was born in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, to Barb Myers. He graduated from Liberty University with a degree in television and film production, and taught English and speech at Trinity Christian Academy in Jacksonville, Florida. Mignogna helped produce and arrange some of the songs on DC Talk's eponymous first album. He was a summer seasonal officer with the Ocean City Police Department. In 1990, Mignogna moved to Houston, Texas, where he was a film and video production instructor at The Art Institute of Houston. In 1993, he was a contestant on American television talent show Star Search, on which he sang "Worth Waiting For".

Career

While working in video production with John Gremillion in Houston, Mignogna got involved in voice acting at ADV Films. He made his debut as Vega in the video game-based anime series Street Fighter II V. Mignogna started attending anime conventions, where he contacted Funimation and landed the voice role of Broly in the Dragon Ball films.
In 2007, the American Anime Awards presented Mignogna with an award for Best Actor for his work on Fullmetal Alchemist. He often gains attention for his role in Alchemist, and he at one point attended between 15 to 25 conventions per year. One of Mignogna's career goals was "to record at all of the major places where dubbing is done". He said he was "the first ADV voice actor to record at Funimation in Dallas and then I was the first to go to New York". He has also recorded in Los Angeles; he tried out for Bleach and received the part of Ikkaku Madarame. In non-anime productions, he voiced Qrow Branwen in Rooster Teeth's web series RWBY.
In addition to voice acting, Mignogna has been involved in production for music, sound and video. He has produced hundreds of jingles for commercials, and he was a worship leader with Houston's First Baptist Church. Mignogna has sung the U.S. national anthem at several Houston Astros baseball games. As a musician, he has released several albums, some of which feature English cover versions of anime songs from shows including One Piece and the Dragon Ball series. He also handled some of the ADR direction for the English dub of Claymore, in which he voices Rigaldo.
Mignogna has been involved with several fan productions, including Fullmetal Fantasy and . In the latter series, he co-directed the episode "Enemy: Starfleet" and played the Andorian Captain. He directed "KITUMBA" and played Malkthon the Klingon, and was slated to direct the episode "Mindsifter". In 2012, Mignogna worked with the Starship Farragut production group. He directed and starred as Captain James T. Kirk in their web series Star Trek Continues. Mignogna has received good reviews for writing, directing, executive-producing and starring in Star Trek Continues, especially for his portrayal of the character of Kirk, respectfully utilizing William Shatner's unique mannerisms and cadence.

Sexual harassment allegations

Following the English release of , which prominently features Mignogna's vocal work, accusations of sexual harassment by him began to surface on Twitter, with some dating as far back as 1989. Using the hashtag "#KickVic", multiple accounts alleged that he kissed, groped, and made unwanted comments to fans without their consent, some of whom were underage. Voice actresses Monica Rial and Jamie Marchi tweeted their support for those speaking out, and alleged that he had also sexually harassed them.
On January 22, 2019, Tammi Denbrow, executive director of employee relations at Sony Pictures, opened an investigation based on reports made by Rial, two female fans, and a former Funimation employee, which concluded a week later with termination of his contract. On February 5, Rooster Teeth severed their business relationship with him, and Funimation recast his role of the Executive in The Morose Mononokean. Multiple anime conventions removed him from their guest lists.
Mignogna issued a statement of regret during his panel at Bak-Anime 2019 and again via Twitter on February 13, 2019. Using the hashtag "#IStandWithVic", fans donated over $262,000 to a crowdfunding account opened by lawyer Nick Rekieta, who assisted Mignogna in acquiring Ty Beard as his attorney. On February 20, Mignogna confirmed on Twitter that he was pursuing legal action, and later filed a million-dollar lawsuit against Funimation, Rial, Marchi, and Ron Toye for defamation and tortious interference. Funimation filed a response on June 12, 2019, denying Mignogna's allegations.
On June 26, Mignogna was deposed. Funimation filed an anti-SLAPP motion on July 1, seeking to dismiss the lawsuit. Rial, Marchi, and Toye then filed anti-SLAPP motions on July 19, with ten affidavits, including ones from Kara Edwards and Michele Specht, as well as several allegations that he had also made unwanted advances towards Mari Iijima. On July 30, another affidavit was submitted by the two fans from Funimation's investigation.
Mignogna's team was required to file a response by August 30, but Beard missed the deadline by 27 minutes, citing technical issues, and later submitted a notice to withdraw and resubmit the affidavits on September 2 due to "defects in form". One of the affidavits included a testimony from Chuck Huber. Mignogna's legal team called for sanctions under suspicion as to whether the affidavits were legally notarized. As a result, Mignogna received a court order to appear at a hearing set for September 6 intended for considering the defendants' anti-SLAPP motions, but he did not attend. During the hearing, seven of the twelve cases, particularly against Marchi, were dismissed and Mignogna was required to pay all of her legal fees, with another ruling scheduled in thirty days. On September 17, Judge John Chupp ordered both legal teams to mediate by October 3 and would rule on all outstanding orders if the mediation is unsuccessful. On October 4, Judge Chupp announced that the remaining cases had been dismissed. Mignogna filed an appeal on October 24, with a hearing set for November 21. Chupp later ruled that Mignogna was required to pay $223,042.42 for the defendants' attorney fees. On October 24, Beard filed for an appeal with the appellate court. On October 24, Lemoine filed a motion to dismiss the appeal. On December 11, Chupp denied the motion to dismiss appeals.

Personal life

Mignogna was in a relationship with actress Michele Specht from 2006 to May 2018.

Filmography

Anime

Animation

Films

Video games

Live action

Documentary

Discography

Studio albums