Liam O'Brien

For most of the 2010s, if an American cartoon needed the Red Skull, it called Liam O'Brien. He has the part in Marvel's Avengers, Iron Man & Hulk: Heroes United, Iron Man & Captain America: Heroes United, Phineas and Ferb: Mission Marvel and LEGO Marvel Avengers: Code Red, which is five separate productions and a fair definition of owning a role. He is also Doctor Strange twice over and Kurt Wagner in Wolverine and the X-Men.

That is the day job. O'Brien came up through anime dubbing, where his roles include Gaara across the Naruto series, Kenzo Tenma in Monster, Vincent Law in Ergo Proxy, Lloyd in Code Geass and Jushiro Ukitake in Bleach, none of which are among the credits listed here. He directs and writes as well, which is unusual for a performer in that corner of the business and audible in how carefully he pitches a line.

Since 2015 the thing he is best known for has been Critical Role, the Dungeons and Dragons show where he improvises characters live, at length, in front of an audience. Vax'ildan came first and became the animated series The Legend of Vox Machina. Caleb Widogast followed and became The Mighty Nein. Inventing a part at a table and then reprising it years later in a scripted animated adaptation is a career shape that simply did not exist before this decade.