Sam Riegel biography: Dungeons & Dragons, Critical Role, 9/11 experience, net worth

Sam Riegel, sometimes known as Jack Lingo, is an American voice actor, director, and writer with several credits in many movies and web productions. He is a cast member of the popular web series “Critical Role” in which he and other members of the show play the game “Dungeons & Dragons”.

This talented voice actor has made a lot of contributions to television, and has no doubt voiced quite a number of your favourite characters, as we shall see. From 2003 to 2009, he was the voice of Donatello in the commercially successful animated series “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”.

Sam Reigel has also won prestigious awards for his work, proving that he is a master at what he does. We will get to this and other details in the course of our article, first let us consider the biggest facts about this actor.

Top 10 facts about Sam Riegel

1. Sam Riegel was born on 9 October 1976 and will turn 44 years old on his birthday in 2021.
2. He is the brother of actress Eden Riegel and halfbrother of filmmaker Tatiana S. Riegel.
3. Riegel and his wife witnessed the 9/11 attack and recorded video footage that was subsequently used in several documentaries.
4. In 2018, Riegel received a Daytime Emmy award for his work on “Danger & Eggs”.
5. Riegel’s stepfather is author Jerome Charyn, while his biological father is a radio astronomer, environmental executive, and sailor.
6. Riegel is married to cinematographer Quyen Tran, and they have two children together.
7. Sam Riegel height is listed as 1.83m or 6 feet.
8. “Critical Role” was a brainchild of Riegel and his friend Liam O’Brien’s podcast “allworknoplay”.
9. As a child, Riegel acted in several Broadway plays and appeared in the Kennedy Center production of “Les Misérables”.
10. He currently acts as a dialogue director on the show “Fancy Nancy”.

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Early life

Sam Reigel was born Samuel Brent Oscar Riegel on 9 October 1976 in Washington D.C. to Lenore (mother) and Kurt Riegel (father), a radio astronomer, environmental executive, and sailor.

Reigel is Jewish and was born into a family that is filled with creatives like himself. It is no wonder that the man is such a master at his chosen profession. His sister is actress Eden Riegel, who has acted in several productions including, “All My Children”, turning her character into a gay icon and a popular figure within the show.

Riegel is also the half-brother of filmmaker Tatiana S. Riegel, who is known mostly for independent movies like “Lars and the Real Girl”, “The Way Way Back”, and “I, Tonya”.

If you thought that was all in this family of creatives, then you’re wrong. There’s also a writer among them—Riegel’s stepfather Jerome Charyn is a prolific writer who has written almost 50 books in 50 years.

Sam Riegel has nurtured his passion for acting since he was young. When he was younger, Riegel acted in several Broadway plays and appeared in the Kennedy Center production of Les Misérables.

After high school, Riegel attended the University of Virginia, where he became a part of the acapella group, The Academical Village People.

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Career

Sam Riegel’s career started in 2001 when he voiced Tristan and Rex in “Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters”. After that, he started getting a lot more voice-acting roles. In 2003, he voiced the role of Jack Lingo in “Samurai Deeper Kyo” and “Animation Runner Kuromi”.

Riegel is best known for his role as Donatello in the 2003 animated series “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” and Phoenix Wright in the “Ace Attorney” games.

What Riegel is most known for, however, is his role on “Critical Role”, where he played the gnome bard, Scanlan Shorthalt, and the human artificer Taryon Darrington. He later left those roles and took on that of a formerly goblin halfling rogue, Veth Brenatto. Not only did he play these roles perfectly, but he was also the dungeon master for some episodes in the show.

Also, Riegel plays Nott the Brave, a Goblin Arcane Trickster Rogue. Since the character is female, it became the first main campaign character to have a player of the opposite gender.

The actor has also worked as a voice director for the Disney Junior animated series “Sofia the First” and the Disney Channel/Disney XD animated series “Wander Over Yonder”. Here, he voices the character of Emperor Awesome. He even provides the voice for the character of Hiroman in the English dub version of the film “Stitch!”.

How was “Critical Role” created

Before “Critical Role” began, Riegal and his best friend, Liam O’Brien created the podcast “allworknoplay” as a way for them to destress and have some fun away from work. On the podcast, the two discussed a host of topics ranging from work, life, playtime, and the time that former “Critical Role” cast member Matthew Mercer invited them over to play “Dungeons & Dragons”.

Basically, a simple “Dungeons & Dragons” game started the super interesting journey for this group of people. During episode two of “allworknoplay”, O’Brien and Riegel talked about a one-time Dungeon & Dragons game that they wanted to play for O’Brien’s birthday.

The players enjoyed the game so much, though, that they continued playing it, and shortly after, they moved it to Geek & Sundry where they converted it to a live-stream format. In 2019, the cast left Geek & Sundry and set up their own production house called Critical Role Productions. After that, the team aimed to raise $750,000 on Kickstarter to create an animated series based on their first campaign. Well, they ended up raising $11 million.

Amazon Studios has since announced that they have acquired the streaming rights to the animated series, which is now titled “The Legend of Vox Machina”. Riegel will reprise his role as Scanlan Shorthalt in the upcoming series.

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In 2018, Riegel won a Daytime Emmy—one of the film industry’s most prestigious awards—for his work on the animated series “Danger & Eggs”.

Personal life

Sam Riegel is married to a fellow creative like himself. It does seem like he loves to surround himself (whether intentionally or unintentionally) with creatives. He might just love the idea of being around fellow creatives or it might just be his luck. Either way, Riegel is married to cinematographer Quyen Tran.

She is also incredibly good at what she does and has worked on multiple Sundance films including “The Little Hours” and “Deidra & Laney Rob a Train”.

Tran started her career as a photographer and her pictures have appeared in the New York Times, USA Today, BBC, CNN International News, PBS, Scientific American, Variety, and many more publications.

She has also been nominated for the World Press Photo Award. Although she did not win it, she won several others awards including, Best Cinematography UCLA Spotlight in 2008, 2007, and 2006; Best Feature Cinematography – Wild Rose Film Festival; Federico de Laurentiis Memorial Scholarship; and the National Theater Goers Alliance Scholarship.

Tran worked as a photographer until the events of 9/11 which she witnessed. After, she decided to go to UCLA to study film. She moved west with Riegel to do this. Now, the couple has two children, a boy and a girl.

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Sam Riegel 9/11 experience

Sam Riegel and his wife Quyen Tran witnessed the 9/11 attacks that took place on 11 September 2001. The events of this day were terrifying for even those who caught a glimpse of it and those who watched from afar, but for those who were there, the trauma must have been great.

Riegel and his wife were so close to the happenings of that day that the dust cloud from the collapse of the South Tower rained on them. They made their way to Battery Park, and from there, they watched as the North Tower collapsed.

As all this happened, though, Riegel captured the collapse of the Twin Towers, as they were famously called, preserving history. The video footage that Riegel captured was then used in several documentaries that have been made about the events of that tragic day.

After the couple left the scene, they moved to California where Tran enrolled at UCLA. There’s something about witnessing that much tragic loss that may have inspired Tran to follow what could have been a lifelong dream.

Sam Riegel net worth

What is Sam Riegel net worth in 2021? It would fall within the range of $2 million to $5 million, although it is hard to accurately tell what his net worth is because he has many streams of income.

The actor has been in a lot of productions, including the popular “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”. He has also lent his voice to several web comics, video games, anime, animation films, and so much more.

Not only is he a voice actor, he is also a writer and director who has worked with Disney, Fox, and other companies in many capacities. What is more impressive, actually, is the fact that Riegel is still producing super entertaining content, especially with Critical Role Productions, so his net worth is projected to rise in the coming years.

Conclusion

So many people have dreams so big that they balk at them and then abandon them out of fear. Such was not the case for Sam Riegel. He didn’t even have a choice seeing as he came from a family of fellow creatives and go-getters. He’s even married to one!

Thanks to his tenacity and creativity, Riegel has starred in many movies and his production credits run into the sixties, which is impressive. Riegel has made a name for himself in the video game and voice acting industry, even winning awards for his work. We can’t wait to see what his talented actor does next.

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