Matt Yang King is an American actor. He appears in the Netflix series Avatar: The Last Airbender as Appa and Momo, in Pixar's Elemental and the Netflix series Not Quite Narwhal, as well as Riverdale, Powers, 24, Strong Medicine, and Numbers. He created the short films The World of Steam, The Duelist and has provided voiceover work for numerous television shows, video games, and commercials including Love, Death & Robots, Studio Ghibli's 25th Anniversary English dub of Only Yesterday with Daisy Ridley, the World of Warcraft franchise, Cyberpunk 2077, G.I. Joe: Renegades, Transformers: Robots in Disguise, Fortnite, Supah Ninjas, and Marvel Heroes.

Matthew Yang King
EducationNew York University (BFA)
OccupationActor
Years active1998–present
Children3

Early life

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King studied acting at New York University Tisch School of the Arts and lived in New York until 1998, when he left to tour the United States with the musical Titanic, playing Quartermaster Robert Hichens and Bandsman Bricoux.[1] The tour began in Los Angeles.[2]

Career

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Voice acting

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King has provided numerous voices for television, film, and video games, from the voice of the Host in "The Witness" and Liang and Renshu in "Good Hunting". His work includes Father and Kozou in Studio Ghibli's Only Yesterday, Illidan Stormrage in the World of Warcraft franchise, The Persuader in Bruce Timm's Justice League vs The Fatal Five, The Atom in Injustice 2, Eian in Batman Ninja, and the voices of Splinter and Shredder in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT). King is the voice of Apple in numerous television ads and also voiced both Liu Kang and Fujin in Mortal Kombat 11 and also voiced Kung Lao in the animated film Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms.[3]

Additionally, King was one of the creators and hosts of the long-running podcast, GeeksOn,[4] with Aaron Hendricks, Donald Marshall, and Peter Gamble Robinson.

Film and television

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King has had recurring roles on Riverdale, Numbers, 24, and Strong Medicine. He starred opposite Danny Huston in the Bernard Rose film The Kreutzer Sonata, which also features King playing the violin.

Stage

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King's stage credits include the first Broadway touring production of Titanic: The Musical,[2] East West Players' Yankee Dawg You Die[5] as Bradley with Sab Shimono and The Tempest[6] as Caliban[7] with fellow NYU Tisch alumnus Daniel Dae Kim, and an NAACP award-winning hip-hop version of The Two Gentlemen of Verona called 2G's at Los Angeles' Sacred Fools Theater.[8]

Writing

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Frustrated with playing stereotypically Asian roles in the early-mid 2000s, King began writing to create roles for minority actors "that people felt they could wrap their brains around that were about being ethnic...[and] racism."[9] The Harrowing, his script with Peter Gamble featuring an African-American man as the lead in a horror film is in development.[citation needed]

Crowdfunding projects

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In 2017, King collaborated with cartoonist Ellipsis Stephens and fellow producers Phil LaMarr and Danielle Stephens to bring Stephen's webcomic, Goblins, to life as an animated series. The Goblins Animated campaign on Indiegogo was to produce a five-minute long mega-trailer/pilot that could be used to garner more interest in the project.[10] King himself voices one of the characters, Fumbles. Notable voice actors make up the rest of the cast, including Phil LaMarr as Complains of Names, Billy West as Minmax, Maurice LaMarche as Forgath, Jim Cummings as Thaco, Tara Strong as Saves a Fox, Matthew Mercer as Big Ears, Jennifer Hale as Kin, and Steve Blum as Kore. The mega-trailer is currently under production.

In 2012, King created a Kickstarter project for his steampunk webseries called The World of Steam.[11] Written, directed, and produced by King, the show is set in a Twilight Zone-type steampunk universe and featured Scott Folsom, Gail Folsom, Gina Torres, Mido Hamada, Karl E. Landler, Julian Curtis, Robin Atkin Downes, and King himself as the host, Mr. Liang.[citation needed] At the time, the series was the highest-grossing webseries ever on Kickstarter.[12] The first episode, The Clockwork Heart, was released as a webisode in 2013 and contains music by composer Bear McCreary. The remainder of the series is still in the works and is being developed for television.[9][13]

Steampunk work

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After the creation of the World of Steam webseries in 2012, King was seen as a leader in the Steampunk creative community.[14][15] As a result, he was invited to serve as one of the three judges on the first-ever network Steampunk-themed reality show, Game Show Network's Steampunk'd in 2015. King cites his Steampunk influces as H.G. Wells, Jules Verne, H.P. Lovecraft, K.W. Jeter,[12] Robert Howard, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and China Mieville,[16] among others. He collaborated with Scott and Gail Folsom from the League of STEAM on the pilot episode for the World of Steam, "The Clockwork Heart,"[11] and was cited in the 2016 book, Like Clockwork: Steampunk Pasts, Presents, and Futures, edited by Rachel A. Bowser and Brian Croxall.[17] His Love, Death and Robots episode, "Good Hunting," is Asian-inspired Steampunk.[18] King has appeared at various Steampunk conventions as a presenter and judge, and is currently collaborating with Cheyenne Wright of Girl Genius on a new Steampunk project called The Cabinet of Curiosities.

Convention appearances

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Date Convention Location Activity Notes
2009 VCON 34[19] Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada[20] Guest of Honor: GeeksOn podcast
2014 Midwest Media Expo (M2X)[21] Detroit, Michigan[22] Panel host/panelist: The World of Steam Inaugural year for this convention
2018 Clockwork Alchemy[23] Burlingame, California[24] Speaker and presenter

Filmography

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Live action roles

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Television

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Year Title Role Notes
2001 Crossing Jordan Dr. Yeung Episode: "Blue Christmas"
2001 ER Rick Episode: "Four Corners"
2002 MDs 2nd Year Student Episode: "Time of Death"
2002 The West Wing Staffer Episode: "Hartsfield's Landing"
2002 Friends The Student Episode: "The One Where Joey Dates Rachel"
2003 Threat Matrix Broker #2 Episode: "Pilot"
2003 The Even Stevens Movie Scott TV movie
2003 Frasier Thad Episode: "Daphne Does Dinner"
2003–2006 Strong Medicine Dr. Matt Linn / First Year / First Year Medical Student 27 episodes
2004 It's All Relative Matthew Episode: "Our Sauce, It Is a Beauty"
2005 The New Partridge Family Benjamin TV movie
2005 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Yak #2 Episode: "Snakes"
2005–2010 Numbers Matt Li / Technician / Crime Scene Tech / Tech / FBI Tech Agent / FBI Computer Tech #1 / FBI Tech Agent #2 14 episodes
2007 CSI: NY Kim Wey Episodes: "Child's Play"
2008 Eli Stone Tommy Woo 2 episodes
2009 Washington Field SA Mark Chen TV movie
2009 Bones Dr. Marcus Scheer Episode: "The Cinderella in the Cardboard"
2010 Hub Exclusive: G.I. Joe Renegades & Transformers Prime Himself / Interviewee TV short
2010 24 Agent King 4 episodes
2011 NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service Min Ho Kwon Episode: "A Man Walks Into a Bar..."
2012 Criminal Minds Detective Harrison Chen Episode: "Magnificent Light"
2013 Monday Mornings Tsung Mai Episode: "Communion"
2013–2015 The World of Steam Mr. Liang, Producer, Writer, Director, co-director, Executive Producer Webseries creator; Funded through Kickstarter
2015 Steampunk'd Himself - Judge 8 episodes
2015 Revenge Agent Lin Episode: "Bait"
2016 The Last Ship Zhou Episode: "Legacy"
2016 Powers THX 2 episodes
2016 Grimm Jin Akagi Episode: "Inugami"
2017 Lucifer Adrian Yates Episode: "Welcome Back, Charlotte Richards"
2017 Training Day Agent Lawrence Park Episode: "Faultlines"
2017 Rosewood Jason Hiyashi Episode: "Radiation & Rough Landings"
2017 Hashtag Awareness: The Webseries Todd Episode: The One Where Tim is a Creeper"
2018 Code Black Pilot Randy Woodman Episode: "Cabin Pressure"
2018 9-1-1 Actor Episode: "Next of Kin"
2018–2022 Riverdale Marty Mantle 7 episodes
2019 Cabinet of Curiosities Director, writer Episode: "The Secret Language of Flowers"

Film

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Year Title Role Notes
2004 Species III Specialist Robert Kelley
2005 Call Center Sam Short film
2008 The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor Stunts (motion capture)
2008 The Kreutzer Sonata Aiden
2010 Acts of Violence Bob
2011 How to Spot a Narcissist Narcissist Matt Short film
2012 Red Dawn North Korean Soldier
2013 Sid the Science Kid: The Movie Yang Yang
2016 Loveology Rev. James Short film
2016 The Short Sale The Gun Short film
2016 Garbage Day Director, executive producer, Writer Short film
2020 Sightless Doctor Katsuro
TBA Afterthoughts (in production) Detective Jay Vittidini Short film

Voice over roles

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Film

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Year Title Role Notes
2008 Turok: Son of Stone Young Nashoba / Young Cliff Brave
2009 Trail of the Panda Scientist Uncredited; English dub
2012 Hipster Holocaust Narrator Short film
2012 Back to the Sea Dabao
2015 Justice League: Throne of Atlantis Stephen Shin
2016 Only Yesterday Father / Kazou 25th Anniversary; English dub
2016 TMNT: Don vs Raph Splinter / Shredder Short film
2018 Batman Ninja Eian English dub
2018 Sitting Duck John Short film
2019 Justice League vs. the Fatal Five Persuader
2021 Bright: Samurai Soul Koketsu Credited as Matt Yang King
2021 The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf Luka Credited as Matt Yang King
2021 Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms Kung Lao
2023 Elemental Alan Ripple / Lutz / Earth Pruner Credited as Matt Yang King
2023 Mortal Kombat Legends: Cage Match Concierge / Costumed Man [25]
2024 Inside Out 2 Additional Voices Credited as Matt Yang King

Television

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Year Title Role Notes
2006 Naruto Sumaru 6 episodes; English dub
2010–2011 G.I. Joe: Renegades Tunnel Rat / Nicky Lee / Cobra Guard / Operations Tech / Pilot / Cobra Guard #1 / Torch / County Clerk / Technician / Cobra Trooper #3 25 episodes
2011–2013 Supah Ninjas Yamato 32 episodes
2014 Regular Show Surfer 2 / Merle / Yuji 2 episodes
2016–2017 Transformers: Robots in Disguise Simacore / Computer Voice 2 episodes
2016 New Looney Tunes Male Executive Episode: "Bugs of Steel"
2018–present Baki Tokugawa / Shibukawa 11 episodes; English dub
2019 The Lion Guard Bambun / Dughi / Old Civet 4 episodes
2019 Goblins Animated Fumbles / Producer Mega trailer
2019 Love, Death & Robots Adult Liang / Renshu / Young Man / Host 2 episodes; Credited as Matt Yang King
2021 Trese Captain Guerrero / Dominic
2022 Robot Chicken Scorpion / Dogbert Episode: "May Cause a Squeakquel"
2023 Abominable and the Invisible City Mr. Lung Episode: Shack Attack
2024 Avatar: The Last Airbender Appa / Momo [26]

Video games

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Year Title Role Notes Source
2002 Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos Illidan Stormrage Named the #1 most iconic character Blizzard ever created by Comic Book Resources in 2018
2003 Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne Illidan Stormrage Named the #1 most iconic character Blizzard ever created by Comic Book Resources in 2018
2004 Transformers Unicron
2007 Uncharted: Drake's Fortune Pirates #4
2008 Valkyria Chronicles Maximilian English dub
2008 Mercenaries 2: World in Flames The Allies - China
2009 The Saboteur Kwong / Louis / Franz
2009 Dragon Age: Origins Additional voices
2009 Uncharted 2: Among Thieves Pirate
2009 Infamous Male Pedestrian
2010 Valkyria Chronicles II Maximilian English dub
2010 Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days Actor
2010 Alpha Protocol Konstantin Brayko
2010 Dead to Rights: Retribution Tseng
2011 Final Fantasy XIII-2 Additional voices English dub
2011 The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Additional voices
2011 Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception Pirate (Multiplayer)
2011 Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Tiger 1 English dub
2011 Nicktoons MLB Perch Perkins
2011 Driver: San Francisco Additional voices
2011 Might & Magic Heroes VI Changbo
2012 Skylanders: Giants Actor
2012 XCOM: Enemy Unknown Soldier
2012 Resident Evil 6 Enemies [27]
2012 World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria Pandaren Male Player Character
2012 Diablo III Additional voices
2013 Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII Additional voices English dub
2013 Skylanders: SWAP Force Fright Rider
2013 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows Shredder
2013 Marvel Heroes Human Torch / Deadpool
2013 BioShock Infinite Additional voices
2014 Skylanders: Trap Team Fright Rider / Molekin Miner Wispy / Kangarat 2
2014 BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea Voice Acting Ensemble
2014 Diablo III: Reaper of Souls Additional voices
2014 Hearthstone Actor
2015 Fallout 4 Justin Ayo / Male Raiders
2015 Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection Pirates Archive sound
2015 Skylanders: SuperChargers Fright Rider
2016 World of Warcraft: Legion Master Windstrong / Cato / Margrave Dhakar
2017 Agents of Mayhem Agent Oni (Masamune Senichi)
2017 Fortnite Merry Munchkin Gingerbread Pet
2017 Injustice 2 The Atom / Ryan Choi
2018 World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth Actor
2019 Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order Human Torch / Insectoids Shadow of Doom DLC
2019 Death Stranding Thomas Southerland Voice actor; motion capture by Edgar Wright
2019 Judgment Kazuya Ayabe English dub
2019–2020 Mortal Kombat 11 Liu Kang, Fujin Also in Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate
2020 Cyberpunk 2077 Kerry Eurodyne Credited as Matt Yang King
2020 Ghost of Tsushima Additional voices English dub; Credited as Matt King
2020 XCOM: Chimera Squad Verge
2020 Final Fantasy VII Remake Additional voices English dub; Credited as Matt Yang King
2020 Warcraft III: Reforged Illidan Stormrage Named the #1 most iconic character Blizzard ever created by Comic Book Resources in 2018
2021 Lost Judgment Kazuki Soma English dub; Credited as Matt Y. King
2022 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II KorTac Group 1 / Oroku "Shredder" Saki Credited as Matt King
2023 Mortal Kombat 1 Liu Kang [28]
Mortal Kombat: Onslaught Liu Kang, Fujin [29]
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III Pham "Enigma" Lan Minh
2024 Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth Eric Tomizawa English dub [27]
Rosewater Danny Luo, Apothecary [30]

Stage

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Year Title Role Company Notes
1999–2000 Titanic: A New Musical Quartermaster Robert Hichens, Bandsman Bricoux, 3rd Class Passenger Original Broadway National Tour
2000 2G's (The Two Gentlemen of Verona) Company Sacred Fools Theater Company Winner of 2 NAACP awards, nominated for 7
2001 Yankee Dawg You Die Bradley East West Players
2002 The Tempest Caliban East West Players
2005 Ten Thousand Years Yoshida El Portal Forum Theatre World premiere

Awards and nominations

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Year Award/Organization Award/Category Work Result Notes
2007 Words From Here Short Script Competition[31] 1st Place The Harrowing Won With Peter Gamble

Prize no longer awarded

2010 Scriptapalooza International Screenplay Competition[32] The Harrowing Runner Up[33] With Peter Gamble
2011 Hollywood Foreign Press Association Young Screenwriter's Award The Harrowing Won With Peter Gamble
2011 CAPE (Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment) Digital Marketing Initiative[34] CAPE New Writer's Award The Harrowing Won With Peter Gamble
2011 Behind the Voice Actors Awards[35] BTVA Television Voice Acting Award

Best Vocal Ensemble in a Television Series

G.I. Joe: Renegades (2010) Nominated
2014 Steampunk Chronicle Readers Choice Awards[36] Best Steampunk Script The Duelist Won
2016 Behind the Voice Actors Awards[37] BTVA Anime Dub Movie/Special Voice Acting Award

Best Vocal Ensemble in an Anime Feature Film/Special

Only Yesterday

(Omohide poro poro)

Nominated
2017 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting DownTown Semi-Finalist[38] / Top 50[39]
2018 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting The Life and Death of Edison Chen Semi-Finalist[38] / Top 25

References

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  1. ^ "Matthew Yang King – Broadway Cast & Staff | IBDB". www.ibdb.com. Retrieved 2019-02-19.
  2. ^ a b Ehren, Christine (December 10, 1998). "Titanic Tour Announces Cast; d'Arcy James Returns for LA Engagement". Playbill. Retrieved 2019-02-19.
  3. ^ Couch, Aaron (June 16, 2021). "Animated 'Mortal Kombat Legends' Sequel Arriving This Summer (Exclusive)". hollywoodreporter.com. Retrieved June 16, 2021.
  4. ^ "- GeeksOn Home Page". geekson.squarespace.com. Retrieved 2019-03-08.
  5. ^ MILLER, DARYL H. (2001-05-25). "Gotanda's 'Yankee Dawg' Remains Timely, Pertinent". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved 2019-02-19.
  6. ^ Shirley, Don (2002-11-22). "A 'Tempest' that's too young at heart". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved 2019-02-19.
  7. ^ "Set-up scenes in East West Players' production of Shakespeare's..." Getty Images. Retrieved 2019-02-19.
  8. ^ "SACRED FOOLS | MAINSTAGE 2000 - 2G's (Two Gentlemen of Verona)". www.sacredfools.org. Retrieved 2019-03-08.
  9. ^ a b "Full Steam Ahead with Guest Matt Yang King and Musical Guest Maya McClean – Show #418". LIFE CHANGES NETWORK. Retrieved 2019-03-11.
  10. ^ "Goblins Animated 2nd Edition". Indiegogo. Retrieved 2019-03-08.
  11. ^ a b "The World of Steam". Kickstarter. Retrieved 2019-02-19.
  12. ^ a b "Interview with Steampunk'd Judge – Matt King". Airship Ambassador. 2015-08-12. Retrieved 2019-03-11.
  13. ^ "The World of Steam".
  14. ^ "Why 'The World Of Steam' May Be The Best Steampunk Web Series To Date". Science Fiction Sci-Fi Fantasy The 7th Matrix. 7 December 2013. Retrieved 2019-03-11.
  15. ^ Price, Medusa (2013-01-07). "The Laughing Village: The World of Steam Interview". The Laughing Village. Retrieved 2019-03-11.
  16. ^ Jenelle (2013-12-23). "World of Steam, A Steampunk Web Series". Steampunk Goggles. Retrieved 2019-03-21.
  17. ^ Bowser, Rachel A.; Croxall, Brian (2016-12-15). Like Clockwork: Steampunk Pasts, Presents, and Futures. U of Minnesota Press. ISBN 9781452952536.
  18. ^ "Love, Death & Robots Episode 8: Good Hunting Ending Explained". What's on Netflix. 2019-03-16. Retrieved 2019-03-21.
  19. ^ "VCON 34 - Fancyclopedia 3". fancyclopedia.org. Retrieved 2019-03-22.
  20. ^ "Home Page". VCON 43 - OCT 11-13, '19. Retrieved 2019-03-22.
  21. ^ "Update 58: The World of Steam at the Midwest Media Expo! · The World of Steam". Kickstarter. Retrieved 2019-03-21.
  22. ^ "Midwest Media Expo 2014 Information". FanCons.com. Retrieved 2019-03-21.
  23. ^ steveb888 (2018-03-11). "See Us at Clockwork Alchemy 2018". The Steampunk Explorer. Retrieved 2019-03-21.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  24. ^ "Clockwork Alchemy 2018 | SteampunkCons.com". Clockwork Alchemy 2018. Retrieved 2019-03-21.
  25. ^ "Mortal Kombat Legends: Cage Match Exclusive: Full Voice Cast and Plot Revealed". 14 June 2023.
  26. ^ @mattyangking (2024-02-16). "So I finally get to announce that I am playing Appa and Momo in Netflix's new live action Avatar: The Last Airbender!" – via Instagram.
  27. ^ a b "Matthew Yang King (visual voices guide)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved 12 February 2024. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
  28. ^ @domcianciolo (July 15, 2023). ".#MK1's Cast so far! @mattyangking Liu Kang @KariWahlgren Mileena/Kitana @vicchao Kenshi @AlanLeeVO - Shang Tsung @KaijiTang Sub-Zero @dicek2g Scorpion @AndrewSBowen Johnny @VRodriguezIII Raiden @ThatSunil Kung Lao @YuriLowenthal Smoke @NoshirDalal Rain" (Tweet). Retrieved July 15, 2023 – via Twitter.
  29. ^ Cianciolo, Dominic [@domcianciolo] (October 17, 2023). "#MkOnslaught's cine voices so far! Raiden @WillingBlam Liu & Fuj @mattyangking Kung Lao @ThatSunil Jax @WillCMe Johnny @AndrewSBowen Sonya Sheeva @vanmarshall Scorp @RonYuan Shinnok @TroyBakerVA Kitana @KariWahlgren Cetrion @MaryEMcGlynn Baraka @blumspew Kabal J. Cahill" (Tweet). Retrieved October 20, 2023 – via Twitter.
  30. ^ "Rosewater Behind the Scenes - VO Recording with Matt Yang King".
  31. ^ Haddad, Michael (2005-02-01). The Screenwriter's Sourcebook: A Comprehensive Marketing Guide for Screen and Television Writers. Chicago Review Press. ISBN 9781569765166.
  32. ^ "Scriptapalooza | Discovering & Promoting Writers Since 1998". Scriptapalooza. Retrieved 2019-03-11.
  33. ^ "Past Winners". Scriptapalooza. Retrieved 2019-03-08.
  34. ^ "Matthew Yang King Archives". CAPE | Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment. Retrieved 2019-03-08.
  35. ^ "2011 BTVA Voice Acting Awards". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved 2019-03-08.
  36. ^ "Winners 2014". www.steampunkchronicle.com. Retrieved 2019-03-11.
  37. ^ "2016 BTVA Anime Dub Awards". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved 2019-03-08.
  38. ^ a b "2017 Academy Nicholl Fellowships Semifinalists | Facebook". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2019-03-08.
  39. ^ "2017 Academy Nicholl Fellowships Top 50 Screenplays | Facebook". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2019-03-08.
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