Marisha Ray Huber[Note 1] was born in
Mount Washington, Kentucky,[3] the daughter of a mother who works as a dog groomer and a father who sells truck tires. She hails from an extended family of
Louisville farmers, having helped her grandfather with chores around his tobacco farm as she was growing up from when she was around six years old.[Note 2] At the age of 12, she began acting at the
Actors Theater of Louisville.[4] In 2008, at the age of 19, she moved to
Los Angeles to pursue a career in entertainment.[5] Her parents supported the decision and drove her there.[Note 3] She arrived around the time of the
Writers Guild strike and so, having difficulty in finding auditions, she began
canvassing for the
2008 presidential election to support herself financially.[Note 4] As the election came to a close, she took up street performing on
Hollywood Boulevard by tap-dancing for a short time, before eventually moving on to full-time busking by dressing up as
Tinkerbell for three years.[Note 5]
She was involved in many of
Geek & Sundry's other productions, including co-hosting Key Questions,[14][15] acting in Sagas of Sundry,[16] and producing Signal Boost![17] She announced her appointment to the post of
creative director for Geek & Sundry on July 28, 2017;[18] however, she stepped down from the position in June 2018.[19][20]
Critical Role Productions
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;[21][22][23][24] Ray became the creative director for the company.[19][20] In February 2019, Critical Role began to air on its own channel and was no longer broadcast by Geek & Sundry.[25] Soon after, Critical Role Productions aimed to raise $750,000 on
Kickstarter to create an animated series of their first campaign, but ended up raising over $11 million.[26] In November 2019,
Amazon Prime Video announced that they had acquired the streaming rights to this animated series, now titled The Legend of Vox Machina;[27] Ray reprised her role as Keyleth.[28] Ahead of the series premiere in January 2022, Amazon renewed the series for a second season[29] which premiered in January 2023.[30] On October 6, 2022, Amazon renewed the series for a third season.[31][32] Madison Durham, for Polygon in February 2022, commented that "Ray has been instrumental in making Critical Role into the sprawling multimedia company that it is today, contributing as the creative lead for shows like All Work No Play, Exandria Unlimited, and more. In interviews and media appearances, the persona she presents behind the scenes is distinctly different from Keyleth's brand of awkward deference. Ray appears to command the room, regularly making difficult decisions that impact the entire organization".[33]
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;[34] the show was also both a Finalist and the Audience Honor Winner at the 2019
Shorty Awards.[35]
A Familiar Problem, a one-page RPG co-written by Ray and Grant Howitt, was released in June 2022; it was published by the Critical Role Productions
imprintDarrington Press.[36] Also in June 2022, Critical Role Productions launched a new
record label, Scanlan Shorthalt Music, to release original music inspired by Critical Role and the
Exandria setting. Along with the label announcement, they released their first album titled Welcome to Tal'Dorei. The new project is led by Ray and Senior Producer Maxwell James.[37][38][39] In November 2022, the label released a second album titled Welcome to Wildemount.[40]
^Andrew, Stretch (November 15, 2022).
"New Album Beckons To Critical Role Fans "Welcome To Wildemount"". TechRaptor.
Archived from the original on November 15, 2022. Retrieved November 15, 2022. This product was led by Critical Role creative director and co-founder Marisha Ray, as well as senior producer Maxwell James.
^
abcdefghi"Marisha Ray (visual voices guide)". Behind The Voice Actors.
Archived from the original on July 24, 2019. Retrieved May 10, 2018. 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 opening and/or closing credits and/or other reliable sources of information.{{
cite web}}: CS1 maint: postscript (
link)
^"WATCH: Critical Role Performs a Scene from The Legend of Vox Machina". CBR. October 8, 2021.
Archived from the original on October 8, 2021. Retrieved October 8, 2021. The players from the original campaign are all reprising the roles of their RPG characters, and they will also serve as the executive producers for the new animated series.
^
ab"Marisha Ray". Marisha Ray.
Archived from the original on May 24, 2018. Retrieved May 10, 2018.