- This page is about the actor. For the character from a one-shot campaign, see Marisha Ray (character).
Marisha Ray is a producer, a voice actress, a member of the main cast of Critical Role, and the creative director of Critical Role Productions LLC. She plays Laudna in Campaign Three.
In previous campaigns, Marisha played Keyleth and Beauregard Lionett. She was also the Dungeon Master for several special episodes.
Critical Role Productions[]
Pre-stream[]
Marisha helped Matthew Mercer, whom she was dating at the time, host the D&D session that later became Critical Role. She did not play as a character in that particular session, instead offering advice to new players.[2]
Upon joining the campaign, Marisha had not yet decided what kind of background or character Keyleth would have. Her outset was a druid of the air domain inspired by Avatar: The Last Airbender[3] with charisma as her lowest stat. This choice allowed Marisha to make Keyleth very introverted, which worked well because Marisha didn't know the other players well and decided to reflect that uncertainty in her character.[4]
Main campaigns[]
Marisha was the first player to roll a natural 20 on Critical Role, which she rolled in "Arrival at Kraghammer" (1x01) for a performance check while in the shape of a bear, trying to save Trinket from a bar fight.[5]
When asked if she could play any character from the first campaign, Marisha chose Scanlan or Pike.[6]
Creative director[]
After the split from Geek & Sundry, Marisha became Critical Role Productions LLC's creative director. She is involved in the inception and production of every show created by the company, and is credited as creator of Exandria Unlimited. She also acts as the company's spokesperson for State of the Role announcements, often accompanied by CEO Travis Willingham and chief creative officer Matthew Mercer.
Player characters[]
See also: Player characters played by Marisha Ray
Main storyline[]
- Keyleth, half-elf druid (Circle of the Moon) (Campaign One: Vox Machina)
- Beauregard, human monk (Way of the Cobalt Soul) (Campaign Two: The Mighty Nein)
- Laudna, human (Hollow One) sorcerer (Shadow Magic)/ warlock (The Undead, Pact of the Chain) (Campaign Three)
One-shots and miniseries[]
- Edna, human wizard ("Critical Trolls for Extra Life" (Sx02))
- Snizzler, goblin alchemist ("To the Poop! Goblins: A Critical Role Pathfinder One-Shot" (Sx09))
- Sudis Alifehr, human ("Deadlands One-Shot" (Sx11))
- Marisha Ray (character), human monk ("Liam's Quest: Full Circle" (Sx16))
- Marisha Ray (vampire) ("Thursday by Night: Part 1" (Sx24))
- Rhinestone, raccoon ("Crash Pandas: Too Trashed, Too Curious" (Sx37))
- Cranberry Stockings ("The Night Before Critmas" (Sx41))
- Alexandra Elise O'Neil, world traveler and smuggler ("Call of Cthulhu: Shadow of the Crystal Palace" (Sx46))
- Arabella Whitlock (UnDeadwood)
- Hazel Copperpot, dwarven bard ("The Adventures of the Darrington Brigade" (Sx49))
- Tauro, demon hunter ("Diablo One Shot" (Sx54))
- Dr. Nomen L Frenno, astrobiologist ("The Nautilus Ark: A Johnson Corp Odyssey" (Sx60))
- Kara Gen, warrior ("Elden Ring One-Shot: O Ye of Little Faith" (Sx65))
- Patia Por'co (Exandria Unlimited: Calamity)
- Marga, Rito researcher ("The Legend of Zelda One-Shot: Lookout, Here We Come!" (Sx76))
- Beatrix Monroe, criminal (Candela Obscura Chapter 2)
- Bunnie ("Critical Role plays Daggerheart" (Sx83))
Games played as game master[]
- "Trinket's Honey Heist" (Sx27)
- "Honey Heist 2: Electric Beargaloo" (Sx35)
- "Honey Heist 3: Tova’s Honeys" (Sx39)
- "The Elder Scrolls Online: Blackwood - Part II: A Faulty Foundation" (Sx58)
- "A Familiar Problem: Sprinkle's Incredible Journey" (Sx68)
Other works[]
→ See also: Marisha's IMDb profile
Marisha began her career in theater on the east coast. After moving to L.A, Marisha was encouraged by friends to go into voice acting because of her distinctive voice. She has voiced characters in multiple video games, such as Metal Gear: Survive and Fire Emblem Heroes.
Marisha has been involved in many web productions prior to Critical Role as an actress and producer. She was also creative director of Geek & Sundry before Critical Role split from the company.[7]
Personal life[]
Marisha first got acquainted with the world of TTRPG in 2008-2009, playing her first game with Matthew Mercer as the Dungeon Master. Before the first campaign, she was in a tabletop version of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, playing a pyromancer[8] and in another pen-and-paper RPG game with fellow voice actor and player Taliesin Jaffe. This group also involved Luis Carazo, Chloe Dykstra, Sean Manzano and Brian. Matthew Mercer and Zack Hanks co-DMed this group for two and a half years, under Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition rules, from 2010/2011 to 2013/2014.[presumed][9][10][11]
Marisha and Matt first met in a meeting for an internet sketch comedy show that never went further.[12] On October 21, 2017,[13] in between campaigns One and Two, Marisha and Matt married. They live together with their dog Omar and previously had a bird Dagon. For their third anniversary, Matt shared some video highlights from his engagement to Marisha. He created a fake escape room with the help of friends, where she had to solve puzzles and fight a monster before he proposed to her.[14] The monster was played by Travis, and apparently there was a mishap with the game's props, and he almost ended up getting stabbed by a sharper than expected knife.[15]
Trivia[]
- Her first D&D character ever was a drow ranger, although she doesn't remember their name anymore.[16]
- Out of the six humanoid characters Marisha has created, four are red-headed.
- Marisha's most recent tattoo is the symbol of the Ashari[17] (Keyleth's tribe) and she has it tattooed on the back of her neck (where Beauregard got one of her own tattoos).
- All the characters Marisha has played in the three main campaigns of Critical Role have at some point developed a way that their body does not deteriorate or does so at a very slow rate: Keyleth, being a half-elven archdruid (whose body ages one year for each decade) who successfully completed the Aramenté (extending her natural lifetime) will probably live for many centuries; Beauregard, as a powerful monk, does not need food or water and won't suffer the weakness of old age for as long as she lives (even if her lifespan stays the same); Laudna, as a Hollow One, doesn't age.[18]
- So far Marisha is the only player who has had all her main characters in the same storyline, since she's playing Laudna in a mission in which both Keyleth and Beau are involved now.
- Marisha's chosen drink for her Between the Sheets interview was a jalapeno margarita.
- Every Halloween, the cast of Critical Role dresses up in costume for one episode. Marisha has dressed up as Violet from Rat Queens (2015), Anna Ripley (2016), Lisa Frank Castle (2018), Soldier B (2019), Celia Ovesso (2020), Taliesin Jaffe (2021), Jean Grey (2022), and Legolas (2023).
- Marisha currently holds the top attendance record out of the main cast members for the main campaigns, with just two more episode appearances than Liam O'Brien. However, if one-shots and miniseries are counted, she takes second place behind Liam.[19]
- Marisha fought against the influencer Haley Sharpe in Creator Clash 2. She trained for six months for this challenge, and her main goal was to last all five rounds, which she did successfully despite having no previous experience in this type of encounters. While Haley won that fight, Marisha was awarded as an Unsung Hero of the event.
- For this charity event, Sam Riegel and Peter Habib wrote a song to support Marisha: Pop! Pop! (feat. Habib).
- According to Matthew Mercer, in The Legend of Vox Machina Marisha and Laura were the ones who recorded most of Grog Strongjaw's burps, as they were the cast members who demonstrated the most ability to do so.[20]
- On Talks Machina, the host Brian Wayne Foster liked to "#ThankMyGuests" with names that were either mispronounced or a wordplay but close to the original. Here are the names for Marisha Ray:
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External links[]
- Critical Role's Marisha Ray: In the name of the Circle of the Moon, I will punish you! (October 1, 2015)
- Critical Role's Marisha Ray: Where you've heard (an seen) her before (February 17, 2016)
- Marisha's Reddit AMA (August 2, 2017)
- Between the Sheets: Marisha Ray (October 24, 2018)
- IMDb profile
References[]
- ↑ See "Marisha Ray Talks Being Tinker Bell, Constant Online Harassment, The Future of Critical Role & Ep 50" with Philip DeFranco at 1:59:20.
- ↑ See "Attack on the Duergar Warcamp" (1x04) from 3:39:25 through 3:39:40.
- ↑ See "Wizard World Gaming Portland Panel" (Sx07) at 11:16.
- ↑ See "Attack on the Duergar Warcamp" (1x04) from 3:30:45 through 3:31:20.
- ↑ See "Arrival at Kraghammer" (1x01) at 50:34.
- ↑ See "Attack on the Duergar Warcamp" (1x04) at 3:56:33.
- ↑ See Marisha's profile on critrole.com
- ↑ See "How to Score a Massive Hit" (Sx01) at 5:54.
- ↑ See Matthew Mercer's panel at Ayacon 2013 at 35:50 trough 45:34.
- ↑ See also the Twitter conversation held by the players a few years later about this campaign: Sean Manzano (@questioner86) on Twitter: "Two rounds into an encounter with ghouls and I'm already having flashbacks." (2017-11-21).
- ↑ See also Luis' interview by B.Dave Walters: "One on One Shots with Luis Carazo" on YouTube.com.
- ↑ See "Critical Role Cast Answers The Web's Most Searched Questions" at 0:04:57.
- ↑ See Marisha's tweet a few days later.
- ↑ Twitter thread from Matt discussing the engagement.
- ↑ See "Critical Role Cast Answers The Web's Most Searched Questions" at 0:05:50.
- ↑ See "Critical Role from Mercer + More" with Talks at Googles Matthew Mercer + More" with Talks at Google through 0:12:54.
- ↑ See "Critical Role Cast Answers The Web's Most Searched Questions" at 0:18:32.
- ↑ See "4-Sided Dive: Why Are You Like This?!" (4SDx08) at 0:19:56.
- ↑ See Critical Role attendance on CritRoleStats.com
- ↑ See Chatting with Matthew Mercer at 1:16:07.
Art:
- ↑ Photograph of Marisha Ray for Variety, by Robyn Von Swank (source). This file is a copyrighted work. Its use in this article is asserted to qualify as fair use of the material under United States copyright law.
- ↑ Fan art of Marisha's characters, by Aviv Or (source). Used with permission.
- ↑ Official portrait by Kit Buss
- ↑ Official portrait by Ari
- ↑ Official portrait by Hannah Friederichs
- ↑ Official portrait by Kendra Wells
- ↑ Official portrait by Kendra Wells
- ↑ Official portrait by Hugo Cardenas
- ↑ Official portrait by Hugo Cardenas
- ↑ Official portrait by Kent Davis
- ↑ Official portrait by Aviv Or
- ↑ Official portrait by @tshortik
- ↑ Official portrait by Hannah Freiderichs
- ↑ Official portrait by Lizzart
- ↑ Official portrait by Shaun Ellis
- ↑ Marisha Ray Resume on MarishaRay.com
- ↑ Fan art of Laudna, Beau and Keyleth, by Nico Silva (source). Used with permission.
- ↑ Fan art of Marisha "Calamity" Ray, by Kaw (source). Used with permission.