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.
Early life 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. The tour began in Los Angeles.
Career
Voice acting 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.
Additionally, King was one of the creators and hosts of the long-running podcast, GeeksOn, with Aaron Hendricks, Donald Marshall, and Peter Gamble Robinson.
Film and television 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 King's stage credits include the first Broadway touring production of Titanic: The Musical, East West Players' Yankee Dawg You Die as Bradley with Sab Shimono and The Tempest as Caliban 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.
Writing 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." The Harrowing, his script with Peter Gamble featuring an African-American man as the lead in a horror film is in development.
Crowdfunding projects 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. 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. 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. At the time, the series was the highest-grossing webseries ever on Kickstarter. 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.
Steampunk work After the creation of the World of Steam webseries in 2012, King was seen as a leader in the Steampunk creative community. 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, Robert Howard, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and China Mieville, 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," and was cited in the 2016 book, Like Clockwork: Steampunk Pasts, Presents, and Futures, edited by Rachel A. Bowser and Brian Croxall. His Love, Death and Robots episode, "Good Hunting," is Asian-inspired Steampunk. 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 +DateConventionLocationActivityNotes2009VCON 34Vancouver, British Columbia, CanadaGuest of Honor: GeeksOn podcast2014Midwest Media Expo (M2X)Detroit, MichiganPanel host/panelist: The World of SteamInaugural year for this convention2018Clockwork AlchemyBurlingame, CaliforniaSpeaker and presenter
Filmography
Live action roles
Television YearTitleRoleNotes2001Crossing JordanDr. YeungEpisode: "Blue Christmas"2001ERRickEpisode: "Four Corners"2002MDs2nd Year StudentEpisode: "Time of Death"2002The West WingStafferEpisode: "Hartsfield's Landing"2002FriendsThe StudentEpisode: "The One Where Joey Dates Rachel"2003Threat MatrixBroker #2Episode: "Pilot"2003The Even Stevens MovieScottTV movie2003FrasierThadEpisode: "Daphne Does Dinner"2003–2006Strong MedicineDr. Matt Linn / First Year / First Year Medical Student27 episodes2004It's All RelativeMatthewEpisode: "Our Sauce, It Is a Beauty"2005The New Partridge FamilyBenjaminTV movie2005CSI: Crime Scene InvestigationYak #2Episode: "Snakes"2005–2010NumbersMatt Li / Technician / Crime Scene Tech / Tech / FBI Tech Agent / FBI Computer Tech #1 / FBI Tech Agent #214 episodes2007CSI: NYKim WeyEpisodes: "Child's Play"2008Eli StoneTommy Woo2 episodes2009Washington FieldSA Mark ChenTV movie2009BonesDr. Marcus ScheerEpisode: "The Cinderella in the Cardboard"2010Hub Exclusive: G.I. Joe Renegades & Transformers PrimeHimself / IntervieweeTV short201024Agent King4 episodes2011NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative ServiceMin Ho KwonEpisode: "A Man Walks Into a Bar..."2012Criminal MindsDetective Harrison ChenEpisode: "Magnificent Light"2013Monday MorningsTsung MaiEpisode: "Communion"2013–2015The World of SteamMr. Liang, Producer, Writer, Director, co-director, Executive ProducerWebseries creator; Funded through Kickstarter2015Steampunk'dHimself - Judge8 episodes2015RevengeAgent LinEpisode: "Bait"2016The Last ShipZhouEpisode: "Legacy"2016PowersTHX2 episodes2016GrimmJin AkagiEpisode: "Inugami"2016Teenange Mutant Ninja Turtles: Don vs. RaphSplinter / ShredderShort2017LuciferAdrian YatesEpisode: "Welcome Back, Charlotte Richards"2017Training DayAgent Lawrence ParkEpisode: "Faultlines"2017RosewoodJason HiyashiEpisode: "Radiation & Rough Landings"2017Hashtag Awareness: The WebseriesToddEpisode: The One Where Tim is a Creeper"2018Code BlackPilot Randy WoodmanEpisode: "Cabin Pressure"20189-1-1ActorEpisode: "Next of Kin"2018–2022RiverdaleMarty Mantle7 episodes2019Cabinet of CuriositiesDirector, writerEpisode: "The Secret Language of Flowers"
Film YearTitleRoleNotes2004Species IIISpecialist Robert Kelley2005Call CenterSamShort film2008The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon EmperorStunts (motion capture)2008The Kreutzer SonataAiden2010Acts of ViolenceBob2011How to Spot a NarcissistNarcissist MattShort film2012Red DawnNorth Korean Soldier2013Sid the Science Kid: The MovieYang Yang2016LoveologyRev. JamesShort film2016The Short SaleThe GunShort film2016Garbage DayDirector, executive producer, WriterShort film2020SightlessDoctor KatsuroTBAAfterthoughts (in production)Detective Jay VittidiniShort film
Voice over roles
Film YearTitleRoleNotes2008Turok: Son of StoneYoung Nashoba / Young Cliff Brave2009Trail of the PandaScientistUncredited; English dub2012Hipster HolocaustNarratorShort film2012Back to the SeaDabao2015Justice League: Throne of AtlantisStephen Shin2016Only YesterdayFather / Kazou25th Anniversary; English dub2016TMNT: Don vs RaphSplinter / ShredderShort film2018Batman NinjaEianEnglish dub2018Sitting DuckJohnShort film2019Justice League vs. the Fatal FivePersuader2021Bright: Samurai SoulKoketsuCredited as Matt Yang King2021The Witcher: Nightmare of the WolfLukaCredited as Matt Yang King2021Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the RealmsKung Lao2023ElementalAlan Ripple / Lutz / Earth PrunerCredited as Matt Yang King2023Mortal Kombat Legends: Cage MatchConcierge / Costumed Man2024Inside Out 2Additional VoicesCredited as Matt Yang King2026Tom and Jerry: Forbidden CompassPhoenix Master English dub
Television YearTitleRoleNotes2006NarutoSumaru6 episodes; English dub2010–2011G.I. Joe: RenegadesTunnel Rat / Nicky Lee / Cobra Guard / Operations Tech / Pilot / Cobra Guard #1 / Torch / County Clerk / Technician / Cobra Trooper #325 episodes2011–2013Supah NinjasYamato32 episodes2014Regular ShowSurfer 2 / Merle / Yuji2 episodes2016–2017Transformers: Robots in DisguiseSimacore / Computer Voice2 episodes2016New Looney TunesMale ExecutiveEpisode: "Bugs of Steel"2018–presentBakiTokugawa / Shibukawa11 episodes; English dub2019The Lion GuardBambun / Dughi / Old Civet4 episodes2019Goblins AnimatedFumbles / ProducerMega trailer2019Love, Death & RobotsAdult Liang / Renshu / Young Man / Host2 episodes; Credited as Matt Yang King2021TreseCaptain Guerrero / Dominic2021–2024What If...?Additional Voices3 episodes2022Robot ChickenScorpion / DogbertEpisode: "May Cause a Squeakquel"2023Abominable and the Invisible CityMr. LungEpisode: "Shack Attack"2023Star Wars: Young Jedi AdventuresLoden GreatstormEpisode: "Charhound Chase"2024–presentAvatar: The Last AirbenderAppa and Momo15 episodes2024Creature CommandosLiu KangEpisode: "The Iron Pot"; archival audio from Mortal Kombat 12024Squid GamePlayer 230 (Choi Su-bong, "Thanos")English Dub Voice dub for Choi Seung-hyun.
Video games