Arryn Zech

Arryn Zech is an American voice actress. She is best known for voicing Blake Belladonna in the original anime-style CG-animated web series, RWBY[2][3] and Dr. Emily Grey in Red vs. Blue,[4] an American web series also created by Rooster Teeth.

Arryn Zech
Zech in 2023
BornOctober 4[1]
Rota, Spain
NationalityAmerican
OccupationVoice actress
Years active2013–present

Early life

Zech was born in Rota, Spain.[5][4] She began acting in a New Braunfels theater in A Bug's Life production and working in local theater. She attended North East School of Arts in San Antonio, Texas, a musical theater school.[6][7] She revealed, in a 2023 interview, that she considered going to law school, but decided to become an actress instead.[6]

She later graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Journalism from the University of Texas at Austin, concentrating in copy editing and design. While there she worked at the student-run television station, TSTV, as a writer, host, and actress.[5][8]

Career

RWBY

In 2013, she began voicing Blake Belladonna in RWBY.[9][10][11] In August 2014, in an interview with Collider, she talked about fan response to character, what people could expect in season 2, and voiced her support for the ship of Blake and Yang Xiao Long, known as "Bumbleby".[9] The ship would become canon in the show's ninth season, when both characters kissed on screen.[12]

Zech voiced Blake in various video games such as Smite in 2014,[6] Paladins in 2016,[6] BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle in 2018,[13][14] Smite: Battleground of the Gods in 2019,[15] and RWBY: Arrowfell in 2022.[16] She would also reprise the voice in RWBY Chibi.[17] The series returned as part of the "Neon Konbini" block in 2021.[18]

In October 2018, in an interview with Supanova Expo, Zech stated that she was proud of the show's cast and character development. She also described how Monty Oum chose her for the role and noted that each of the four main actresses, including her, chose hairstyles, clothing, and design, which were used in the final character designs of the four protagonists.[19]

In March 2022, Zech expressed discomfort with being involved in RWBY: Ice Queendom upon being made aware of the 2015 domestic abuse allegations concerning series writer Tow Ubukata, which prompted Ubukata to tweet in response to Zech.[20] Zech later tweeted to confirm that she would be reprising her voice role of Blake Belladonna in the English dub of Ice Queendom, stating that she had internal discussions with the staff and that she would be donating her payment for her work to an undisclosed charity.[21] Her voice role in the English dubbed version of the series was confirmed by later press releases, and articles, which described the project as an anime based on the original RWBY series.[22][23][24]

In October 2022, Zech stated that Rooster Teeth threatened her with recasting Blake if she didn't accept the wage offered to her.[25]

In 2023, she voiced Blake Belladonna in the Justice League x RWBY: Super Heroes and Huntsmen Part One crossover film.[26][27] The film premiered at WonderCon 2023 on March 25.[28]

Other work

Zech voice acts as Dr. Emily Grey in Red vs. Blue in 2013.[6][29] In 2016, she said that when she voices Dr. Grey, she has "bubbly hands, almost Disney Princess hands".[30]

Zech voiced a character in an episode of the Lethal Weapon TV series in 2017.[6]

She voiced characters in English dubs of various anime in the 2020s. This included "The Ripper" in the Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina episode "The Ripper",[31] Ayana Taketatsu in The Detective Is Already Dead,[32][31][33] and Gentiane in the anime Girls' Frontline.[34][35]

In February 2023, she noted that she had begun writing her first EP, and described it as "incredibly fun".[6] It was also stated that in fall 2023, she would be attending the Berklee School of Music to further her study of music.[36] In a March 2023, she stated that she was getting a songwriter certification with online classes and was "pretty excited" about her EP.[12][lower-alpha 1]

Convention appearances

In June 2022, Zech told LGBT magazine Diva that RWBY had "changed her life" and said that going to its conventions have allowed her to "come out of her shell" and be honest about her experiences with abusive relationships, mental health, and eating disorders.[7]

In 2016, she appeared at Montreal Comiccon[37] and MCM London Comic Con.[38] In 2017, she made appearances at Fan Expo Canada,[39] Fan Expo Boston,[40] and Ottawa Comiccon.[41] The next year, she appeared at Armageddon Expo in Auckland, New Zealand.[42] In 2019, she appeared at MCM London Comic Con,[43] and Phoenix Fan Fusion[44][45]

In May 2018, she and Lindsay Jones cancelled their appearances at FanX Salt Lake Comic Convention after criticism of the convention for its "insensitive response" to accusations of sexual harassment.[46]

In May 2020, Zech appeared at the Anime Frontier convention, which was sponsored by Crunchyroll, at the Fort Worth Convention Center.[47][48] She also appeared at the conference in later years.[5] Zech previously appeared at Wizard World Virtual Experience with RWBY cast members in April 2020,[49] and in the same convention in 2018.[50]

Zech also made appearances at Comic Con Scotland and Anime North in 2022.[51][52]

Personal life

Zech is bisexual.[12][lower-alpha 2] In a February 2023 interview with Naluda Magazine, Zech said that she loves playing video games, gardening, and supporting civil rights and animal rights, Black Lives Matter, LGBTQ issues, and women's rights. She also described leaving Twitter as a "game changer" for her mental health.[6] In another interview, in March 2023, by her friend Barbara Dunkelman on the "Always Open" YouTube series, Zech said that physical touch, quality time, and words of affirmation would be important in any romantic relationship.[12][lower-alpha 3] In the same interview, she also said she would "never go back" to Twitter because it is harder for people to "access her" in a "negative way", and told Dunkleman that issues with dating as a bisexual woman is a "universal bisexual problem".[lower-alpha 4]

Filmography
Year Title Role Notes Ref
2013–present RWBY Blake Belladonna Voice, motion capture [20][53]
2013-2019 Red vs. Blue Dr. Emily Grey Voice only [5][30]
2014 Smite Blake Belladonna Voice only [6]
2015 Lazer Team Herself Cameo
2016 RWBY: Grimm Eclipse Blake Belladonna Voice only [54]
2017 Lethal Weapon Waitress [lower-alpha 5] [6]
2016-2018 RWBY Chibi Blake Belladonna Voice only [17]
2021
2018 BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle [13]
2018 Paladins [6]
2020 Kaguya-sama: Love Is War Guest Voice English dub [lower-alpha 6]
2020 Vote for Love Zoey [lower-alpha 7] [55]
2020 Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina The Ripper English dub[lower-alpha 8] [31]
2021 The Detective Is Already Dead Nagisa Natsunagi English dub; Voice only [32][31]
2021 Death Battle Blake Belladonna Voice only[lower-alpha 9] [56]
2022 Girls' Frontline Gentiane English dub; Voice only [34][35]
2022 RWBY: Arrowfell Blake Belladonna Voice only [16]
2022 RWBY: Ice Queendom English dub; Voice only [57][58]
2023 Justice League x RWBY: Super Heroes & Huntsmen Voice only [59][60]

Notes
  1. at 29:35-30:57
  2. at 36:29-38:20
  3. at 13:53-14:01, 14:25-14:30
  4. at 24:48-29:40, 36:69-37:19, 37:31-38:15, 38:57-39:21
  5. Episode: "The Murtaugh File"
  6. Episode: "Yu Ishigami Closes His Eyes, Part 3/Miyuki Shirogane and Yu Ishigami/Kyoko Otomo Doesn't Realize"
  7. Episode: "Rising Oceans, Rising Voices"
  8. Episode: "The Ripper"
  9. Episode: "Blake vs Mikasa"

References
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