| Ed Boon | |
| Birth Date: | 22 February 1964 |
| Years Active: | 1987–present |
| Occupation: | Game programmer, director, philanthropist, voice actor and producer |
Edward "Ed" Boon (born February 22, 1964)[1] is an American video game programmer, voice actor, and director. Boon was employed for over 15 years at Midway Games. Since 2011, he has worked for Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment for one of its Subsidiaries, NetherRealm Studios.
Boon is best known for the widely popular Mortal Kombat series, which he created with John Tobias, and the Injustice series. In 2009, he was chosen by IGN as one of the top 100 game creators of all time.[2]
Boon graduated from high school at Loyola Academy in Wilmette. Boon is of Hispanic descent, from the Dominican Republic. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics and computer science from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.[3] [4]
After graduation, he was employed by Williams Entertainment in their pinball department, working on approximately 20 pinball games over the next two years.[5] During this time, he was called the Mortal Master, an early indicator towards a future creation.
He is the co-creator of the Mortal Kombat fighting game series, along with John Tobias,[6] and served as the series' lead programmer, with Tobias the lead designer, until their partnership dissolved with Tobias' departure from Midway in 2000. Boon named series characters Sonya and Tanya after his sisters Sonia and Tania,[7] while another character, Noob Saibot, was named after Boon and Tobias' reversed surnames. This is also elaborated in their Twitter handles, @noobde and @therealsaibot.[8] [9] Programmer Mike Boon is Ed's younger brother, and has been in his team since Mortal Kombat 4. The Boons are Hispanic and Dominican by ethnicity.[10] [11]
Boon was ranked #100 in IGN's 2009 list of "Top 100 Game Creators" for his involvement in the Mortal Kombat series.[12] He continues to be directly involved with the MK franchise and its multimedia side projects, and has also provided voice acting and motion capture work for the games, most notably providing the voice for the "Come here!" and "Get over here!" catchphrases uttered by Scorpion in every installment of the series as well as the first two feature films Mortal Kombat and Mortal Kombat Annihilation. The 2008 edition of Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition consequently awarded him a world record for the "longest-serving video game voice actor."[13]
In 2018 Mortal Kombat was exhibited in an arcade cabinet at the Chicago New Media 1973–1992 exhibition, curated by jonCates.[14]
| Year | Title | Role(s) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | High Impact Football | ||
| 1991 | Super High Impact | ||
| 1992 | Total Carnage | Voice of General Akhboob | |
| 1992 | Mortal Kombat | Designer, programmer, voice of Scorpion, Reptile, Shang Tsung (announcer) | |
| 1993 | Mortal Kombat II | Designer, programmer, voice of Scorpion, Smoke, Noob Saibot, Liu Kang, and Jax | |
| 1995 | Mortal Kombat 3 | Designer, programmer, voice of Smoke, Liu Kang and Jax | |
| 1995 | Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 | Executive producer, designer, programmer, voice of Scorpion | |
| 1996 | Mortal Kombat Trilogy | Designer, programmer | |
| 1997 | Mortal Kombat 4 | Designer, programmer, voice of Johnny Cage, Raiden, Kai, Scorpion and Jax | |
| 1999 | Mortal Kombat Gold | Project lead, voice of Cyrax | |
| 2001 | The Grid | ||
| 2002 | Team lead, game design, programming, voice of Scorpion | ||
| 2004 | Project lead, game design, programming, voice of Scorpion, Reiko, Sub-Zero and Noob Saibot | ||
| 2005 | Executive producer, voice of Scorpion | ||
| 2006 | Creative director | ||
| 2008 | Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe | Creative director, team leader | |
| 2011 | Mortal Kombat | Team leader, creative director, additional voices | |
| 2011 | Creative director | ||
| 2013 | Creative director, team leader | ||
| 2013 | Batman: Arkham Origins | ||
| 2015 | Mortal Kombat X | Creative director, team leader | |
| 2017 | Injustice 2 | Creative director, team leader | |
| 2019 | Mortal Kombat 11 | Creative director, team leader | |
| 2023 | Mortal Kombat 1 | Creative director, team leader |
| Year | Title | Role(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 1987 | F-14 Tomcat | effects |
| 1987 | Space Station: Pinball Rendezvous | software and effects |
| 1988 | Banzai Run | effects |
| 1988 | Taxi | software and effects |
| 1989 | Black Knight 2000 | software and effects |
| 1990 | FunHouse | voice of Rudy[15] |
| Year | Title | Role(s) | Note(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Mortal Kombat | Scorpion (voice) | |
| 1997 | Mortal Kombat Annihilation | ||
| 2006 | Drawn Together | Episode: "The One Wherein There Is a Big Twist: Part 2" | |
| 2011 | Ed Goodman | cameo appearance in first-season episode "Johnny Cage" | |