Chris Niosi

Christopher Edwin Niosi (born December 31, 1988) is an American animator, producer, and voice actor who is known for his animated web series TOME: Terrain of Magical Expertise as well as his roles in anime, animation projects and video games. Some of his known voice roles include Arataka Reigen in Mob Psycho 100, Dezel in Tales of Zestiria, Garma Zabi in Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin, Khoury and numerous other characters in the Pokémon franchise, Ernesto and numerous other characters in Cartoon Network's OK KO! Let's Be Heroes, Pegasus in the Viz Media English dub of Sailor Moon and Therion the Thief in Octopath Traveler.

Early life
Niosi was born on Northport, New York and was raised in Long Island. He attended the School of Visual Arts in New York City.

Animation
Niosi began making numerous animations for Newgrounds under the name "Kirbopher" in 2004, mostly making parody-based content. His first professional animation job was for Eduware doing character design, animation and voices. He also did video game animation for A Hat in Time, Skullgirls and Cryamore.

Terrain of Magical Expertise
Niosi is the co-creator of the project Terrain of Magical Expertise, also known as TOME, alongside graphic design artist Mike Luckas. The web series' is known for its inclusion of several YouTube personalities and anime voice artists such as Yuri Lowenthal and Kyle Hebert and many other contributors such as Steven Universe's Aivi Tran. The series' concept was based on their experiences role-playing in the Internet forums of the former media website TV Tome, after which the concept is named. Although a 73-episode Newgrounds-based web series entitled TV Tome Adventures was produced, the retooled web series was developed years later by Niosi with a different approach. Originally sponsored by Newgrounds, the series was eventually crowdfunded through GoFundMe to produce the remaining duration. The majority of the animation was done by Niosi himself, along with a few guest animators and assistants. TOME was released on YouTube on January 1, 2015, and ran for 15 episodes, concluding on July 7.

On September 30, 2017, a Kickstarter for a video-game adaption, influenced by Super Mario RPG, was launched. The game served an alternative continuity from both predecessors and featured a customizable player known as the White Hat Hacker joining the main characters. The campaign was funded on November 4, 2017, successfully funding $111,162. The game is produced by NEO-C Productions LLC., with Niosi serving as the director and head designer and character animator of the game, with Michael Scott Prinke serving as head programmer. Many of the TOME alumni return for the game such as voice artist Blake Swift who reprises his role as Alpha and does sound design for the game. Similar to its predecessors, the game will include the likeness of selective internet personalities such as The Game Theorists and backers from the campaign in a story-relevant or cameo position. Although a PC and macOSX release is planned, the release date and any additional platform releases for the final product remains undetermined.

Voice acting
Niosi started his first professional voice-over job playing the role as Khoury and other characters in Pokémon: Diamond and Pearl: Galactic Battles after meeting voice director Tom Wayland. Niosi began voicing several anime characters such as Yujiro Hattori in Bakuman, Taira in Queen’s Blade: Rebellion, Dezel in Tales of Zestiria and numerous other roles. His first regular and popular anime character became Reigen Arataka from Mob Psycho 100. In 2017, he was announced as the voice of Pegasus for the Viz Media dub of Sailor Moon SuperS.

In 2016, he became a regular voice actor in Cartoon Network's series, OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes which aired on August 1, 2017. He plays numerous characters such as Nick Army, Neil, Pird, Ernesto and more. This role eventually lead him to join SAG-AFTRA and be represented by Arlene Thornton & Associates. In 2018, he was announced as the voice of Therion the Thief and Matthais in Octopath Traveler.

Personal life
Niosi has three siblings: one younger brother and two older sisters; one of them is Alison Fanelli, who contributed as the voice of Splat in Terrain of Magical Expertise. In 2015, Niosi vlogged that he has Asperger syndrome.