Mark Justin Roiland (born February 21, 1980) is an American voice actor, animator, writer, producer, and director. He is best known as the co-creator and former executive producer of the [adult swim] animated series Rick and Morty, in which he voiced both of the show's eponymous characters in the first six seasons.
Before Rick and Morty, Roiland created multiple animated shorts for Channel 101 and was the voice of Oscar on Disney XD's Fish Hooks. He also voiced Earl of Lemongrab on Adventure Time, Chris on Out There, Blendin Blandin on Gravity Falls, Doop Doop on Star vs. the Forces of Evil, Clumpy in Krampus, Doug Cheston on Invincible, and the Ice Cube Head in Community's series finale.
He also created (and, until 2023, starred in) Solar Opposites for Hulu and has a video game called Trover Saves the Universe, developed by Squanch Games, a video game development studio he co-founded. As of 2023, he has also written for the animated anthology series The Boys: Diabolical, created the TV special The Paloni Show!Halloween Special! and the video game High on Life (another Squanch Games production), as well as executive produced the animated series Koala Man.
In January 2023, Roiland was charged with two counts of domestic abuse stemming from a 2020 incident with an unnamed woman whom he was allegedly dating. He pleaded not guilty to the charges and had been expected to face trial beginning April 27. This incident caused Adult Swim to dismiss Roiland, with Rick and Morty planning to recast his roles starting with season 7. Hulu later did the same, announcing that Solar Opposites and Koala Man will be produced without him going forward. Also, Squanch Games announced that he had resigned from the studio shortly after the Adult Swim announcement. The charges were dropped on March 22 due to a lack of evidence.
However, before that, multiple people in and outside the industry had come forward with allegations against Roiland
ranging from unprofessional behavior in the workplace to sexual harassment, and that he had barely been creatively involved in making many shows to which his name was attached apart from his voice work. More accusations of sexual misconduct came later in 2023. In a September 2023 interview, his Rick and Morty co-creator Dan Harmon said that the two hadn't even talked since 2019.
Tropes associated with Justin Roiland's roles
- No Indoor Voice: A lot of his roles involve him shouting a lot. This is even lampshaded in Gravity Falls when Blendin is muted.
- Signature Style: Justin Roiland's works feature incongruous Black Comedy and loose-rambling improv. Characters' irises will also be ink blots instead of clean circles.
- Special Guest: He appeared in Joel Haver's "Sand Planet" as a disgruntled Uncle Owen and a suicidal droid.
