American voice actress and comics writer (1960–2008)
Maddie Blaustein |
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| Born | Adam Blaustein
October 9, 1960 (1960-10-09)
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| Died | December 11, 2008(2008-12-11) (aged 48)
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| Resting place | Congregation B'nai Israel Cemetery |
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| Occupation(s) | Voice actress, comic writer |
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| Years active | 1985–2008 |
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| Notable credit | Pokémon as Meowth |
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| Relatives | Jeremy Blaustein (brother) |
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Madeleine Joan Blaustein (born Adam Blaustein, October 9, 1960 – December 11, 2008), also known as Kendra Bancroft, was an American voice actress and comic writer who was known for her voice acting work for 4Kids Entertainment, DuArt Film and Video and NYAV Post, for her reprising role as the character Meowth from the Pokémon anime series and for comics written for Milestone Comics, in which she introduced one of superhero comics' first transgender female characters. She was the first intersex and transgender voice artist for many of her respective agencies.[1]
Career
In the late 1980s, Blaustein worked for Marvel Comics, as an editor (several issues each of Web of Spider-Man, Marvel Tales, and Marvel Saga) as a writer (several issues of Conan the King), and penciling a one-shot of Power Pachyderms.[2][3] She wrote assorted comics published by DC Comics in the early 1990s, including a few for the Impact Comics imprint and TSR line.[2]
In 1994 she went to work for Milestone Media as production manager and writer.[4] With assistance from her partner Yves Fezzani[5] – sometimes billed together as "Adam & Yves"[6] – she wrote issues of flagship titles Hardware and Static (in which she co-created the character Rubber-Band Man).[7] She also wrote (with Fezzani) Milestone's first limited series Deathwish,[2][8] which featured as its central character transgender female police officer Marisa Rahm, one of the first trans heroes featured in mainstream superhero comics.[9] During this time she was sometimes referred to in editorial copy in the comics as "Addie Blaustein".[10]
After leaving Milestone, she served as Creative Director for Weekly World News.[11][12]
Blaustein was a voice actress at 4Kids Entertainment, where she worked on the English dub version of the Pokémon anime. She provided "filler" voices for various characters until episode #31, when she took over from Nathan Price in the role of Meowth, which she played through season 8.[13] During the 2004 Democratic Party primaries, she voiced Sméagol on the Mike Malloy Show, announcing a satirical presidential bid.[14]
Beginning in 2004 under the pseudonym Kendra Bancroft, Blaustein was a content creator on the Second Life platform,[15] earning a reputation as an innovative, competent, and reliable 3-D modeller in the communities where she participated.[16]
Personal life
Blaustein was born the second oldest of five children in Long Island, New York.[citation needed] She was assigned male at birth. She was born intersex, and transitioned to female.[17] Her experience as an activist in the transgender community helped her to organize and support groups of people in Second Life.[18]
Video game localization coordinator and translator Jeremy Blaustein is her brother.
Death
Blaustein died on December 11, 2008, at age 48 in Christ Hospital of Jersey City, New Jersey from an untreated stomach virus (possibly gastroenteritis) that she had been suffering from a couple of weeks prior.[11][19] She is buried at the Congregation B'nai Israel Cemetery in Northampton, Hampshire County, Massachusetts.
