In February 2019, Sony Pictures and Rooster Teeth ended their professional relationships with him in the wake of the MeToo movement, with allegations of sexual assault and harassment been made against Mignogna by users on Twitter and professionals in the voice acting industry. Mignogna unsuccessfully pursued legal cases against Funimation and other industry professionals in relation to the allegations and was ordered by a court to pay the defendants' legal fees. Mignogna lost his appeals from Funimation and their actors in 2022.
In 2007, the American Anime Awards presented Mignogna with an award for Best Actor for his work on Fullmetal Alchemist.[14][15][16] He often gains attention for his role in Alchemist, and at one point attended between 15 and 25 conventions per year.[10][17] One of Mignogna's career goals was "to record at all of the major places where dubbing is done".[18] He said he was "the first ADV voice actor to record at Funimation in Dallas and then I was the first to go to New York".[18] He has also recorded in Los Angeles; he tried out for Bleach and received the part of Ikkaku Madarame.[19][20] In non-anime productions, he voiced Qrow Branwen in Rooster Teeth's web series RWBY.[21]
In addition to voice acting, Mignogna has been involved in production for music, sound, and video.[22][23] He has produced hundreds of jingles for commercials,[18] and he was a worship leader with Houston's First Baptist Church.[24][8] Mignogna has sung the U.S. national anthem at several Houston Astros baseball games.[8] As a musician, he has released several albums, some of which feature English cover versions of anime songs from shows including Funimation dub of One Piece and the Dragon Ball series. He also handled some of the ADR direction for the English dub of Claymore, in which he voices Rigaldo.
Mignogna has been involved with several fan productions, including Fullmetal Fantasy[18] and Star Trek: Phase II. In the latter series, he co-directed the episode "Enemy: Starfleet" and played the Andorian Captain. He directed "KITUMBA" and played Malkthon the Klingon, and was slated to direct the episode "Mindsifter".[10][13][25] In 2012, Mignogna worked with the Starship Farragut production group. He directed and starred as Captain James T. Kirk in their web series Star Trek Continues.[26][27][28][29] Mignogna has received good reviews for writing, directing, executive-producing, and starring in Star Trek Continues, especially for his portrayal of the character of Kirk, respectfully using William Shatner's unique mannerisms and cadence.[30][31]
On April 17, 2022, it was announced that he will play the main lead in the animated series based on the Humanimal NFT collection.[32]
Personal life
Mignogna was previously married to Seliece Womble from 1995 to 2002,[33] and was in a relationship with actress Michele Specht from 2006 to May 2018.[3]
In early 2019, following the English release of Dragon Ball Super: Broly, which prominently features Mignogna's vocal work, allegations of sexual harassment against him began to surface on Twitter, with some allegations dating back to when his career began in 1989.[1][34][35][36] Multiple accounts alleged that he kissed, groped, and made lewd homophobic comments to fans without their consent, some of whom were underage.[34][35][37] Voice actresses Monica Rial and Jamie Marchitweeted their support for those speaking out, and alleged that he had also sexually harassed them.[1][36][38]
On January 22, 2019, Tammi Denbow, executive director of employee relations at Sony Pictures, opened an investigation based on reports made by Rial, two female fans, and a former Funimation employee, which concluded a week later with termination of his contract.[39] On February 5, Rooster Teeth severed their business relationship with him, and Funimation recast his role of the Executive in The Morose Mononokean.[40][41][42] Multiple anime conventions also removed him from their guest list.[37][43] In response to the controversy, Mignogna categorically denied any accusations of sexual harassment.[37][43]
Mignogna issued a statement of regret during his panel at Bak-Anime 2019 and again via Twitter on February 13, 2019.[44] Fans donated over $262,000 to a crowdfunding account opened by lawyer Nick Rekieta, who assisted Mignogna in acquiring Ty Beard as his attorney.[1][45] On February 20, Mignogna confirmed on Twitter that he was pursuing legal action,[46] and later filed a million-dollar lawsuit against Funimation, Rial, Marchi, and Ron Toye for defamation and tortious interference in the Tarrant County District Court.[47] Funimation filed a response on June 12, 2019, denying Mignogna's allegations.[48]
On June 26, Mignogna was deposed.[1] On July 1, 2019, Funimation filed an anti-SLAPP motion for Mignogna to dismiss his lawsuit.[49] Rial, Marchi, and Toye then filed anti-SLAPP motions on July 19,[50] with ten affidavits, including ones from Kara Edwards and Michele Specht,[7][1] as well as several allegations that he had also made unwanted advances towards Mari Iijima.[51] On July 30, another affidavit was submitted by the two fans from Funimation's investigation.[1]
On September 6, 2019, a judge dismissed seven of the twelve claims, ruling in the defendants' favor. Mignogna was required to pay all of Marchi's legal fees.[52][53] On October 4, 2019, the District Court announced the remaining claims had been dismissed.[54] Mignogna filed an appeal on October 24, with a hearing set for November 21.[55] The judge later ruled that Mignogna was required to pay for the defendants' attorney fees.[56] On August 18, 2022, the Texas Second Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal of Mignogna's lawsuit and ruled that the District Court judge erred with regards to the lawyer's fees awarded to Rial and Toye, revising the initial amount up from $100,000 to $282,953.80 to account for additional costs.[57] Mignogna's appeal was denied in September 2022.[58] On November 14, 2022, Mignogna filed a petition for review in the Supreme Court of Texas, which was subsequently denied on December 30, 2022.[59][60]
Since then, his acting career has relatively stalled, though he remains active on social media and continues to attend fan conventions.[citation needed]
Revix (2010) – a remix album of some of his earlier singles
Audio recordings
Gospel of John
A Howl at the Moon (2014) – audiobook narrator[232]
Notes
^1999 was the year that Mignogna began voice acting for anime dubs for television shows and videos. He has been composing and producing music since DC Talk's album in 1989 and appeared on television in 1993 as a contestant on Star Search.
^ The closing credits or manual does not list the voice actors involved.
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