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SungWon Cho | ||||||||||
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Born | Saint Paul, Minnesota, U.S. | December 9, 1990|||||||||
Other names | ProZD | |||||||||
Alma mater | Michigan State University (BS) | |||||||||
Occupations |
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Years active | 2015–present | |||||||||
Spouse |
Anne Marie Salter
(m. 2016) | |||||||||
YouTube information | ||||||||||
Channel | ||||||||||
Years active | 2006–present | |||||||||
Genres |
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Subscribers | 3.9 million[1] | |||||||||
Total views | 1.8 billion[1] | |||||||||
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Last updated: February 14, 2024 |
SungWon Cho[3] (/ˈsʌŋwʌn/ SUNG-wun;[4] Korean: 조성원; RR: Jo Seong-won; born December 9, 1990), also known by his internet pseudonym ProZD, is an American YouTuber and voice actor. On his YouTube channel, Cho produces short comedy skits, unboxing videos, and reviews of board games and snack foods. He is also known for his many voice acting roles, including FL4K from Borderlands 3, Holst Sigiswald Goneril from Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes and Ratatoskr from God of War Ragnarök. His live-action roles include Detective Joe Furuya in Anime Crimes Division and Ritchie Cheung in BlackBerry.
Cho was born to Korean parents in Minnesota on December 9, 1990,[5][6] and later moved to DeWitt, Michigan.[7] He started voice acting in high school when he voiced different characters on a friend's radio plays.[8] He attended Michigan State University, where he frequently acted in live performances and graduated in 2012 with a degree in Media Information and Technology.[8][9][10] In 2012, after graduating, he described himself as being "in a creative rut" and taught English as a second language to Korean immigrant students.[11]
In October 2012, Cho began daily posting voice content to Tumblr, building an audience and eventually going viral with a video of him singing "Let It Go" from Frozen while approximating the voice of Goofy.[11] His first foray into professional voice acting occurred when voice director Deven Mack saw one of his YouTube videos and had him audition for Apotheon, where he ended up securing the role of the main villain Zeus.[12] He remained active on Vine until the 2016 announcement of their shutdown and was also a finalist for the 9th Shorty Awards for Vine of the Year.[13][14] Cho shifted his focus to his YouTube channel, his audience following from Vine and having his work often appear on the frontpage of Reddit.[15][16]
In 2017 Cho starred in his first live action role as the main character, Detective Joe Furuya, in Crunchyroll's Anime Crimes Division, for which he was nominated for Best Acting in a Comedy for the 8th Streamy Awards.[17][18] In mid-2018 Creative Artists Agency reached out and signed him coinciding with an already planned move to Los Angeles to continue his career as a voice actor.[19][20] Soon after he was cast in the multi-ethnic Rooster Teeth series Gen:Lock and told NewsWeek's Phillip Martinez, "Voice acting gives me a lot more freedom because I'm not limited by my physical appearance. I can voice all different sorts of characters."[21]
Cho's presence on YouTube grew throughout this time with his channel exceeding 3.75 million subscribers and most of his income between voice acting work coming from sponsorships and ad revenue.[22] His videos are intentionally low-budget and often feature recurring universes with their own casts of characters, including an anime parody ("The Tomoko Chairem Anime Canon") and a role-playing game parody ("King Dragon"), through which he pokes fun at common gaming and anime cliches and tropes.[22] He continued to expand these existing storylines that had originally started on Vine, as well as creating a Let's Play channel Press Buttons n Talk with his friend Alex Mankin.[22][23] In 2019, Cho voiced the character FL4K in the popular video game Borderlands 3.[24] He has been a fan favorite in the anime community being a frequent guest at conventions and presenting for the Crunchyroll Anime Awards.[25][26] In 2021, Cho began a new Let's Play channel ProZD Plays Games with his friend and video editor, Jay Choi. The channel has now reached over 100,000 subscribers and Choi has transitioned as full-time editor for both of Cho's YouTube channels while being succeeded as co-host by their friend, Steve Yurko.[27]
In 2023, Cho made his live-action Hollywood debut, playing a supporting role in BlackBerry.
In October 2015, Cho became engaged to Anne Marie Salter, a professional illustrator he met through an online Super Mario fan fiction community.[11] They married on May 28, 2016.[28] They have two cats named Effie and Sophie, who are often seen in Cho's videos.[29]
Cho came up with the username "ProZD" in elementary school, and said that he would not disclose what it means as "it's so embarrassing that even my wife doesn't know."[30] On April 26, 2022, Cho tweeted that he had finally revealed the meaning of the username to his wife after being together for fourteen years.[31]
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2018 | Something | Film actor | Voice role; feature film |
2021 | Belle[32] | Voice role (English dub); feature film | |
2023 | Lackadaisy | Mordecai Heller | Voice role; short film |
BlackBerry | Ritchie Cheung | First live-action film role |
Year | Title | Role | Notes | Source |
---|---|---|---|---|
2018 | Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Die Neue These | Vice Admiral Legrange | 1 episode | |
Radiant | Master Lord Majesty | 3 episodes | ||
2019 | Gen:Lock | Heng Li 'Henry' Wu | 3 episodes | [33] |
OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes | Johnny, Jack Whacky, Rando, Teamster, Game | 2 episodes | [34] | |
2020 | Craig of the Creek | Keun Sup "The Blur" | 4 episodes | |
Big City Greens | Maestro / King Violin | 1 episode | ||
Akudama Drive | Shark | |||
Pokémon Journeys: The Series | Delibird, Carnivine | [35][36] | ||
2021 | Adventure Time: Distant Lands | Brain Wizard, Ogrefied Yolk, Wizard Cop | Ep. "Wizard City" | |
Ranking of Kings | Kage | Main role | [37] | |
One Piece | Nekomamushi | Recurring role | ||
86 | Richard Altner | [38] | ||
The Irregular at Magic High School | Kotaro Tatsumi | |||
2022 | Odd Taxi | Kensuke Shibagaki | ||
Tokyo 24th Ward | Hiroki Shirakaba | [39] | ||
Birdgirl | Additional Voices | |||
Batwheels | Badcomputer, the Riddler | [40][41] | ||
2023 | Record of Ragnarok | Kajinosuke Tanikaze | Season 2 | [42] |
Pluto | Brau 1589 | |||
Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai | Circusmaster | [43] | ||
2024 | Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur | General Hyles | Episode: "Dancing With Myself" | |
Delicious in Dungeon | Senshi | Main role | [44] | |
Solo Leveling | Woo Jin-chul | Post-production | [45] |
Year | Title | Role | Notes | Source |
---|---|---|---|---|
2017–2018 | Anime Crimes Division | Detective Joe Furuya | Main character | [46] |
2018 | Nomad of Nowhere | Toro | Episode 7 | [33] |
Camp Camp | Brian | Season 3, episode 3 | [21] | |
Red vs. Blue | King Atlus Arcadium Rex | 8 episodes | ||
2019 | Tuca & Bertie | Ultra-Sam S380 | Episode: "Yeast Week" | [47] |
2020 | Bigtop Burger | Doctor | 5 episodes | |
Aggretsuko | Hyodo | 9 episodes | ||
Pokémon: Twilight Wings | Mustard, Mienshao | The Gathering of Stars | [48] | |
Onyx Equinox | Xolotl | 2 episodes | ||
2021 | High Guardian Spice | Cal, Kemp, Demon | 5 episodes | [34] |
2022 | The Hamlet Factory | Birmy | Episode: "Performance Review" | |
Samurai Rabbit: The Usagi Chronicles | Lord Kogane, Warimashi, Head Keisatsukan | |||
Make Some Noise | Himself | Episode: "A Villain and Their Real Estate Agent Tour Volcano Lairs" | ||
Drawtectives: Celestial Spear | Villainius | Episode: "Episode 7" | ||
2023 | Lackadaisy | Mordecai Heller | ||
2024 | Game Changer | FixItMan78 / Himself | Episode: "Deja Vu" | [49] |
Year | Title | Voice role | Notes | Source |
---|---|---|---|---|
2014 | Ace Attorney Investigations 2 | Gregory Edgeworth | Fan translation | [50][51] |
2015 | Apotheon | Zeus | [34][52] | |
2016 | Move or Die | Announcer | ||
2017 | Battlerite | Sirius | [53] | |
Fallen Legion | G'ndarark the Bloodhammer | [54] | ||
A Hat in Time | Express Owls / Intercom | [34] | ||
2064: Read Only Memories | Froyo Guy, Bouncers, and Police ROMs | [55] | ||
2018 | Monster Prom | Brian / Interdimensional Prince | [34][23] | |
2MD: VR Football | Coach | [56] | ||
Unavowed | Kalash | [57] | ||
BattleCON: Online | King Alexian XXXVII | |||
Attack of the Earthlings | Regional Manager Dennis Dickinham | [58] | ||
Wonder Wickets | Leo | |||
2019 | Judgment | Tashiro | English dub | [59][60] |
Akash: Path of the Five | Caspian | [61] | ||
River City Girls | Nishimura | [62][63] | ||
Borderlands 3 | FL4K | [34][64] | ||
2020 | Granblue Fantasy Versus | Vaseraga, Imperial Soldier | English dub | [34] |
Yakuza: Like a Dragon | Mitsuo Yasumura | [65] | ||
Forgotten Waters | Captain Jesbut J Vance | [66] | ||
Soulcalibur VI | Hwang Seong-gyeong | English dub (version 2.30 onward) | ||
Fire Emblem Heroes | Darros | English dub | ||
2021 | Persona 5 Strikers | Additional voices | [67] | |
Genshin Impact | Krosl / Uncle Dai / Bravo / Elemental Being: Grounded Geoshroom | [68][69] | ||
Scarlet Nexus | Additional voices | [70] | ||
Disgaea 6: Defiance of Destiny | Misedor | |||
Boyfriend Dungeon | Sunder the Talwar | |||
Mary Skelter Finale | Jabberwock | |||
Lost Judgment | Tesso / Tashiro | English dub | [34] | |
Monster Hunter Rise | Hibasa | [71] | ||
2022 | Shadow Warrior 3 | Zilla | [72] | |
Phantom Breaker: Omnia | Phantom | English dub | [73][74] | |
Rune Factory 5 | Bandit, Oswald | [34] | ||
Arcade Spirits: The New Challengers | Domino | [75] | ||
Neon White | Mikey | [34] | ||
AI: The Somnium Files – Nirvana Initiative | Gen Ishiyagane | English dub | ||
Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes | Holst Sigiswald Goneril | |||
God of War Ragnarök | Ratatoskr | Also motion capture and writing assistance | [76] | |
River City Girls 2 | Nishimura | English dub | [77] | |
2023 | Master Detective Archives: Rain Code | Number One of the WDO | [34] | |
Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp | Eagle / Flak | |||
Detective Pikachu Returns | Will Butler | [78] | ||
Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name | Boss | [34] | ||
Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising | Vaseraga, Imperial Soldier | |||
2024 | Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth | Additional voices | [79] | |
Granblue Fantasy: Relink | Vaseraga | [34] | ||
Unicorn Overlord | Great Sage of Albion, Mercenaries (Type E), additional voices | |||
The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak | Geraint Reigar, citizens |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Work/Recipient | Result | Refs |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2017 | Shorty Awards | Vine of the Year | "When You're the Main Character Tho" | Nominated | [14] |
2018 | Streamy Awards | Acting in a Comedy | Anime Crimes Division | Nominated | [80] |
2023 | Crunchyroll Anime Awards | Best Voice Artist Performance (English) | Kage (Ranking of Kings) | Nominated | [81] |
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