Ed Boon
Edward John Boon (born February 22, 1964) is an American video game programmer, voice actor, and director who was employed for over 15 years at Midway Games and since 2011 has worked for Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment in its daughter company NetherRealm Studios. Boon is best known for the widely popular "Mortal Kombat" series, which he created with John Tobias, and the "Injustice" series. Life and career. Boon was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, on February 22, 1964 and graduated from high school at Loyola Academy in Wilmette. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics  and computer science from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. After graduation, he was employed by Williams Entertainment in their pinball department, working on approximately 20 pinball games over the next two years. During this time, he was called the Mortal Master, an early indicator towards a future creation. He is the co-creator of the "Mortal Kombat" fighting game series, along with John Tobias, and served as the series' lead programmer, with Tobias the lead designer, until their partnership dissolved with Tobias' departure from Midway in 2000. Boon named series characters Sonya and Tanya after his sisters Sonia and  Tania, while another character, Noob Saibot, was named after Boon and Tobias' reversed surnames. This is also elaborated in their Twitter handles, @noobde and @therealsaibot. Programmer Mike Boon is Ed's younger brother, and has been in his team since Mortal Kombat 4. The Boons are Hispanic and Dominican by ethnicity. Boon was ranked #100 in IGN's 2009 list of "Top 100 Game Creators" for his involvement in the "Mortal Kombat" series. He continues to be directly involved with the "MK" franchise and its multimedia side projects, and has also provided voice acting and motion capture work for the  games, most notably providing the voice for the "Come here!" and "Get over here!" catchphrases uttered by Scorpion in every installment of the series as well as all feature films. The 2008 edition of "Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition" consequently awarded him a world record for the "longest-serving video game voice actor." In 2018 "Mortal Kombat" was exhibited in an arcade cabinet at the Chicago New Media 1973–1992 exhibition, curated by jonCates.