Ed Boon

Edward Boon (born February 22, 1964) is an American video game programmer, voice actor, and director. Boon is best known for co-creating the fighting game series Mortal Kombat along with John Tobias, and directing the Injustice series. In 2009, he was chosen by IGN as one of the top 100 game creators of all time for his involvement in the Mortal Kombat series.

Boon was employed for over 15 years at Midway Games. Since 2011, he has worked for NetherRealm Studios.

Life and career Boon graduated from high school at Loyola Academy in Wilmette. Boon is of Hispanic descent, and his mother came from the Dominican Republic while his father is Dutch-American.

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 as 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. Programmer Mike Boon is Ed's younger brother and has been a part of his team since Mortal Kombat 4.

He was inducted into the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame in 2022.

Works Video games Year Title Role(s) 1990 High Impact Football 1991 Super High Impact 1992 Total Carnage Voice of General Akhboob 1992 Mortal Kombat Designer, programmer, voice of Scorpion, Reptile, Shang Tsung (announcer) 1993 Mortal Kombat II Designer, programmer, voice of Scorpion, Smoke, Noob Saibot, Liu Kang, and Jax 1995 Mortal Kombat 3 Designer, programmer, voice of Smoke, Liu Kang and Jax 1995 Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Executive producer, designer, programmer, voice of Scorpion 1996 Mortal Kombat Trilogy Designer, programmer 1997 Mortal Kombat 4 Designer, programmer, voice of Johnny Cage, Raiden, Kai, Scorpion and Jax 1999 Mortal Kombat Gold Project lead, voice of Cyrax 2001 The Grid 2002 Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance Team lead, game design, programming, voice of Scorpion 2004 Mortal Kombat: Deception Project lead, game design, programming, voice of Scorpion, Reiko, Sub-Zero and Noob Saibot 2005 Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks Executive producer, voice of Scorpion 2006 Mortal Kombat: Armageddon Creative director 2008 Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe Creative director, team leader 2011 Mortal Kombat Team leader, creative director, additional voices 2011 Batman: Arkham City Lockdown Creative director 2013 Injustice: Gods Among Us Creative director, team leader 2013 Batman: Arkham Origins Creative director, team leader 2015 Mortal Kombat X Creative director, team leader 2017 Injustice 2 Creative director, team leader 2019 Mortal Kombat 11 Creative director, team leader 2023 Mortal Kombat 1 Creative director, team leader

Pinball Year Title Role(s) 1987 F-14 Tomcat effects 1987 Space Station software and effects 1988 Banzai Run effects 1988 Taxi software and effects 1989 Black Knight 2000 software and effects 1990 FunHouse voice of Rudy

Film & Television