Monty Oum facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Monty Oum
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Oum at PAX 2013
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Monyreak Oum
June 22, 1981 Providence, Rhode Island, U.S.
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| Died | February 1, 2015 (aged 33) Austin, Texas, U.S.
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| Occupation | Animator, screenwriter, animation director, voice actor |
| Years active | 2007–2015 |
| Employer | Rooster Teeth Productions |
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Notable work
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Sheena Duquette
(m. 2014) |
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Monyreak Oum (pronounced OHM; born June 22, 1981 – died February 1, 2015) was a talented American animator and writer. He became famous for his amazing animated videos on the internet.
Oum first caught the eye of many people in the gaming world in 2007. He released an animated video called Haloid. In this video, characters from the popular Halo and Metroid video games fought each other. The video became very popular online. Later that same year, he made another series called Dead Fantasy. Monty Oum then started working for Rooster Teeth, a well-known online production company. He became the main animator for their show Red vs. Blue. He also created his own hit animated series, RWBY.
Sadly, Monty Oum had a serious allergic reaction in January 2015. He fell into a coma and passed away on February 1, 2015, in Austin, Texas. He was 33 years old.
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Early Life and Art
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Monty Oum was born in Providence, Rhode Island in 1981. His family came from different parts of Asia, including Cambodia, Vietnam, China, and Japan. He grew up with four older brothers and two older sisters. One of his brothers, Neath, later took over voicing a character named Lie Ren in RWBY after Monty's death. As a teenager, Monty spent time at New Urban Arts. This was a community art studio in Providence where high school students could explore their creativity.
Monty Oum's Career
Starting with Fan Videos
Monty Oum left high school early to focus on making fan videos. He started creating these videos as early as 2002. In January 2007, he learned how to take character models from the video game Halo 2. He then used parts from Super Smash Bros. Melee to create Haloid. This video showed a big fight between a SPARTAN from Halo and Samus Aran from Metroid. The name Haloid was a mix of Halo and Metroid. These videos quickly got a huge number of views online. Later in 2007, Oum made a series called Dead Fantasy. In this series, characters from Final Fantasy and Dead or Alive fought each other.
Working in the Industry
After Haloid became popular, many video game companies wanted to hire Monty Oum. He first worked for Midway Games as a combat designer. In 2008, he joined Namco Bandai Games. There, he worked as a combat designer and animator for the game Afro Samurai. However, Monty found working in the big gaming industry frustrating.
In 2009, he met Burnie Burns, a co-founder of Rooster Teeth. They talked about Monty possibly working for Rooster Teeth. In 2010, it was announced that Monty Oum had joined Rooster Teeth. He became an animator for their popular web series Red vs. Blue.
His next big project was the animated series RWBY. This show featured exciting and imaginative fight scenes with characters who had special powers. RWBY quickly gained a large following online. It was a big success for Rooster Teeth. Many critics praised the high quality of its animated fight scenes. Two seasons of RWBY were made while Monty was alive. A third season was being created when he passed away in 2015. The show has continued to be very popular and has won awards, including the Streamy Award for Best Animated Series in 2014.
Monty Oum's Passing
On January 22, 2015, Monty Oum had a severe allergic reaction. This happened during a simple medical procedure. On January 30, Rooster Teeth co-founder Burnie Burns shared that Monty was in critical condition. He also said it was not known if Monty would recover. A donation page was set up to help with his medical costs. People donated over $210,000 to help him. Sadly, on February 1, 2015, Monty Oum died from the allergic reaction. He was 33 years old.
