David Moo


David Benjamin Moo is an American voice actor, bartender and bar owner. He worked on projects for 4Kids Entertainment, Central Park Media, NYAV Post and TAJ Productions. He is best known for voicing Sanji in the 4Kids English language dub of One Piece, Xellos in The Slayers, and Faraji Ngala in several episodes of the 2003–2009 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series.

Voice acting

Moo was previously an actor and theatre director before landing roles as a voice actor in the late 1990s, primarily voicing characters in Japanese anime as they were dubbed into English for local audiences. Some of Moo's performances, specifically his role as Sanji from One Piece, received online criticism from anime fans. Moo would later disclose in a 2014 interview that when he was voicing the American version of Sanji for the 4Kids version, that it had been the script directors' choice to give the character a Brooklyn accent, which contradicted many fan rumors of Moo having a head cold or being a drug addict.
Moo performed his voice work both in professional recording studios and a personal home studio. He is good friends with fellow voice actors David Brimmer, Dan Green and Michael Sinterniklaas, among others. Around the time Moo worked on One Piece he was working as a bartender at the Quarter Bar in Brooklyn. He recorded the voice of Sanji from 2004 up until the dub's cancellation in 2007.

Bartending

Moo has had work as a bartender specializing in novelty cocktails since the early 2000s. He worked as head bartender at New York City establishments Ouest and Last Exit, before opening his own Quarter Bar, with business partner Joe Herron, on the southern edge of Park Slope in 2007. He subsequently retired from voice acting. He was replaced by Michael Sinterniklaas for seasons 4 and 5 of Slayers. As a bartender, Moo enjoys making Manhattans and a drink he calls "Alice's Mallet" made from gin and rhubarb syrup that Moo distills himself. In 2016 Esquire magazine named Moo's Quarter Bar one of the top 18 bars in the United States.

Roles

In January 2019, Moo appeared as a contestant on the quiz show Jeopardy!, coming in second place out of the three contestants and winning $2,000.

Personal life

Moo's first and middle names are Jewish and his last name Chinese, reflecting his Jamaican-Jewish-Chinese heritage. He is married to Dawn Kinstle, co-owner of Lot② restaurant and bar, also in Brooklyn.