Marc Handler


Marc Handler is an American writer, producer and voice director best known for his work on Cowboy Bebop, Astro Boy, FLCL, Stitch & AI, and Voltron. He is a pioneer in bringing Asian animation to Western audiences, and is the first American to work in Japan as a story editor on a Japanese anime series, Tetsuwan Atomu.

Early life

Marc was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. As a young adult, he formed the Subject To Change Theatre Troupe, which was active in political causes such as support for Nelson Mandela in South Africa. He studied at the University of Southern California where he earned two Master's degrees in directing theatre and writing for film and television.

Career

Marc wrote original episodes for American animation series such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Widget the World Watcher, and Denver, the Last Dinosaur. He became involved in the first major wave of imported anime for Western audiences, writing English language scripts and adaptations for Voltron, Saber Rider and Transformers. As anime evolved, he worked as a writer and voice director on projects such as Cowboy Bebop, FLCL, , Steamboy, and Metropolis. He also voice directed Stephen Chow in Hong Kong for the English language version of Shaolin Soccer, and wrote episodes for the 2011-2012 successful revival of Power Rangers based on the Japanese Super Sentai series. Marc was later involved in bringing original Chinese and Korean animation to the West, including Stitch & AI ; Peking Duckling ; Kioka ; and Mix Master Final Force.
Marc was a guest speaker at the Conference On Dialogue Of Asian Civilization in Beijing in 2019; which was hosted by President Xi Jinping. Marc also spoke at The Great Hall of the People for the Beijing Film Academy in 2019, and he has been a judge for the Canadian BANFF awards; a guest speaker at Tokyo University; a guest speaker at San Diego Comic-Con and Anime L.A., and has organized and led a series of annual workshops in the U.S. for Chinese Animation professionals hosted by Disney, China and Disney, Burbank..
He has written two books on writing and presentations which were published by Beijing University Press in China and Freelec Publishers in Korea.

Personal life

Marc is married to Annet Yorn; they have one son, Kai Handler. They live alternately in Shanghai, China and Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Awards

ADR / voice director