Barbara Julie Dunkelman[1]
(born July 2, 1989[2]) is a Canadian actress and internet personality. She is known for her work with the former production company Rooster Teeth, where she served as a Creative Director and was formerly the Director of Social and Community Marketing and a Program Director for RTX.[3][4][5][6] She also provides the voice of Yang Xiao Long in the web series RWBY and Nerris in Camp Camp,[7] and is a partial owner of the FCF Wild Aces Indoor Football Team.[8]
Dunkelman signed up on Rooster Teeth's website in October 2004.[2] In 2005 she attended and assisted at the premiere Toronto Red vs. Blue fan event, RvBTO.[12] Starting in 2008, she helped organize it as co-host and Rooster Teeth liaison.[13][14] She was a hostess for WatchMojo.com for several months in 2010.[15]
In September 2011, she co-founded the triple award-winning Internet Box podcast[16] hosted by herself, Michael Jones, Ray Narvaez, Jr., Andrew Blanchard, Mike Kroon, and Dylan "Dylon" Saramago, with Lindsay Jones and Kerry Shawcross being added to the cast later on. In December 2011, she was hired by Rooster Teeth as their first Community Manager, in charge of developing community features and the company's social media.[17][18] At the time of her hiring she was the most-followed member on the Rooster Teeth community site.[19] Since February 2012, she appears regularly on the award-winning Rooster Teeth Podcast.[16]
In May 2013, alongside fellow employee Jack Pattillo, she was interviewed as part of Microsoft's 2013 E3 Xbox One reveal.[20] Despite her numerous appearances on the podcast and at events, she estimates that "only 25 percent" of her job, which entails marketing and management functions within the company, takes place in the public eye.[19] Also in 2013, she began voicing the character of Yang Xiao Long in the Streamy Award-winning series RWBY, which is her most recognizable acting role.[21][22][23] She has also lent her voice to Cosmos in Fairy Tail and ORF in X-Ray and Vav.[24]
In the 2019 companion book to the series, Dunkelman said that at the time she was working as the community manager at Rooster Teeth and Monty Oum introduced her to Yang Xiao Long's character, remarking "I'm working on this show and there's this badass Goldilocks character. Do you want to play her?," with Dunkleman saying yes, even though she had never done any voice acting yet, and was listed at the end of the 'Red' trailer for the character Ruby Rose, even though she hadn't even auditioned for the role at the time. Dunkleman also said that Yang is "fun to play" as she is even-keeled in real-life while Yang can become very hot-headed, called it an honor to play "a character who's such a badass" and said it was nice to live vicariously through Yang, who loves motorcycle-riding.[25]
Beginning in September 2016, Dunkelman began hosting Always Open, a lifestyle and sexual health podcast within Rooster Teeth.[26] The podcast went on an "indefinite hiatus" in June 2020,[27] but returned in March 2023, along with a new YouTube channel entitled "All Good No Worries".[28] Also in September 2016, Dunkelman launched an eponymous clothing line at Rooster Teeth.[29] In September 2019, Dunkelman became a Creative Director at Rooster Teeth.[4]
Dunkelman has been in a relationship with producer Trevor Collins since 2018.[35] On November 23, 2023, the couple announced their engagement on Instagram.[36]
In 2021, she revealed in a video on her YouTube channel that she has a severe case of hyperhidrosis, and that she would be seeking surgery to curtail the effects of her condition.[37]
In a March 2023 interview with her friend Arryn Zech, a fellow voice actor on RWBY, Dunkleman said she is "not fully straight", but is "for the most part...fairly straight".[38]
^Rex, Vanessa (December 18, 2012). "GAW Visits Rooster Teeth". GamerAssaultWeekly. Archived from the original on March 31, 2022. Retrieved September 13, 2013.
^Silverman, Joshua (June 2, 2013). "RWBY: Yellow Unveiled". ConstantlyCalibrating. Archived from the original on August 30, 2013. Retrieved September 13, 2013.
^Zech, Arryn (March 28, 2023). "The Voices of Blake and Yang from RWBY talk Bumbleby - Always Open". All Good No Worries (Online). Interviewed by Barbara Dunkelman. YouTube/Rooster Teeth. Archived from the original on March 28, 2023. Retrieved March 29, 2023. I know for me, I identify as a not fully straight woman, but like for the most part, fairly straight{{cite interview}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) comment at 17:47-17:55
^"Head Canon". RoosterTeeth. Rooster Teeth. August 21, 2016. Archived from the original on March 31, 2023. Retrieved August 21, 2016.