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Barbara Julie Dunkelman, aka "BlawnDee", is the Community Manager and Marketing Director for Rooster Teeth, as well as the co-manager of RTX, the host of Always Open, and a voice actress as well as motion capture animator.
She was a longtime community member of the site and volunteered at the first RTX before being hired full-time on December 12th, 2011, after she graduated from school. Before moving to Austin, Texas, she lived in Canada, and was born in Montreal, Quebec.
She graduated from the John Molson School of Business at Concordia University where she received a Bachelor of Commerce (B.Com.) in Marketing. She attended from 2007-2011.
Her job entails running contests as well as running Rooster Teeth's Social Media. She is also frequently a contributor on the Rooster Teeth Podcast as well as an actress in RT Shorts, most notably Siri: The Horror Movie. She also was a main member of the Internet Box Podcast, which she worked on with Michael, Lindsay and Ray before its cancellation.
In the Rooster Teeth series RWBY, she is the voice actress for main character Yang Xiao Long. She also voices supporting characters ORF in X-Ray and Vav, Katie Jensen in Red vs. Blue, and Nerris in Camp Camp. Her first role in an anime was as Cosmos from Fairy Tail, which was also her first role as an antagonist (albeit minor, and one who reformed nonetheless).
Trivia
- She frequently makes puns.
- There is an animated adventure, that consists only of bad puns made by Barbara, which is titled Barbara Pun-kelman , which has over 2 million views.
- This trait carried over to Yang, whose bad puns always cause groans.
- It has been stated that she constantly "flicks the bean."
- She has said her record is 11 times in one day.
- She is Jewish, having been born to a Jewish family, and is the middle child, having one older and one younger brother. She often pokes fun of her heritage during Christmas (since Jews have Hanukkah as their holiday instead), but has photographed herself participating in Christmas parties with her friends nonetheless (notably Arryn Zech).
- She is fluent in English, Hebrew, and French (albeit less so than the first two).
- She is a natural blonde, although she has dyed her hair occasionally for charity.
- She is right handed.
- Despite popular belief, Barbara has said that she is a naturally introverted person who often struggles with shyness. She's generally quiet in social situations and has to "psyche myself up" to prepare for the attention she gets on conventions. This puts her in stark contrast to her most famous character, Yang Xiao Long, who is outgoing and rambunctious in ways that Barbara herself simply is not.
- She is currently in a relationship with fellow voice actor and writer, Aaron Marquis, himself a Rooster Teeth employee.
- As of January 2nd, 2017, she now wears prescription glasses for computer use.
- A long-time fan of Red vs Blue, since her brothers first showed it to her in their teenage years, Barbara was finally given the chance to write the script for an episode by Miles Luna. The episode she wrote was "Head Cannon," centering on her favorite character (O'Malley), and it was the 16th episode of Season 14.
- As of August 23, 2016, she is now a permanent resident of the United States.
- She has said that she has a habit of "clamming up" in social situations, meaning she has periods of time where she goes downright silent in groups of people. This can be seen throughout her appearances in the Podcast or On The Spot, in particular.
- Similar to Arryn Zech, her close friend, Barbara identifies as a feminist, and has spoken out against the treatment women often get while online. On September 9th, 2016, she noted on Twitter that she was "proud to be a woman in gaming and entertainment" to reflect that. The next day, she attended a panel event from the women of Fullscreen, and participated in an event panel for the women of Rooster Teeth, many of whom she herself considers "strong, successful, and inspirational women." By the end of the events, she said she left "feeling inspired and motivated," and that she was "proud to be a woman and support other women in this industry."
- She played the main antagonist in Ten Little Roosters, before portraying one of Eleven's protagonists. Notably, her main partner in Eleven is Ryan Haywood, Ten's sole survivor.
- She got her first tattoo from Geoff during "The Tattooist" documentary. It was a small bird-like tattoo, in memory of Monty Oum and his iconic signature.
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