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Joel Pearce Heyman is one of the co-founders of Rooster Teeth, as well as an American actor, producer, screenwriter, and director. He formerly served as the Head of RT advertising/corporate productions. He is best known for starring in the Rooster Teeth web series Red vs. Blue as Michael J. Caboose and O'Malley, and The Strangerhood as Wade, Bartholomew Oobleck in RWBY, as well as Bidderman in 1-800-Magic, a show he wrote the screenplay for. He occasionally also wrote scripts for some Rooster Teeth Shorts. Prior to his involvement with Rooster Teeth, he starred in The Schedule, a live-action film written and directed by Burnie Burns and produced by Matt Hullum.

On June 1, 2020, Joel replied to a user on Twitter that he was no longer employed by Rooster Teeth for personal reasons with the company, having been laid off months ago, most likely in mid-September 2019, but declined to elaborate.[1][2][3][4][5] He has since relocated to Los Angeles, where he lived in the first season of Red vs. Blue.

Career[]

Joel graduated from the University of Texas, in Austin, in 1997 where he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Drama Production. During that time, he was a roommate of Burnie Burns and Matt Hullum, who used Joel as the star of their film The Schedule.

Afterwards, Joel moved to Los Angeles, where his acting career included bit parts in shows such as Friends, Angel, The Inside, Enterprise, and Alias. In 2003, Matt brought him to voice a character in a show Burnie had started back in Austin. Red vs. Blue turned out to be a hit that led to a whole company, Rooster Teeth Productions, and brought Joel, whose character Caboose quickly became a fan favorite, back to Texas. Heyman's other credited roles in Rooster Teeth include Wade in The Strangerhood and Bartholomew Oobleck in RWBY. He was also a recurring member of The Rooster Teeth Podcast (previously The Drunk Tank), hosted What do you Know, coached short-lived Blue team for The Gauntlet, and hosted a series of Rooster Teeth gaming videos called How To, where he and fellow employee Adam Ellis play various video games while under the effects of alcohol. He had a cameo role in the film Lazer Team, playing a news reporter. He has reprised his Red vs. Blue role as a Blue Prison Guard in the G4 show Code Monkeys and had a minor role in Halo 3 as a UNSC Marine.

As the Head of RT advertising/corporate productions, Joel's job responsibilities included finding sponsors and coordinates sponsored lets plays/shorts/commercials Rooster Teeth does, managing the business/corporate RT site with some sample commercials under portfolio, and managing the commercials Rooster Teeth does for major companies.

Joel was fired from Rooster Teeth in November of 2019. This was not announced publicly until June 2020, when he mentioned it in passing on his personal Twitter handle. In reply to a fan's question on Twitter, Joel mentioned in a tweet on June 1, 2020 that he was laid off from RT several months ago, presumably in the fall of 2019.[6][7][8] He has since relocated to L.A.

Achievement Hunter[]

Joel occasionally made videos for Achievement Hunter. His videos are typically humorous in nature, although he has made a 5-part guide for Halo CE Anniversary's skulls and terminals with Jack.

Most notable among these are "Joel and Jack meet the Kinectimals", which has been viewed on YouTube more than 3 million times and is the number one search result for "Kinectimals".

Let's Play[]

Joel appeared in Let's Play Minecraft: Episode 2 - On a Rail!. He used the "Prisoner Steve" skin, with light blond hair and an orange jumpsuit, and as the others built their minecart track, Joel went off alone to build and mine. Joel would comment whenever one of the others asked where he is, saying that they couldn't find him, or to keep their lava away from him. He was apparently concerned that Gavin would try to mess with him, Joel having "heard stories about him."

Joel also created a video for Far Cry 3 showing various things you can do with water vehicles and a Dead Space 3 Video for an Achievement Hunter Segment called "Achievement Hunter Kids". Additionally, he has made a short Let's Play of Portal 2 with Jack, and a New Year's Eve special Let's Play of Dead Space 3 with Jack.        

Other videos involve Jiliian's Fitness Adventure, Country Dance 2, Dead Space 1, and La Noire. There have also been several Let's Plays with Joel and Adam, which have mainly consisted of horror games.

Videos[]

Video Title Airdate Link
Need for Speed: The Run.....errr...or... Jillian Michaels Fitness Adventure? Nov 21, 2011 link
Joel and Jack meet the Kinectimals Dec 1, 2011 link
Joel and Jack play... Country Dance 2? Dec 14, 2011 link
Critical Mission Failure Feb 20, 2012 link
RT Noire May 8, 2012 link
Joel and Jac...KARA play Dead Space May 16, 2012 link   
Joel and Ray: We're On a Boat April 11, 2013 link
"Achievement Hunter KiDz!" with Jack & Joel (NSFW... or kids) April 18, 2013 link
Jack & Joel 'play' State of Decay June 20, 2013 link
Joel and Jack play Portal 2 Jan. 10, 2012 link
Halo CE: Anniversary: Skulls and Terminals 1-5 with Jack and Joel Nov. 15-16 2011 (Part 1)
Let's Play- Dead Space 3 (with Jack and Joel) Dec. 31 2013


Gallery[]

Trivia[]

  • He seems to pay a great deal of attention to stock prices, particularly of gold, is scared of snakes, and has issues with technology, all of which has been noted in episodes of Rooster Teeth Animated Adventures.
  • In going with his fear of snakes, Joel, ironically, owned a pet python when he was younger.
  • He has also done a range of acting roles on American television shows including Friends, Angel, The Inside, Alias, Criminal Minds. Visit Joel Heyman's IMDB profile for more information.
  • He had a minor role in Halo 3 as an unseen marine, voiced in the character of Caboose from Red vs. Blue, found in the Crow's Nest level on Legendary difficulty.
    • The marine in question, as well as another one as part of Master Chief's team, are voiced in Red vs. Blue characters regardless of difficulty, only the two characters whose voices are used vary based on the difficulty played. In Joel's case, the other marine is voiced by Burnie Burns in the character of Church.
  • Despite his reputation for voicing the happy-go-lucky character of Caboose, Joel often appears agitated or irate when in public, and has a reputation among Rooster Teeth employees as an open pessimist.
  • When Joel first joined Rooster Teeth as a full-time employee, his first task was the re-shooting of Red vs Blue seasons 1 and 2 using the PC version of Halo: Combat Evolved to shoot in high-resolution for the Xbox Live Marketplace.
  • Joel is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, where he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in drama production.
  • Joel was apparently a big fan of Star Trek as he used to be able to name all of the ships as noted in Megacraft - Giant Spaceship Fleet. Adequately, he was an extra on the Trek show Enterprise.
  • While Caboose is often completely divorced from reality in Red vs. Blue, his other major character Dr. Oobleck of RWBY is a noted historian.

References[]

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