Age: 41
male
Michael "Mike" Rianda (born December 25, 1984) is an American cartoonist, director, writer, and voice actor. He is known for his work on Gravity Falls as a creative director and writer for season 1, and creative consultant for season 2. He is also known for directing, co-writing, and co-starring his feature directorial debut The Mitchells vs. the Machines. Rianda was born on December 25, 1984 in Salinas, California. He attended the California Institute of the Arts after he "drew and said amusing things" in school, studying character animation. Rianda also started writing and directing two short films at the animation school titled Everybody Dies in 90 Seconds (2008) and Work (2010). He became a creative director and writer on the Emmy-award winning Disney Channel animated television series series Gravity Falls, until his departure in 2013. Mike also voiced Lee, Thompson, Mr. Poolcheck, and the additional voices. Rianda later returned and served as an creative consultant for its second season. In 2021, he directed and co-written, along with Jeff Rowe, The Mitchells vs. the Machines, in which he also voiced Aaron Mitchell. The film was released on Netflix on April 30, 2021.
The story begins with a N. Sane evil scientist named Dr. Neo Cortex, who, with the help of his assistant Dr. Nitrus Brio, experiments on animals to assemble a massive army tasked with collecting as many gems and crystals charged with enough energy to power the immense and devastating mecha robot built by his co-assistant Dr. N. Gin, and thus finally complete his plan for world domination. However, something goes wrong with his latest experiment, Crash, which causes him to end up far from the villain's lair and on to Wumpa Island, where he meets Aku Aku, an ancient spirit of the island reincarnated in a mystical Tiki mask who acts as a protective guide to those around him. Along the way, they meet Coco, a sweet teenager who is actually Crash's younger sister by blood. She needs their help to save her friends: Tawna, Isabella, Megumi, Liz, and Ami, who are still held captive by Cortex. Thus, our marsupial heroes join together in this adventure, despite their protective mask being the main target of the mutant army led by the mobster Pinstripe Potoroo, which Cortex needs to complete his aforementioned weapon, so they must be prepared for any obstacle, such as Pinstripe's loyal henchmen: Koala Kong and Komodo Bros, and a trio of not-so-loyal bounty hunters formed by Tiny Tiger, Dingodile, and Ripper Roo.
