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Maddie Blaustein | |
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| Born | Adam Blaustein October 9, 1960 (1960-10-09) Long Island, New York, U.S. |
| Died | December 11, 2008(2008-12-11) (aged 48) Jersey City, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Resting place | Congregation B'nai Israel Cemetery |
| Occupation(s) | Voice actress, comic writer |
| Years active | 1985–2008 |
| Notable credit | Pokémon asMeowth |
| Relatives | Jeremy Blaustein (brother) |
Madeleine Joan Blaustein (bornAdam Blaustein, October 9, 1960 – December 11, 2008), also known asKendra Bancroft, was an American voice actress and comic writer who was known for her voice acting work for4Kids Entertainment,DuArt Film and Video andNYAV Post, for her reprising role as the characterMeowth from thePokémon anime series and for comics written forMilestone Comics, in which she introduced one of superhero comics' first transgender female characters. She was the firstintersex andtransgender voice artist for many of her respective agencies.[1]
In the late 1980s, Blaustein worked forMarvel Comics, as an editor (several issues each ofWeb of Spider-Man,Marvel Tales, andMarvel Saga) as a writer (several issues ofConan the King), and penciling a one-shot ofPower Pachyderms.[2][3] She wrote assorted comics published byDC Comics in the early 1990s, including a few for theImpact Comics imprint andTSR line.[2]
In 1994, she went to work for Milestone Media as production manager and writer.[4] With assistance from her partner Yves Fezzani[5] – sometimes billed together as "Adam & Yves"[6] – she wrote issues of flagship titlesHardware andStatic (in which she co-created the character Karmon Stringer/Rubberband Man).[7] She also wrote (with Fezzani) Milestone's first limited seriesDeathwish,[2][8] which featured as its central character transgender female police officer Marisa Rahm, one of the first trans heroes featured in mainstream superhero comics.[9] During this time she was sometimes referred to in editorial copy in the comics as "Addie Blaustein".[10]
After leaving Milestone, she served as Creative Director forWeekly World News.[11][12]
Blaustein was a voice actress at4Kids Entertainment, where she worked on the English dub version of thePokémon anime. She provided "filler" voices for various characters until episode #31, when she took over fromNathan Price in the role of Meowth, which she played through season 8.[13] During the2004 Democratic Party presidential primaries, she voicedSméagol onThe Mike Malloy Show, announcing a satirical presidential bid.[14]
Beginning in 2004 under the pseudonymKendra Bancroft, Blaustein was a content creator on theSecond Life platform,[11] earning a reputation as an innovative, competent, and reliable 3-D modeller in the communities where she participated.[15]
Blaustein was born onLong Island,New York, and was the second oldest of five children.[citation needed] She wasassigned male at birth. She was bornintersex, andtransitioned to female.[16] Her experience as an activist in thetransgender community helped her to organize and support groups of people inSecond Life.[17]
Video gamelocalization coordinator and translatorJeremy Blaustein is her brother.
Blaustein died on December 11, 2008, at age 48 inChrist Hospital ofJersey City, New Jersey, from an untreated stomach virus (possiblygastroenteritis) that she had been suffering from a couple of weeks prior.[11][18] She is buried at the Congregation B'nai Israel Cemetery inNorthampton,Hampshire County, Massachusetts.
Adam Blaustein, 11 December 2008; citing U.S. Social Security Administration, Death Master File, database (Alexandria, Virginia: National Technical Information Service, ongoing)
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