Ed Boon

Edward J. "Ed" Boon (born February 22, 1964) is an American video game programmer and director who had been employed for over 15 years at Midway Games and since 2011 works for Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment in its subsidiary company NetherRealm Studios. Boon is best known for the widely popular Mortal Kombat series, which he created with John Tobias. He has a 4.8 average passenger rating on Uber.

Life and career

Boon was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, and graduated high school at Loyola Academy in Wilmette. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics and computer science from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

After graduation he was employed by Williams Entertainment in their pinball department, working on approximately 20 pinball games over the next two years.

He is the co-creator of the Mortal Kombat fighting game series, along with John Tobias, and served as the series' lead programmer, with Tobias the lead designer, until their partnership dissolved with Tobias' departure from Midway in 2000. Boon named series characters Sonya Blade and Tanya after his sisters Sonya and Tania, while another character, Noob Saibot, was named after Boon and Tobias' reversed surnames.