Behind Every Great Character Is A Great Voice Actor
I was born with this rare condition that makes me obsess over voice actors. From the time I was very young I had to know who was voicing my favorite animated and video game characters. When you realize the amount of characters each actor voices, you begin to respect these people for their talent and dedication to what is sometimes a thankless job.Sure, games used to be known for horrendous dialogue and even worse actors spouting the lines, but the times have changed for the better. Gameplayer has put together a neat feature on the voices behind our favorite gaming avatars and I am not embarassed by the fact that much of these actors are household names to me. Yeah, I'm tooting my own horn, deal with it. How many of you have a photo of FFX protagonist Tidus signed by James Arnold Taylor that tells you, by name, to keep on gaming? That's what I thought. If you really want to see a small group of voice talent with a huge resume, check out the cast list for Drawn Together which strangely overlaps with the cast of Final Fantasy X.
Check out the feature here to see just how many hot male characters Nolan North has voiced and why you should know that Jennifer Hale is beyond awesome.
[via gonintendo]
TheDoctor
Posted to Video Games on 7 January 2009
· Comments (11)
Other stuff like this: acting, characters, voice actors
I love Drawn Together, it's a shame it was canceled.
I adore Cree Summer. She's mostly done animation, but when I hear her in a game I become a total fanboy. She's a great actress who I wish would get more leads. Ah well, she had a few lines in Mass Effect so maybe they'll bring her back.
I always thought the Female in the Consort Chambers sounded familiar.. She was in one of my favorite childhood shows!
Jennifer Hale is beyond awesome. I named my Mass Effect lady Alex after Jennifer Hale's other role as Alex Roivas in Eternal Darkness. She's also Samus. Sweet.
I am a huge fan of Crispin Freeman, and while he often gets cast in similar 'angry guys with swords (See lead characters in Berserk, Castlevania: Curse of Darkness, and Too Human), he does get to expand himself some in other roles, such as Alucard in Hellsing and the gray-haired guy in Resident Evil: Degeneration.
I'm like you, Doctor, I love voice actors.
I've got a similar obsession with voice actors. James Arnold Taylor is one of my favorites, mainly because he's Ratchet's voice in the Ratchet and Clank games, and I love me some R&C. Actually, all of the voices for those games are excellent.
I've got a few Japanese voice actors I'm obsessed with as well, like Koichi Yamadera (Spike from Cowboy Bebop, Kaji in Evangelion, among others) and Norio Wakamoto (Dracula in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Vicious in Bebop, tons of others).
Mary Elizabeth McGlynn. Everywhere, even as an announcer in RE: Degeneration xD
Sorry but FAIL!
No Stephen Russel from Freedom Force and Thief series?
And agree with comment, 'No Michael Ironside?' Splinter Cell.
Still, these are just personal favourites...
I can't believe Cam Clarke hasn't been mentioned yet. Not only did he voice some big roles (Liquid Snake from MGS, Leonardo from TMNT, Kratos from Tales of Symphonia to name a few) but he's also gay.
I can always recognize his voice, and often I'll play a game and say "hey, is that Cam Clarke AGAIN?" He's a very talented voice actor.
I do apologize for not mentioning Cam Clarke in the initial post. I actually met him a few years back at a convention and he is probably the nicest man you could ever meet. He's also quite the singer!
Mary Elizabeth McGlynn!
There's a lot of great voice actors around now, but no one can bring gravitas to ANY role like Mary Elizabeth McGlynn can. (and she's an awesome singer on the Silent Hill soundtracks)