Having famous Hollywood actors in video games is nothing new, of course, but as gaming itself has become a more complex media than most people give them credit for, publishers really went looking for star power to fill its rankings on the credit scenes.
That’s not random, as most video games have been employing the talents of top-tier Hollywood talent to bolster its narratives, whether they’re merely lending their voices in a capricious manner or full on allowing their own bodies and faces to be digitally cloned within a video game.
So, let’s dig in on this topic and check out a list of famous actors in video games, shall we?
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Hollywood actors in video games: which one do you like the most?
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 2
- Halo
- Final Fantasy VII: Remake
- Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
- Honorable mentions
Call of Duty: Black Ops 2
Starting off our list with something easy, but apparently still surprises a lot of people to this day, let’s talk Black Ops 2. One of the arguably best games of the entire Call of Duty franchise, had some major Hollywood power behind it as well…
The character
- Viktor Reznov, The Red Army official and badass Nazi-hater
The star power behind it
- Gary Oldman, Academy Award winner and recently knighted by King Charles
There is something about Reznov’s line delivery that just hits all the right notes, and this is coming from a guy who’s not the most excitable Call of Duty fan, suffice to say. Born before World War II and witnessing his father getting murdered by a Nazi, Reznov not only gre to hate the Reich, but put that hate to practical use.Take it from this quote below:
“The rotten cancer of the Fascist Reich ravages Europe like a plague. Their relentless drive into our motherland steals the lives of men, women, and children alike. The arrogance of their leaders is matched only by the brutality of their soldiers. These are the darkest days of the Nazi occupation of Stalingrad.”
Say what you will about the Russian Army, but that, right there, is boss-level hatred. And I see no one better to deliver it than Gary Oldman.
Halo
Hellboy was in Halo. Didn’t you know? Yeah, apparently some people never realized that until recently, despite the franchise being decades old…
The Character
- Lord Terrence Hood, English nobility with an American accent, go figure…
The star power behind it
Ron Perlman, the best Hellboy ever portrayed in movies (we don’t talk about that other one) and biker gangster
Yup, who would’ve figured that a gruff, not-so-friendly-looking military commander would be portrayed by a gruff, not-so-friendly-looking actor? Besides “everyone”, of course. Turns out, as countless Reddit testimonies go, Perlman’s intimidating looks are just that: looks. Dude’s all warm and fuzzy whenever meeting fans, cracking jokes and actually spending time to get to know his audience.
In Halo, his character even had some minor design details reworked so Hood would resemble him somewhat…
Final Fantasy VII (the remake, duh)
Taking a silent project only to remake it a fully acted, fleshed out experience must be a tall order for most developers out there, but Square Enix’s take on Final Fantasy VII Remake was pretty solid, as voice acting goes. And in this case, both following examples got me surprised…
The character(s)
- The goofy, loving and funny fat guy from AVALANCHE, Wedge; and notorious giant sword-haver and main antagonist, Sephiroth
The star power(s) behind them
Respectively, Matt Jones (Badger, everybody’s favorite drug-dealing idiot from Breaking Bad) and Tyler Hoechlin—yes, the freaking Superman.
Jones’ portrayal of Wedge is more easy to perceive, as he does not modulate his own voice and, if you watched him in Breaking Bad, you can more or less recognize him in the game. But his dialog is pretty funny until the most emotional parts during Shinra’s attack on Midgard.
As for Hoechlin, it took me a quick visit to IMDB to know this, as I was playing the game and recognized Gideon Emery’s thick accent when listening to Biggs (Emery was also Balthier in Final Fantasy XII, that’s why I went there for to confirm it), just to see Tyler’s name in the same credits.
Gotta admit, Supes and Sephiroth sound nothing alike, which is telling of Tyler’s acting range.
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Oh, boy, where do we even start…Rockstar is notoriously famous now for not using Hollywood talent in its voice acting, and this is the game why…the publisher’s take on an 80s drug-fueled version of Miami had us hooked from the very first trailer, ans a lot of it comes from the creative acting of fine actors such as…
The character(s)
- Tommy Vercetti, Umberto Robina, Sonny Forelli, Ricardo Diaz, Ken Rosenberg, Avery Carrington, Steve Scott, Phil Cassidy and…Candy Suxx
The star power behind them
Good Lord, this is a handful: Tommy Vercetti was portrayed by late-great Ray Liotta, who’s a major experience in portraying mob types (Goodfellas is still one of the greatest movies ever made); Umberto Robina was Danny Trejo, Sonny Forelli was portrayed by Tom Sizemore, Ricardo Diaz was Wednesday’s own Luiz Guzmán, Ken Rosenberg was William Fichtner, Avery Carrington was Burt Reynolds (and had quite the fallout with Rockstar ever since), Steve Scott was given life to by Dennis Hopper, notorious crazy Phil Cassidy was portrayed by notorious crazy Gary Busey and…Candy Suxx was Jenna Jameson, because of course it would be this cliché. We are probably forgetting some people, because GTA Vice City is this packed.
Funny enough, that was the last time Rockstar employed Hollywood actors on its videogames, simply because Reynolds wanted VIP treatment and started acting like a diva when the company wouldn’t comply to his whims. Considering that every other actor had no problems whatsoever (and how satirically Avery Carrington was killed off in another game), we tend to side with Rockstar on this one…
Honorable mentions
- Horizon Forbidden West: Lance Reddick, Carrie-Anne Moss, Sam Witwer, Angela Bassett, too many to count properly
- Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes/Phantom Pain: Kiefer Sutherland (God, this was horrible…)
- Mass Effect: Martin Sheen, Carrie-Anne Moss, Yvonne Strahovski, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Adam Baldwin, Tricia Helfer, Lance Henriksen, Seth Green and PRG’s own homage-haver, Keith David
- Batman Arkham series: Mark effin’ Hammil as the best Joker we’ve all seen
And that’s a wrap! But before you go, consider this: there are so many great Hollywood actors in video games, we’re bound to neglect mentioning someone you might like. So how about you tell us about your favorite portrayal in the comments?
