Weird choices for video game voice actors

[asids]

I was looking through Alexander Armstrong's credits on Wikipedia and was surprised to find he played the role of the main character in the 2003 PC-only tactical game Hidden and Dangerous 2.

I know there's definitely other weird ones that I'll remember, but what's your suggestions?

[TheWoodenSpoon]

I should have examples of this but for the life of me I can't actually think of any right now.

[asids]

Another one I just remembered, Katherine Parkinson played the role of Tara Pinkle (basically a narrator character) in Worms Clan Wars from a couple of years ago. Not so weird as Armstrong but an interesting choice.

Robert Carlyle plays Dracula/Gabriel Belmont in Castlevania: Lords of Shadow.

Billy Dee Williams played the role of a GDI Director in Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars, with Michael Ironside playing his Nod counterpart. Only reason I remember it was Rab Florence on Consolevania did a song about how great Command & Conquer 3 was and how he was "dreaming of an orgy with Ham Tyler and Lando".

[saltysnacks]

Christopher Walken in True Crime: Streets of LA.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9phBG68oAkk

[biggytitbo]

Cliff Mitchelmore in Sonic and Knuckles.

[AsparagusTrevor]

Another one I just remembered, Katherine Parkinson played the role of Tara Pinkle (basically a narrator character) in Worms Clan Wars from a couple of years ago. Not so weird as Armstrong but an interesting choice.

Not at all weird but a similar Worms based one, Matt Berry's distinctive and now ubiquitous voice appears narrating Worms Revolution.

The Call of Duty games usually like to chuck a few celebs in there, but the weirdest for me was Gary Oldman as a Russian soldier in CoD World at War.

[Harpo Speaks]

On that note, Lewis Hamilton in COD: Infinite Warfare. What the fuck.

[AsparagusTrevor]

On that note, Lewis Hamilton in COD: Infinite Warfare. What the fuck.

Wow, didn't know that one. What the fuck indeed.

[Sebastian Cobb]

[tag]I HOPE THIS IS NOT CHRIS'S BLOOD[/tag]

[madhair60]

Mena Suvari as Aerith in Kingdom Hearts. Let's just say that in a game co-starring Pinocchio, she manages the most wooden performance.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

Sam Rockwell as a very minor villain in Dishonored 2. He has about five lines and almost no impact on the plot.

[Rolf Lundgren]

75 year old Sean Connery sounding 75 while voicing the 30 something James Bond in From Russia With Love on the PS2.

[TheWoodenSpoon]

[tag]I HOPE THIS IS NOT CHRIS'S BLOOD[/tag]

Low-hanging fruit, mate, not to mention wrong. Weird, not bad! :V

[asids]

Another one: Rob Brydon in the Discworld point-and-click games from the late 90s. Here he is playing Nobby Nobbs:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1LK0fcXKX0&t=2m20s

[Catalogue Trousers]

Leslie Phillips as a Bond-parodying Gecko...

[biggytitbo]

Madge from Neighbours in 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand

[Phil_A]

Another one: Rob Brydon in the Discworld point-and-click games from the late 90s. Here he is playing Nobby Nobbs:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1LK0fcXKX0&t=2m20s

Is that weird? He was a jobbing voice actor at the time, it doesn't seem too odd for him to pop up in something like that.

[Thursday]

Bloodborne and Dark Souls having actors from The Bill and Casualty, who seemingly with no other video game credits to their name. Along with The Doll/Maiden in Black being a woman with no other voice acting credits at all. (I don't know if in her case it was the thing of hiring english-speakers in Japan, but I'm not sure why it would be for her when it wasn't for others)

Does work for the game, but I'm fascinated by how they would have even got hired and what they thought about what they were doing.

*EDIT *Ah reddit post on some of the bloodborne VA's

https://www.reddit.com/r/bloodborne/comments/3ebxcq/the_voice_acting_talent_of_bloodborne/

[shh]

It was weird they didn't cast Matthew Fox and Ellen Page for the Last of Us.

[asids]

Is that weird? He was a jobbing voice actor at the time, it doesn't seem too odd for him to pop up in something like that.

I suppose not. Although loads of games out around that time put absolute nobodies with no experience into voice acting roles.

[TheWoodenSpoon]

Chris Barrie as Simon the Sorceror. I don't know if it's weird to anyone else, but keep in mind that at the time I only knew him as Rimmer.

[George White]

Another one: Rob Brydon in the Discworld point-and-click games from the late 90s. Here he is playing Nobby Nobbs:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1LK0fcXKX0&t=2m20s

Jon Pertwee also voiced a few characters too.  And Kate Robbins.  And Eric Idle as Rincewind.

I am quite proud that I was the one who copped on that the unknown voice actor who performed the role of Father Patrick in Tomb Raider V was Harry "Peter Goodwright" Towb, which is not so weird, as Towb was a vocal talent, did a lot of radio and a lot of West End/Broadway stuff. I tweeted his frequent costar Kerry Shale, coincidentally a recurring voice in the TR games, and he confirmed yes. A lot of UK actors become voiceover talents in the US. The likes of Neil "Biggles" Dickson, Alan "Bullshot" Shearman, Rosalyn Landor, Julian Holloway, the late Robin "son of Leonard" Sachs and of course Martin Jarvis have all done in videogames, Jarvis becoming the official Alfred in the Batman games.

Leslie Phillips as a Bond-parodying Gecko...

Gex was also played by Danny John Jules and in the US versions, Dana Gould.


The Dark Souls games have featured the likes of Blake Ritson, Emma Pierson, Pik Sen Lim (from Mind Your Language, Doctor Who - the Mind of Evil, etc) alongside more usual British voice actors like Peter Marinker and Miles Richardson and Sean "I have a boring speaking voice, Father" Barrett.
Dragon Age games similarly feature Peter Egan, James Faulkner, Sophie Aldred, Morven Christie, Don Gilet, David Schofield, Danny Webb, David Sterne, Gemma Whelan, Eve Miles, Shaun Dingwall AND Kellie Bright in a Rock and Chips reunion, Tom Chadbon, Tim Bentinck, Kate "Father Stone's mum" Binchy, David Rintoul and Christopher Godwin among many, many others.

[Golden E. Pump]

Matthew Perry as the bad guy in Fallout: New Vegas was odd.

[Replies From View]

Ian Botham as Luigi was a peculiar casting decision.

[AsparagusTrevor]

Matthew Perry as the bad guy in Fallout: New Vegas was odd.

"Could I be any more evil?"

[George White]

A lot of Irish actors appear in the Witcher, including the priest from Mrs. Brown's Boys and Tara Flynn of Soupy Norman fame. Lee Boardman, Alex Norton, Michael Maloney, Tom Goodman-Hill, Charles Dance and the Bill's Steven Hartley too.
Lewis Macleod, Mario Abdullah-levy from BBC Scotland does a lot of voices too.

[Brundle-Fly]

Stephen Merchant as Wheatley in Portal 2. Nothing wrong with his performance but I found it very distracting. I experienced  a similar feeling on hearing Jonathan Ross and Kate Thornton's voices in Shrek 2 (2004)

[Sexton Brackets Drugbust]

I experienced  a similar feeling on hearing Jonathan Ross and Kate Thornton's voices in Shrek 2 (2004)

Especially when the latter's voice was coming out of a caricature of Joan Rivers, as if Kate Thornton was the English equivalent... and that we didn't know Joan Rivers in the first place.

[Mister Six]

Matthew Perry as the bad guy in Fallout: New Vegas was odd.

I don't know if this will make it more or less weird, but here is Perry enthusing about Fallout 3 on US daytime TV: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x91f9g_matthew-perry-fallout-3_videogames

I believe that directly led to him getting the NV job.

[Mobius]

I was watching KMKY last night and was wondering whatever happened to Partridge's french co-host, Nina Vanier, who is well fit and in lots of Iannucci stuff.

Turns out she did a voice in 'Medievil 2' which was made by the Cambridge branch of Sony Entertainment.