[gray pierce]

I'm currently replaying Lost Horizon and I totally forgot it had the great Nathaniel Parker in it(he voices Lord Weston) but it gets better: he also voices a character in Ceville and he'll voice a character in The Book of Unwritten Tales. Parker is probably best known for his portrayal as the titular character in the British crime drama series The Inspector Lynley Mysteries but he also had leading roles in several other tv-series such as Vanity Fair, Bleak House and Injustice, he also stars in several movies including big hollywood productions such as The Haunted Mansion, Stardust and The Chronicles of Narnia.

I know that back in the golden age of AGs it was quite common for big names to participate in adventure games but in the last 10 years it's like anyone who is even remotely famous stays clear of them. So I guess a big name like Nathaniel Parker doing AGs is a good sign.

So do you guys know of any other (relatively) famous actors doing AGs?

PS: I'm a big fan of Animation Arts but the person who made the manual should be fired cuz he misspelled his name. It is however definitely his voice though

PPS: I guess fired is a bit to harsh. He should write Nathaniel Parker 100 times on a schoolboard instead

[Fantasysci5]

Well, I'm pretty sure it wasn't in the last 10 years, but my favorite is Brad Dourif in Myst: Exile, who plays Wormtongue in "Lord of the Rings". Also, Robert Llewellyn and Chris Barrie from "Red Dwarf" voiced Feeble Files/Discworld Noir and Simon the Sorcerer, respectively.

[Kurufinwe]

If "having played in a trashy soap opera from the 90s" counts as famous, there's that guy from Sunset Beach who's on the cover of Darkstar (I haven't played the game, but I guess he's the main character?).

[GreyFuss]

Excellent topic

Last 10 years? In addition to one listed above how about these?,

Darkstar (see Kurufinwe above) also had the voice of the late Peter Graves. In fact it was his last work.

Myst III Exile released in 2001 had Brad Dourif

Myst IV Revelation released in 2004 had Peter Gabriel

Myst V End of Ages released in 2005 had David Ogden Stiers

Agatha Christie Murder on the Orient Express released in 2006 had David Suchet



Off the top of my head of some older than 10 year games

9: The Last Resort
Ripper
Tex Murphy 3, 4 & 5
Zork: Grand Inquisitor
Zork: Nemesis
Black Dahlia
Frankenstein
Mummy Tomb of the Pharaoh
Gabriel Knight 1 & 3
Mission Critical
Tender Loving Care
Toonstruck
Fork in the Tale
Ghosts

[Ascovel]

There are few pretty well known actors in the cast of the recently voiced Monkey Island games.

Also, Back to the Future cast in the Back to the Future games.

[PolloDiablo]

I think Christopher Lloyd and Michael J. Fox in Back to the Future should count as 'relatively' famous

-edit- aah got to learn to type faster

[Hammerite]

Originally Posted by Fantasysci5

Also, Robert Llewellyn and Chris Barrie from "Red Dwarf" voiced Feeble Files/Discworld Noir and Simon the Sorcerer, respectively.

As well as Robert Llewellyn, the Discworld games are casted almost exclusively with well-known British comedy actors / comedians in fact... Eric Idle (which leads to the huge Monty Python bit in Discworld 2), Tony Robinson, a relatively pre-fame Rob Brydon, and Nigel Planer, amongst others.

[Oscar]

Yes, Discworld is probably my favorite voice-acting ever. If it didn't have such a great cast I don't think I would have enjoyed it as much.

[SweetDalilah]

Well famous actors appeared in adventure games mostly when the FMV genre was popular, and that's definitely not in the last 10 years. Now, sence there is not much need for the FMV adventure games (because of the arrival of the cartoon style games, stylized art and illustrated realism games) actors occasionally do only voice acting.

Some of the games I now that had famous actors acting in them:

Ripper (Christopher Walken, Paul Giamatti)
Pyst (John Goodman)
Tender Loving Care (John Hurt)

I'm sure there are more, but these are the only famous actors I could think of.

[Interplay]

You'd have to include L.A. Noire, which is just packed with recognizable actors.

[Hammerite]

Originally Posted by Interplay

You'd have to include L.A. Noire, which is just packed with recognizable actors.

I was going to mention it, but didn't want to run the risk of kicking off that debate.

[diego]

Yeap, the trend sort of disappeared after both FMV and "golden-age" era, but in reality, that applies to all genres, not only adventures.



Wing Commander 4 is a perfect example of such game, where not only film and film actors, but popular culture as well meet video games. Adventure games are most remembered for this because, among other reasons, it technically pushed the industry forward. Video games and pop-culture, i've always felt, sorta parted their way in this sense in last decade.

As SweetD said, it's probably because of practical and technical reasons, but i find it interesting that game industry "progressed" but further from "equilibrium" with movie industry.


From classics, i should mention Christopher Lloyd in Toonstruck, along with a tons of Hollywood best voice actors from various animated movies, as it is probably one of the games with the strongest voice cast in any genre. Christopher Walken in Ripper is another one, and for further reason because he took a significant role opposed to short cameo of Dennis Hopper in Black Dahlia. There's also Rob Schneider as the main voice in A Fork in the Tale




As for newer games, i was thrilled to see Suchet involved in Agatha Christie game although it wasn't Poirot in the main role. Although, i gotta admit that unknown actor in Evil Under the Sun pulled incredible similar voice to that of Suchet. As mentioned, Darkstar is the most recent and refreshing example along with Back to the Future. Also, not quite with the topic, but from what i gather i think many German popular voice actors, who dub popular movies, are also doing games voiceover.

[Ascovel]

Originally Posted by diego

Also, not quite with the topic, but from what i gather i think many German popular voice actors, who dub popular movies, are also doing games voiceover.

That goes pretty much for all non-English language dubs, not just German.

[gray pierce]

Originally Posted by diego

Yeap, the trend sort of disappeared after both FMV and "golden-age" era, but in reality, that applies to all genres, not only adventures.

Well that's the thing: it doesn't. Many action-adventure games and RPGs feature famous actors: Tomb Raider has, excuse me...had Keeley Hawes. Uncharted has Claudia Black and Emily Rose. Assasin's Creed has Kirsten Bell. Dragon Age Origins has Steve Valentine, Kate Mulgrew, Tim Curry(yes that Tim Curry) and again Claudia Black. Bioshock has Joshua Gomez. Mass Effect has Seth Green, Lance Henriksen, Tricia Helfer, Micheal Hogan and again Claudia Black(I see a patern here) LA noire has Aaron Staton. Heavenly Sword had Anna Torv and Andy Serkis. I could go on

[louiedog]

Originally Posted by Hammerite

I was going to mention it, but didn't want to run the risk of kicking off that debate.

What debate? On an unrelated note, how about J.K. Simmons in the most adventurey of all adventure games, Portal 2?

[dave_minall]

Not sure if you could class these guys as 'famous' but I've recently discovered that the voice of Haggis McMutton in Curse of Monkey Island was none other than Scrooge McDuck himself, or Alan Young as he is known in person..

Also Meathook in SOMI (Special edition) is voiced by Cam Clarke, who is best known for either Leonardo in the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles TV series, or more recently he played Liquid Snake in a couple of Metal Gear Solid games.

[Fantasysci5]

Love Claudia Black... but anyway, back on topic...

[gray pierce]

Originally Posted by Fantasysci5

Love Claudia Black... but anyway, back on topic...

Me too...sorry, couldn't resist.

[D.C.]

Did someone say Claudia Black? She's all kinds of awesome! (Had a nerdy twenty minute long conversation only yesterday about how great she is...) First thing that came to mind for me was L.A. Noire as well, but I didn't want to mention it for the same reason as Hammerite.

[Jatsie]

I remember the first time I watched Ugly Betty and the father of the title character came on screen and spoke, my immediate reaction was "omg, that's Manuel Calavera from Grim Fandango!"

Eric Idle of Monty Python was the voice of Rincewind in the first two Discworld games.

And even though I wouldn't class it as an adventure game, J.K. Simmons and Stephen Merchant put in good performances in Portal 2 as Cave Johnson and Wheatley respectively.