My Favorite Video Game Voice Actors

The video game voice actor job is much harder than most gamers realize, and since we all know that games are the most astounding form of art that humanity has in modern times, then I think it behooves us all to distinguish those who are truly great at it. I'll list my five favorite game actors here, and hopefully all of my readers will start to appreciate the craft the way they do with normie movie stars.

Vic Mignogna

Mr. Mignogna is arguably the most famous anime VA there is, with a crazy fan following of screaming girls and Naruto cosplaying yuppie teenagers. However, other than being Ed from Full Metal Alchemist, Vic has lent his voice to dozens of video games, my favorite being Junpei from the revolutionary Persona 3. Vic Mignogna's voices in the Dragonball Z: Budokai make the fights very intense and greatly helped that franchise achieve incredible success. Vic might not be the leading role in every game he voices, but he is a master of doing 8-10 supporting characters in one project, making the world around the player so very real and engaging. If you see his name in the credits, pay attention to the role, and see for yourself just how immersive his voice can be. 

(Kind of a side note here, but I went to one of his panels at ACEN, and witnessed him passing out voice acted Biblical scripture cd's that he had made for free to anyone who would like one. Vic is an example of a Christian who doesn't make my eyes roll.)

Gideon Emery

Gideon Emery is currently a heartthrob on MTV's Teen Wolf, but the man also has a seriously impressive video game resume'. Sun Quan from the Dynasty Warriors series, 3 voices in The Last of Us, Starcraft 2's marines, Reginald from Assassin's Creed 3, a bunch of Skyrim voices, the Thrashball fan from Gears of War 3, Fenris from Dragon Age 2, a Quarian shop owner in Mass Effect 2, Steve Fox from Tekken, and my absolute favorite, Balthier from Final Fantasy 12. Gideon Emery has that rare (in the video game world) South African spin on a British accent that makes his characters extremely unique. Balthier is the wittiest game character that I can think of, and hearing Emery's voice do a Chinese Sun Quan is very impressive. He also does Carlos from Resident Evil 3!

Jennifer Hale

Jennifer Hale used to be an NFL correspondent for FOX, but she's also been an actor in tons of tv shows, and a voice actor in many, many video games. Jennifer Hale is considered the most recognizable female voice actor out there, and for good reason, she's the voice of Samus Aran from Metroid. However, Jen is also Hawkgirl/Killer Frost in Injustice, Rosalind Lutece in Bioshock Infinite, Sara Palmer from Halo 4, Starfire in Teen Titans, Naomi Hunter AND Emma Emmerich from Metal Gear. Almost every role she takes in the video game industry ends up being a character that makes the leap to icon status. 

Jennifer Hale is also the voice behind FemShep, the female version of Shepard in the Mass Effect series. Her skills are superior to her male counterpart's, and I strongly encourage all of those who have not played through Mass Effect as a chick to do so. I promise you will come out of the experience with a much stronger appreciation for the craft.

James Arnold Taylor

James Taylor is Ratchet from Ratchet and Clank. He is also Obi-wan Kenobi in the Clone Wars tv series, and the Lego Star Wars games. He is Loki in all Marvel video games, and Leonardo in the TMNT tv show that is now entering it's 7th season. He was Yggdrasill in Tales of Symphonia, and Spiderman in our Spidey games. James Arnold also happens to do a perfect Johnny Depp voice, playing the roles of Jack Sparrow and Willy Wonka in video games, and playing Johnny Depp himself on Celebrity Deathmatch.

That's all impressive for sure, and all of us nerds know him well, but the reason I'm such a fan of Taylor's is because his is the voice of Tidus from Final Fantasy 10. FFX was such a big deal to me as a kid, and Tidus was a character I was really interested in. Had the role been given to someone else, I don't know if Final Fantasy 10, Kingdom hearts, or 10-2 would have been the same.

John DiMaggio

John DiMaggio is my favorite voice actor. I really do not believe that anyone is on his level, and perhaps if his resume' was a tad larger, others would feel the same way. John is the voice of Bender from Futurama, which is obviously his biggest success, but he is also Jake on Adventure Time and Brother Blood from Teen Titans. Did you ever see the Batman: Under the Red Hood movie? John DiMaggio played the Joker in that and did it well, despite Mark Hamill's monopoly on that role. 

When you shift your attention to video games, you'll notice that DiMaggio is the voice of Marcus Fenix in Gears of War, and Wakka from Final Fantasy 10. If you read this blog regularly, you'll no doubt remember that Wakka is my favorite video game character ever, and that is because of John DiMaggio. Wakka is an island water-soccer player with deep, traditional beliefs that border on racism, and becomes a new father as well during the game. Following Wakka's growth is what made me love games on a deeper level than before, and DiMaggio's voice was the most important part of that. He created an entirely new and unheard of accent for that game, which I have yet to see a single other voice actor do. Wakka's voice is a mix of Jamaican and Australian, with a British twang that makes those from Besaid such a believable group despite being 100% fictional. I consider him the Tom Hanks of voice acting, and everyone reading this should spend some time looking into his career. John DiMaggio has also been given the greatest honor that any actor can receive, he got to be a bartender in an episode of Law and Order!