Hollywood Actors Are Leaping Into Video Games

A stream of actors who built their careers in Hollywood are making their digital presence felt in video games, a once stigmatized medium that is increasingly seen as a unique storytelling platform with the ability to reach large audiences.

Some are voice acting, transferring skills they may have honed in animated movies or TV shows, while others are contributing their likenesses through advanced motion-capture technology that can replicate furrowed brows and crinkled cheeks.

Last year, Cameron Monaghan led Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, Megan Fox portrayed a character in Mortal Kombat 1, and Idris Elba and Keanu Reeves provided the backbone of Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty.

In this month’s remake of the 1992 horror game Alone in the Dark, both Jodie Comer, who won an Emmy for “Killing Eve” and a Tony for “Prima Facie,” and David Harbour, known for his work on “Stranger Things,” are making their video game debuts. They are among the group of actors meeting younger generations where they already are.

“I hope that people are still watching two-hour movies decades from now, but I know they will be playing video games,” Harbour said in an email.

In a behind-the-scenes video by the game’s publisher, Comer said that working on the movie “Free Guy,” set in a fictionalized video game, gave her a newfound appreciation of the industry. “It’s so incredible to be able to kind of step out of what you usually do and explore something new, and kind of challenge yourself,” she said.

In Alone in the Dark, Comer’s character and the private investigator she hires, played by Harbour, explore a psychiatric hospital to uncover the truth behind a recent disappearance. Both are playable characters, with distinct cut scenes and dialogue.

Mikael Hedberg, the game’s creative director, said that when the characters reunite after being separated, the player gets immediate relief because of an actual sense of recognition.

“Everyone has some level of parasocial relationship to celebrities where maybe they feel like your friend,” Hedberg said.

The migration to video games is happening for several reasons, including leaps in technology that have reduced the disconnect between real-life and digital performances.

Convenience is another factor. Filming a live-action feature like “Dune: Part Two” can require actors to spend weeks in the deserts of Abu Dhabi. Motion-capture sessions for games can often be completed minutes away from an actor’s Los Angeles home.

Bringing in known actors also enables studios to engage with people who might not otherwise be interested in their games. The indie game Open Roads, a mother-daughter road trip that releases this month, features the voices of Keri Russell and Kaitlyn Dever.

“If you saw David Harbour and Jodie Comer were starring in a new ‘Alone in the Dark’ horror film, you’d probably go see it,” said Michael Csurics, the game’s casting director.

A known presence can drastically increase a game’s reach. For big-budget games, screen actors are a small vote of confidence. For indie games, they can be an all-or-nothing bet. “Having a celebrity definitely tilts the scales on a budget,” Csurics said.

At last year’s Game Awards, one studio revealed its space-faring game Exodus by bringing onstage the Oscar winner Matthew McConaughey, who promised that his first video game character would “have a unique relationship with every player.” Later in the ceremony, the real-time strategy game Stormgate was introduced by Simu Liu, fresh off his work in “Barbie.”

Hollywood actors have participated in video games before this more noticeable trend. In 2008, Liam Neeson portrayed the protagonist’s father in the postapocalyptic Fallout 3. Martin Sheen voiced the Illusive Man, a space paramilitary leader, in 2010’s Mass Effect 2 and its 2012 sequel.

Movie and TV actors who have crossed over into video games note the similarities of performing in either medium. Karen Fukuhara joined the cast of The Callisto Protocol, a 2022 horror survival game, a few years after starring as Kimiko in “The Boys,” a satirical superhero series.

Fukuhara said that she had “imagined a video game casting to be like, OK, just act like you’re in a war zone or act like you’re shooting at someone,” but that she was surprised how much the experience “felt like a scene.”

Ultimately, acting is acting.

“I write down and I build a character in the same way as I would in any role,” said Melanie Liburd, who was on “This Is Us” before being cast as a main character in last year’s Alan Wake II.

Although it can be exhilarating to see the acting lines blur, it is primarily happening in one direction. On-camera actors are easily slotted into games. But prominent video game actors like Yuri Lowenthal and Troy Baker have struggled to be cast in live-action stories.

“Oh, you were in the, you know, the biggest game that came out last year,” said Lowenthal, who has played Spider-Man as well as characters in the Saints Row, Diablo and Prince of Persia series. “But you won’t even be seen for a co-star on a TV show.”

The shift comes as film studios and streaming services are investing in gaming. Netflix has a free game library built into every subscription, and Annapurna Pictures has published several lauded games, including Kentucky Route Zero and Outer Wilds. The director James Gunn, who is now managing the DC Comics universe for Warner Bros., has stated that he wants to cast actors who can play the same role in TV, film, video games and animation.

“When you try to pigeonhole or overly define art, it is by nature limited and boring,” said Monaghan, who was a lead actor on 11 seasons of “Shameless” before wielding lightsabers in two popular Star Wars games.

Actors describe the experience of filming on a motion-capture stage as somewhere between theater and movies. Surrounded by at least a dozen cameras in a blank white room with minimalist sets, actors wear skintight suits covered in dots that help the system pick up their movements. Crew members observe from a distance and often render performances in real time.

Some actors have found the experience liberating, including Shannon Woodward, who was Ellie’s girlfriend in the postapocalyptic game The Last of Us Part II.

“I’m not concerned if something is a bad angle for my chin,” said Woodward, who built her career on television shows such as “Raising Hope” and “Westworld.” “I can fully concentrate on how to represent this story and be present in this moment.”

For younger actors, video games are already a part of their everyday lives. Liu said in a video by the studio behind Stormgate that it was exciting to voice a character for developers that once worked on StarCraft and Age of Empires, the real-time strategy games he played in the late 1990s.

Transitioning from video games to movies is considerably harder.

Colleen O’Shaughnessey, who has voiced Tails in Sonic the Hedgehog games for the past decade, was the only actor to reprise her role for the live-action movie in 2020. She said she did not know she was cast for the 2022 sequel until it was publicly announced by the studio.

O’Shaughnessey said she told her agents at the time that playing Tails “would be a huge win for me, but this would be a ginormous win for the entire voice-over community.”

Despite the challenge longtime game actors face, many encouraged the recent arrival of more famous on-camera actors. Lowenthal said he would not have had the opportunity to do voice work on the “Afro Samurai” mini-series and movie if Samuel L. Jackson had not been behind the project.

“You can look at it, like, oh, that person took my job,” Lowenthal said. “Or you could look at it as that person gave me a job.”

Unlike in other mediums, gaming transforms the viewer into an active participant.

Harbour said that video games carried potential for artistry, social commentary and emotional catharsis, and that he joined Alone in the Dark because it “seemed fertile soil for an imaginative retelling and the opportunity to actually take a chance.”

Abubakar Salim, who acted in the game Assassin’s Creed Origins and the TV show “Raised by Wolves,” is now making his own game, Tales of Kenzera: Zau, about a shaman trying to reclaim his father’s spirit in a world inspired by Bantu traditions. Salim wants people to go on a journey of grief and beauty.

“The experience that I wanted to deliver had to be a game,” he said.