Streamers You Never Knew Voiced Video Game Characters

In Pixar's "Ratatouille," the ancillary antagonist Anton Ego eventually realizes he misunderstood Chef Auguste Gusteau's motto, "Anyone can cook." The whole film revolves around this sentiment, in fact. After eating a dish of ratatouille prepared by a rat, Ego finally understands what Gusteau meant and sums it up in his own words: "Not everyone can become a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere." The same is true of many professions, including voice acting.

The world is full of actors who were discovered while pursuing other careers. The late Michael Clarke Duncan, for instance, was a ditch digger before entertaining audiences with his deep voice, while Vin Diesel, alongside some early stage play experience, spent time as a toy booth salesman before truly finding his thespian calling. The miracle of the internet and streaming lets would-be entertainers put themselves out there with unprecedented ease, and many have made a comfortable living off it. But, quite a few content creators have also made the leap from playing video games to actually to actually being in video games. Some streamers used their streams as resume-builders to land voice roles, while others were invited by developers due to Twitch clout.

You might be surprised to learn that some of your favorite streamers have lent their vocal cords to video games. Here are a few examples.

You can only play competitive multiplayers so many times before the announcer's voice grates on your ears and you need a change of commentator. Many developers have offered purchasable voice packs, but Hi-Rez Studios has arguably the biggest variety.

If players tire of the announcers in "SMITE" and "Paladins: Champions of the Realm," they have plenty of replacements to choose from. Audiences can pick from a sizable collection of lines voiced by the games' respective rosters, cameo characters from crossover projects — in case anyone wants to be cheered on by Aang or Megatron — or even streamers. Gamers can purchase "SMITE" packs voiced by famous internet faces like Mezmoreyez and Nevercake, while "Paladins" players have a comparable selection of content creator announcers that includes Amelia Watson and FeyRazzle.

Of course, Hi-Rez wasn't content to just cross the IP streams with internet celebrities and cartoon characters. The studio also has Hi-Rez staff members on tap, such as Graham "Hinduman" Hadfield, as well as professional esports commentators and streamers like Melissa "thebesttaco" and Gabriella "LeTigress" Devia-Allen. Anyone who wants to get ready to rumble like the pros can always purchase the Bruce Buffer announcer pack.

If Hi-Rez continues in this manner, odds are the company will add even more announcer packs to its games. Don't be surprised if its collection of streamer voices grows.

Some people have to work hard for their jobs, while others are handed them on silver platters. You might expect famous Twitch streamers to receive offers aplenty to voice video game characters, because many studios probably want someone as recognizable as Lily "Lilypichu" Ki in their games. However, she got her latest acting gig the old-fashioned way?

When Lilypichu isn't participating in OfflineTV shenanigans or chatting with her audience, she's usually streaming games like "Valorant" and "League of Legends." Many fans are familiar with her distinctive voice, so they were surprised to hear it coming from one of 2021's newest "Genshin Impact" characters, Sayu. 

Some might wonder how Lilypichu got the role, especially since she doesn't play "Genshin Impact" as much as other games. According to an interview with Disguised Toast, Lilypichu actually auditioned for the role. Well, she also booked a private recording studio and a voice acting coach to guarantee the strongest audition possible, but now she is immortalized as the game's lazy racoon ninja.

Dedicated Lilypichu fans are probably aware that "Genshin Impact" is far from her first acting gig. Playing to her strengths, she is usually cast as characters with bubbly personalities. "SMITE" and "Paladins" fans should recognize Lilypichu as the voice of the "Curious Courier" skin for Chang'e and the "Salt" skin for Io, respectively. Lilypichu also voices Rauni in "Summoners War."

Since Lilypichu has already been cast as the character Layla in the upcoming title "Antinomy," gamers haven't heard the last of her voice.

Thanks to the internet, many fresh creators have had opportunities to show off their music, art, and writing skills thanks to the world wide web. One famous example is Arin "Egoraptor" Hanson, a talented animator who got his start on Newgrounds and specializes in video game parodies. He's also one half of the famous Game Grumps. The parody and "Let's Play" landscapes wouldn't be the same without Egoraptor, and neither would several video games.

Since Egoraptor got his start early on the internet, he was able to accrue clout and practice pretty quickly, which gave way to more professional opportunities. His first "big" role in a video was voicing Dr. Bruce Banner (when he isn't smashing things as the Hulk) in "Marvel Ultimate Alliance," but Egoraptor has snuck into several other games since then. He voiced a random dwarf in "Dragon Age: Inquisition," the bomb baby in "Accounting" and "Accounting+," and Scott in "Monster Prom." Most recently, Egoraptor portrayed Mancubus Bloodtooth in the "Guns, Love, and Tentacles" DLC for "Borderlands 3" and reprised his role of Ted Bear from various "Cyanide and Happiness" shorts for the first chapter of "Cyanide & Happiness: Freakpocalypse."

These roles are by no means the end of Egoraptor's work. He is set to voice the character Ace in "Gunvolt Chronicles: Luminous Avenger iX," but Egoraptor may also play many more video game characters in the future. Fingers crossed for more Ted Bear in subsequent installments of "Freakpocalpse."

Finding the right voice for a character isn't easy, especially when a developer wants a streamer to provide said voice. Not only should the content creator sound good on tape, but their voice usually has to fit the character's design. Then again, why would anyone worry about the latter when they can just put the streamer's face on the character?

Ben "CohhCarnage" Cassell is a popular streamer who loves to play RPGs and FPS games, so he was pretty excited for "Cyberpunk 2077" — almost as excited as he was to announce that he's in the game. It's one thing to voice a character in a video game, but it's even better to have your voice and face used for one. That's exactly what happened when CohhCarnage was used as the blueprint for the NPC Garry the Prophet.

Unfortunately, not everyone will bump into Garry in "Cyberpunk 2077." Night City is a big, bustling neon metropolis, and you can only find Garry the Prophet proselytizing outside one dinky alleyway in the Little China sub-district. Still, anyone who takes the time to find Garry the Prophet will be well-rewarded with some fascinating dialogue, all of which revolves around hilarious conspiracy theories involving vampires controlled by space necromancers. Visit him multiple times, and players can even participate in a short side mission.

You need experience to get most jobs, but also need to first land a job to obtain that in order to obtain that experience. This employment paradox can hamstring many applicants, especially when the job in question involves acting. But due to the internet, many would-be actors can create their own films and audition reels, then stream them. That's what Sungwon "ProZD" Cho did.

Odds are you have seen/heard ProZD's work without realizing it. He started his internet career posting comedic skits lampooning anime, games, and everything in between. He also has a Twitch channel where he hosts regular Q&A sessions.

ProZD's clips have helped him land countless jobs voicing characters in anime and video games in a variety of tenors. One of his first roles was Zeus in "Apotheon," and he acquired bigger and better roles from there. Thanks to his malleable voice, ProZD has landed parts such as the Express Owls in "A Hat in Time," Tashiro in "Judgment," and Tesso in "Lost Judgment." However, most gamers probably recognize ProZD as FL4K in "Borderlands 3."

Even though ProZD streams on a reliable schedule, he is also a professional voice actor at this point. Audiences can look forward to hearing him as Ratatoskr (the messenger squirrel of the Norse gods) in "God of War: Ragnarok."

Many entertainers have learned it's never too late to delight audiences. While countless streamers start early in life, others only find viewers in their later years. However, with the right fanbase and personality, any streamer can eventually become immortalized in video games.

Shirley Curry, better known as the "Skyrim" Grandma, is famous for her unique style of wandering around the land of Skyrim and essentially makes her own stories as she goes along. Curry may be in her mid-80s, but she doesn't let her age get in the way of slaying bandits and delving Dwemer ruins. Some skilled programmers loved her pleasant demeanor and entertaining videos so much that they featured her in a mod, simply known as "Shirley – A Skyrim Follower Mod."

Players who download this mod can recruit a loyal NPC who not only looks like Curry, but also sounds like her. The "Skyrim" Grandma herself recorded tons of lines to make her digital counterpart feel alive, comment on the game world, and hold in-depth conversations. Fans who want more "Skyrim" Grandma goodness were elated when Bethesda announced she would also cameo in "The Elder Scrolls 6." Unlike the mod, which is only endorsed by Curry, this collaboration is 100% official, so now all fans have to do is wait for the game to release.

While Shirley "the Skyrim Grandma" Curry might not portray any other characters in video games, she doesn't really need to. She has so many wholesome videos on her channel portraying a matronly barbarian that it's difficult to imagine her in any other role.

Since most streamers aren't "professional" actors first, you might expect them to only be offered bit parts and other voice acting crumbs. This mindset underestimates their talent, especially since some streamers have landed key roles in legendary franchises.

Briana White is a streamer who's gained fans in all corners of the internet. She has a sizable following on Instagram and runs Strange Rebel Gaming on Twitch and YouTube. White is also an aspiring actress, primarily featuring in viral internet shorts such as the "Show White vs. Elsa" rap battle. However, White received her big break when she landed the role of Aerith in "Final Fantasy 7 Remake."

While countless other actresses have portrayed Aerith in the past, including Mandy Moore and Andrea Bowen, White rocked the gaming world when she received the part. Aerith was White's first voice acting credit, so nobody expected her to land the role – not even White herself. White was surprised she even received an audition invitation, and was so confident she wouldn't get any further that she decided to milk the experience and make it as fun as possible. Imagine White's surprise when she learned she got the part!

Since "Final Fantasy 7 Remake" is only the first part in what is going to be a multi-chapter story, odds are good that White will return to voice Aerith in subsequent entries. (Spoilers ahead for "Final Fantasy 7 Remake.")

While its would normally worth mentioning that Aerith dies in the original "Final Fantasy 7," the remake follows its own timeline and uses that divergence as a plot point — and a tangible enemy — so White may very well portray Aerith after what should be her destined demise. Only time will tell.

The internet birthed countless video genres we never thought possible. One of the most noteworthy is the "abridged parody," which takes existing anime or other cartoon footage and remixes it with new effects and comedic redubs for maximum mirth. Martin "LittleKuriboh" Billany and Team Four Star led the charge.

LittleKuriboh is known across the internet as "the father of abridging" thanks to his work on "Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Abridged Series" and other Team Four Star projects. He played almost half the cast of "Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Abridged Series," including Joey Wheeler, Yami Yugi, and Seto Kaiba, as well as characters in subsequent abridged shows, such as Frieza in "Dragon Ball Z Abridged." LittleKuriboh even got to work in the sound department for "Star Wars" sequels, "The Last Jedi" and "The Rise of Skywalker." Nowadays, he hosts regular game streams on Twitch and is on a quest to review the "Yu-Gi-Oh!" franchise on his YouTube channel, one episode at a time. Oh, and LittleKuriboh has also parlayed this experience into some video game voice work. 

While LittleKuriboh has quite a few video games roles on his resume, none of the characters are as memorable as his abridged ones. Gamers might recognize LittleKuriboh as the voice of Slenge in "Tales of Zestiria," a number of ancillary characters in the "Secret of Mana” remake, and Bringsly in the WRVR mod for "Fallout 4."

Although LittleKuriboh's video game resume is still a bit on the short side, he still has quite a few non-abridged anime roles under his belt and his voice is instantly recognizable for extremely online fans.

Team Four Star has produced many hilarious parody titles, but "Dragon Ball Z Abridged" is easily the studio's magnum opus. One of the main brains behind the project was Curtis "Takahata101" Arnott. His writing and acting helped the series wedge itself into the minds of audiences, and he's continued this high standard in his more recent works.

These days, you can find Takahata101 playing anime bartender host to various VTuber personalities on his Twitch channel or getting into trouble as Borky the Orky in "Dungeons & Dragons" videos. Beyond that, Takahata101 also has had a semi-successful stint in video game voice acting. He gave life to Tuyul Centeng in "DreadOut: Act 2," as well as Coach in "Monster Prom: Second Term." However, the award for "Takahata101's Most Notable Video Game Voice Acting Credit" goes to the "Dragon Ball Xenoverse" series since he did more than play a character in those games.

"Dragon Ball Z Abridged" fans should recognize Male Voice 8 in "Xenoverse 1" and "2" as Takahata101 channeling his loveably stupid version of Nappa. But more importantly, Takahata101 was given free rein to rewrite each of his lines into a joke, reference, meme, or all three. This freedom is why the voice changes every attack name, replacing "Crusher Ball" with "Space Australia!" and mispronouncing "Kamehameha."

Takahata101 also has plenty more jobs lined up. He's voicing Eiji Tadashi in "Exogenesis: Perils of Rebirth" — and with any luck, he will get to make more "Abridged” references in future "Dragon Ball Z" games.

Jacksepticeye has forged an identity that has won him many fans and voiceover opportunities. While most audiences probably know Jacksepticeye for his collection of YouTube "Let's Play" videos, as well as collaborations with the likes of Markiplier and Wade "LordMinion777," viewers might have also heard Jacksepticeye in the very games he plays. 

He portrayed the minor characters Jack and Shawn Flynn in "Pinstripe" and "Bendy and the Ink Machine," respectively, and yes, Jacksepticeye bumped into himself while streaming these games. Longtime Jacksepticeye fans might also recognize him as the voice of Calculester and Pheel the Eel in "Monster Prom" and its sequel, "Monster Prom: Second Term," as well as Godai in "River City Girls." However, Jacksepticeye's most noteworthy video game voice acting credit isn't from a video game. Kind of.

To celebrate St. Patrick's Day 2019, Sega released a weird photoshopped picture of Jet the Hawk sporting a green shamrock hat and red leprechaun beard. Jacksepticeye responded by asking to voice "Irish the Hedgehog." Apparently someone at Sega heard him — in 2020, Sega posted a video of a green hedgehog with a green leprechaun hat, a shamrock-shaped stomach, and Jacksepticeye's rambling voice. The video was also accompanied by a Celtic-sounding rendition of the classic "Sonic the Hedgehog" track "Escape from the City."

Jacksepticeye doesn't seem like he plans on replacing his prolific streaming career with voice acting full-time, but he also seems open to these gigs when offered, so who knows what game he'll be in next?

"Minecraft" is one of the most open-ended games out there. Streamers have potentially infinite material to work with as they play through the vanilla survival mode, craft countless crazy creations, or mess around with a myriad of mods. The result is a very "make your own fun" experience, and while spin-offs fill in the gaps, nobody would have greenlit those games if the source material wasn't popular enough. Why shouldn't developers pay homage to the streamers who helped make "Minecraft" a household name by hiring them?

One of the biggest "Minecraft” personalities on YouTube and Twitch is Daniel "DanTDM" Middleton. He has a Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Award and a Guinness World Record thanks to his "Minecraft" escapades. Not only that, but he has a number of voice acting credits to his name. 

Back before Telltale Games closed its doors and subsequently resurrected under LCG Entertainment, the company worked on narrative-focused titles based on existing IPs, including "Minecraft." While "Minecraft: Story Mode" initially did its own thing in the existing "Minecraft" world, it eventually added new concepts such as alternate dimensions. One of these dimensions was populated by "Minecraft" streamers, all voiced by their real-world counterparts. In other words, DanTDM got to play himself in "Minecraft," and in a murder mystery. While DanTDM has gone on to play other roles in shows and movies based on video games, such as "Skylanders Academy" and "Ralph Breaks the Internet" (the UK version only, unfortunately), "Minecraft: Story Mode" remains DanTDM's only true video game role.

If the new Telltale Games ever revisits "Minecraft," fans might get to hear more of DanTDM in a game world.

Vocal critics tend to garner a lot of attention, and the louder they are, the more people notice them, for good and for bad. But you know what they say: The more a game studio likes you, the more they want you to cameo in their titles. Okay, that isn't really an idiom, but it should be.

In the history of video game journalism, perhaps no one is more outspoken than James Stephanie Sterling. They have made a lucrative career out of covering controversial topics, including the toxic workplace culture of companies like Activision Blizzard. Sterling also regularly streams any game they feel like playing, from "Aliens: Fireteam Elite" to "The Binding of Isaac," but their heart remains firmly entrenched in journalism. While Sterling has made some enemies (they were one of the critics caught up in the infamous Digital Homicide lawsuits, after all), they've also found countless allies in the game development industry, some of whom have asked Sterling to lend their voice to various titles.

So far, Sterling has only five video game credits to their name, all of which are indie projects. In their first role, Sterling portrayed different characters in "Jazzpunk," and after that gig, they played Brian Mulberry in "2064: Read Only Memories," Charles in "Lorelai," and the opening narrator of "Plague Road." So far, Sterling's most prestigious role is a the Slig news reporter in "Oddworld: Soulstorm."

Some games become popular thanks to monolithic marketing machines, while others achieve fame by word of mouth. In some cases, one streamer lights and maintains the fire of popularity. When that happens, a developer might want to pay it forward and let that streamer create some content for their game, especially if they see eye to eye.

Each streamer has their own comedic stylings, and Spencer "TheRussianBadger" Scott is best described as God's gift to memelords — in a good way. For the uninitiated, TheRussianBadger is a YouTuber/Twitch streamer who plays whatever he wants with a cadre of like-minded friends, so long as the game is fun. His jokes range from video game logic to the radioactivity of bananas, and his library of games is likewise varied. However, the RussianBadger crew has a small list of dedicated titles they constantly revisit, including "Totally Accurate Battlegrounds."

"TABG" is a parody of other battle royale titles that is intentionally broken. The game lets players do everything from turning tasers into sniper rifles to using miniguns like jetpacks. Unfortunately, "TABG" struggled to find an audience until TheRussianBadger posted his first clip of the game. Since then, he has posted even more "TABG" streams, and the game has likewise experienced generally upward growth. As thanks, the developers let TheRussianBadger voice his own pack of 300+ words, which users can mix and match into short sentences. They also made him a special cosmetic, just so players can crawl around as a croc with a glock.