aAs an actor, Doug Cockle is accustomed to workplace anxiety. Losing himself in a role on set, whether it’s battling Nazis in Spielberg’s Band of Brothers or starring alongside Christian Bale in the dragon-filled Reign of Fire, comes naturally to Cockle. However, when he landed his first video game role in 2001, Cockle found himself in the vocal booth, completely isolated.
“It’s a strange feeling,” he explains. “You have to immerse yourself in that world in your mind, in that moment, with other actors on stage or screen, with props and costumes—all contributing to this thing called acting. With voice acting, it’s just you in the booth, with the director and engineer behind a glass wall, and you’re just snacking on jelly babies.”
Cockle started working in video games as a voice actor on titles like the PS2 game “Timesplitters 2” during a break from Hollywood, unknowingly paving the way for acting in the emerging medium. He has appeared in over 45 video games so far, including hits like “Baldur’s Gate 3” and “Alan Wake 2,” but he is most recognized for voicing the raspy-voiced Witcher Geralt of Rivia.
“You’re the only one in the booth”…The Witcher 3. Photo: CD Projekt RED
“When I started, there wasn’t much audio in video games,” Cockle remembers. “The only audio in games was Mario and ‘Wow!’ We were just starting to see the deep storytelling we now know in games.”
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Source: www.theguardian.com
