Gaming is one of the favorite pastime activities for many. Therefore, it’s no surprise that video game makers are constantly trying to add more and more interesting features that will attract more players. Hiring a famous movie or TV star to voice a character is not that unusual these days. Check out the stars who lend their voices to video games.

Gary Oldman

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gary Oldman has had a string of critical hits in the video game world to match his success on the big screen. He’s voiced characters in True Crime: Streets of LA, several Legend of Spyro titles, Call of Duty: World at War and Call of Duty: Black Ops.

Samuel L. Jackson

 

 

 

 

 

 

In 2004, Samuel landed his voice to Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. The game is set in 1992 in the fictional state of San Andreas and Jackson plays one of the villains, Officer Frank Tenpenny, a respected member of the Los Santos Police Department who uses his reputation to cover up acts of corruption and murder. Jackson also starred in Afro Samurai.

Christina Hendricks

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mad Men’s Christina Hendricks makes her game debut in Need for Speed: The Run. Hendricks stars as Sam Harper, a wealthy woman who manages the best drivers in the cutthroat world of outlaw street racing. “I wanted to make sure that if I was going to do a video game that it was a really strong and cool character,” Hendricks told THR. “She’s powerful and she’s strong and she’s smart. I think that’s the kind of woman I like to play.”

Martin Sheen

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sheen signed on with BioWare to voice one of the major antagonists in the second and third entries in their groundbreaking Mass Effect series. The Hollywood veteran lent his voice to the Illusive Man, a mysterious pro-human “activist” who helps resurrect the player character of Commander Shepard after their sudden death in the opening of Mass Effect 2. By the beginning of Mass Effect 3, Sheen’s character is one of Shepard’s fiercest opponents.

Liam Neeson

 

 

 

 

 

 

Neeson hasn’t done many video games, but he was attracted to the “compelling story” of Fallout 3. The creators of the game were hoping that Neeson would take the role from as early as the development stages, writing the character with his voice in mind. “This role was written with Liam in mind, and provides the dramatic tone for the entire game,” said Todd Howard, executive producer of Fallout 3. “There’s a shift of focus you do have to make and trying to convey something through your voice and through the rhythm of the words that you wouldn’t have to worry about so much if the camera was on you,” Liam said.

Kristen Bell

 

 

 

 

 

 

In 2007, Kristen Bell made her mark on the video game world by lending her voice and likeness to Assassin’s Creed. In the game franchise, Bell plays Lucy Stillman, an undercover assassin.

50 Cent

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rapper 50 Cent was asked to voice Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas’ protagonist Carl “CJ” Johnson, but he declined, stating that he would only voice himself in video games. The game was reworked into a PlayStation Portable version and titled 50 Cent: Bulletproof, available on PlayStation 2 and Xbox.

Vin Diesel

 

 

 

 

 

 

Action star Vin Diesel reprised his role as Richard B. Riddick in the 2004 first-person shooter The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay. His fighting style is a more aggressive, brutal variation of the martial art of Kali. Diesel also played Milo Burik in the 2009 game Wheelman. The actor founded a video game production company, Tigon Studios, in 2002.

Emma Stone

 

 

 

 

 

 

In 2012, she expanded her resume to include video games with United Front Games’ open-world action title Sleeping Dogs. Stone voices Amanda Cartwright, a travelling American college girl who the main character Wei introduces to the sights and sounds of Hong Kong.

Sean Bean

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sean Bean lent his voice to the game The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion as Martin Septim, the Emperor’s lost son and heir to the throne. “Oblivion is something unique, an epic entertainment experience unlike anything I had seen before,” said Bean of working on his first game. “I decided this was a project I really wanted to work on creatively and I hope fans of the game enjoy the results.”

Ellen Page

 

 

 

 

 

 

In Beyond Two Souls, Page plays protagonist Jodie Holmes. The game was created using motion capture, a process that requires placing almost a hundred little beads on an actor’s face to capture each movement during a scene. “You’re creating something that could go in so many different directions,” she explained to Hero Complex. “You’re acting out elements of a story with an emotional intensity that a lot of people might never see. Every single person who plays this game will have their unique journey.”

Kiefer Sutherland

 

 

 

 

 

 

His latest voice project is the character Snake for the upcoming Metal Gear Solid V, which will be released in 2014. In addition to lending his voice to the game, Sutherland also wore facial capture technology to help developers create the character. He has admitted that he’s not a gamer, but still said, “It’s an honor to be able to play this character. This character has an unbelievable legacy, but there’s a real personal quality to the character that I’ve connected to.”