A lot of different factors need to come together to create a good video game. A team of amazing artists needs to create a world that is visually attractive and complements the themes of the game, and characters have to be designed to appeal to gamers while standing out from the hundreds of other characters in the gaming world. Programmers need to ensure that gameplay is engaging yet accessible, and voice actors and actresses have the daunting task of making characters come to life. In the world of voice actors and actresses, there have been a few names that stand out thanks to how frequently they pop up in hit games. This includes Ashly Burch, Laura Bailey, and Troy Baker.
Many might not even notice it, but Troy Baker has lent his voice to a startling number of video games and animes. He also has a long music career in the alternative rock scene and was a lead singer for the band Tripp Fontaine. According to Troy, his voice acting career began with him doing radio commercials in Dallas. Eventually, he found himself working for Funimation, where he did English dubbing on a number of anime shows including Dragon Ball Z, Fullmetal Alchemist, and One Piece. Without Troy, some of the most beloved characters in gaming may have sounded very different.
Troy Baker's Role in Recent Blockbusters
Some of the bestselling and highest-rated video games in the last few years have featured Troy in a lead or supporting role. However, thanks to his talent in voice acting, he manages to sound different enough for it to not always be obvious that a character's voice is his. Some of his most successful roles have come from his work with Naughty Dog, which is a PlayStation first-party studio. Most notably, Troy has served as both the voice actor and motion capture actor for Joel in The Last of Us and The Last of Us 2. This role highlights Troy's ability to display complex emotions through his voice acting, and it also shows off his singing talents. Troy has also lent his voice acting talents to the Uncharted series where he plays Sam Drake, who is Nathan Drake's brother, in Uncharted 4: A Thief's End and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy.
He has done voice acting in quite a few Call of Duty games too. His first role was in 2009 where he was featured in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. The next year, he lent his voice acting talents to Call of Duty: Black Ops, and in 2011, he did some voice acting for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. In 2012, he was heard in Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, but this would not be the end of his work in the series. He returned to Call of Duty in 2014 where he voiced Jack Mitchell in Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. In 2019, he worked on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.
Other notable roles Troy has under his belt include Simon in Spider-Man Miles Morales, Bruce Banner in Avengers, Magni in God of War (2018), and Delsin in Infamous Second Son. His good work has earned him several nominations and awards in the gaming world. These include a NAVGTR Award for Lead Performance in a Comedy for his Rhys in Tales from the Borderlands, a BTVA Voice Acting Award for Voice Actor of the Year, and both a VGX Award for Best Voice Actor and a NAVGTR Award for Lead Performance in a Drama for his work in The Last of Us.
Troy Baker Has Acted in Several Japanese Games
Some of Troy's most interesting roles can be found in the Japanese games he has worked on. While some of these titles may not be so popular in the West, they are certainly worth trying out, not just for Troy's voice acting but also for the unique stories they tell and the eccentric gameplay they offer. Troy has worked with Atlus quite frequently. He takes a lead role in Catherine and Catherine: Full Body where he voices Vincent Brooks, a regular guy who is haunted by nightmares after finding himself in a love triangle. He also voices Kanji in Persona 4. Kanji is a mean-looking bad boy who ends up having his softer side revealed.
Troy has had a long working relationship with legendary video game auteur Hideo Kojima. Consequently, he has found himself in plenty of Hideo Kojima games, including the Metal Gear series. His voice can be heard in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker and he voices and does motion-capture acting for Revolver Ocelot in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. Troy also shows up in Death Stranding, where he is the voice actor and motion capture actor for the villain Higgs Monaghan.
He has had multiple roles in the Resident Evil series. This includes Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles, and Resident 6 where he voices Jake Muller, who is the son of Albert Wesker. His voice can also be heard in other Japanese games, including Fullmetal Alchemist and the Broken Angel, Naruto Shippuden: Legends: Akatsuki Rising, White Knight Chronicles, several Final Fantasy games, and Ninja Gaiden 3 where he does voice acting for protagonist Ryu Hayabusa. He voices Ryu once again in Dead or Alive: Dimensions. His voice can also be heard in Tales of Vesperia, where he plays Yuri Lowell.
It would be an exhausting task to cover Troy Baker's entire career, and the discussed roles represent just the highlights. Through Troy, numerous video game characters have had life breathed into them and have become memorable figures in gaming history. Despite the extensive amount of work he has done in the realm of video games, it seems as though he has no plans to stop any time soon. On social media, Troy has posted images of himself and Roger Clarke, who plays Arthur Morgan in Red Dead Redemption 2. Although details on the project they are working on have yet to reach the public, anything involving the two industry veterans is sure to be exciting.
