They’re Real?

In today’s modern age of gaming developers will often base their creations on real people.  In the past it was jarring to see an “actor” pop up as a video game character, especially if they were were relatively well known. Can you imagine the nightmare of plopping in Super Mario 4 and seeing a CG version of Danny Devito hurling fireballs from his swollen quasi-dwarven finger tips?  When actors are under the radar it tends to work much better due to the fact that most players have no clue that they are actually playing as someone “real”. Here is a brief list of some characters that are actual humans in actual life.

Julia Voth was scanned in as Jill Valentine for the RE:Remake

Jill Valentine / Julia Voth (Resident Evil) – Zombie killer and “master of unlocking” Jill Valentine has been played by a variety of people over the years, but the model used for Jill since 2002 has been none other than Julia Voth.  Julia has been in a variety of roles including the amazingly fun “Bitch Slap” released in 2009.   When interviewed, Julia revealed that she loves being identified with the iconic character.   I urge you all to check out Bitch Slap, it’s a load of fun. *Updated* Check out our exclusive interview with Julia Voth! Thanks again Julia!

Mark Vanderloo is Commander Shephard

Mark Vanderloo / Commander Shephard (Mass Effect)- After playing countless hours of Mass Effect I was surprised to find out that Commander Shephard is indeed a real person.  Dutch supermodel Mark Vanderloo was scanned by Bioware to create one of the most iconic characters of all time.  Most fans operated under the belief that the default Shep was created using Bioware’s character building technology, but in reality we’re looking at Mr. Vanderloo.

Yvonne Strahovski is Miranda Lawson

Yvonne Strahovski as Miranda Lawson (Mass Effect 2) – Yvonne is known for her role on Chuck, but many gamers had no clue that Mass Effect love interest Miranda Lawson was indeed a real person.  The Mass Effect community has sort of a love hate relationship with Miranda due to her icy personality and extreme loyalty to Cerberus, but nerds everywhere rejoiced when romance was achieved.

Thanks G4 for the Clip

Morrigan is actually model Victorria Johnson

Morrigan is Victorria Johnson (Dragon Age: Origins)- I have never worked harder at a relationship than I did trying to romance the wicked Morrigan in Dragon Age: Origins.  It turns out that Morrigan was based on model Victorria Johnson.  After some “research” I discovered that Victoria’s hobbies include: Runes Of Magic, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Gaming, and Hiking.  That officially makes her one of us.

So there you have it.  Just a few actors who have brought some amazing characters to life.

. *Updated* Check out our exclusive interview with Julia Voth!