Baldur’s Gate 3 and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 actor Jennifer English says she isn’t a fan of being referred to as a “voice actor” – in her words, it “negates” the other work she puts into a role.
The talented voice behind characters like Shadowheart in Baldur’s Gate 3 and Maelle in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 shares her thoughts during a playthrough of the latter RPG alongside her partner and fellow actor Aliona Baranova. “We would never call ourselves voice actors,” explains English. “I don’t know if that’s – I think that’s a mainly American thing,” she says. The conversation comes after a broader discussion on actors’ roles.
English continues, citing Larian Studios’ 2023 RPG as one particular example in which she’s often referred to as a “voice actor” – a title she doesn’t find entirely accurate. “For Baldur’s Gate 3, I hate, hate being called ‘voice actor’ so much. It makes me really angry, because it just completely gets rid of all my other career as an actor.” Outside of voicing characters and motion capture, English also did theater – and she’d “love to” again.
Motion capture comes up, too, however, with English describing how the term “voice actor” doesn’t take such forms of acting into account either. “It gets rid of the motion capture that we do for a lot of video games and kind of negates that.” She doesn’t consider herself a celebrity or “star,” though, with Baranova telling her other regions outside of the United Kingdom, like Germany and the United States, have “a culture of just voice acting” alone.
“I don’t consider ourselves stars or celebrities at all,” concludes English. I’m sure players feel differently, as a fan myself – especially with so many of Shadowheart’s lines alone going viral online. The “God’s favorite princess” one that was actually made canon in the RPG after it appeared in memes immediately comes to mind, but there are plenty more. All in all, it’s safe to say that English’s skills go far beyond her voice, however.
