Nolan North
Nolan North
Nolan Ramsey Northis an American actor who has been described as "the nearest thing the games industry has to a bona fide leading man." His voice work includes characters such as Nathan Drake from the Uncharted series, Desmond Miles from the Assassin's Creed video game series, Ghost from the Bungie title Destiny, the Penguin in the Batman: Arkham video game franchise, Cpt. Martin Walker in Spec Ops: The Line, David in The Last of Us, several characters in various pieces...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionVoice Actor
Date of Birth31 October 1970
CityNew Haven, CT
CountryUnited States of America
The really best acting is children in a playground or in a backyard. They're just lost in their imagination. The backyard isn't a pirate ship or a jungle, in the same way that the soundstage isn't Shambala.
There was a time when all the actors were saying, 'We should get residuals on videogames.' I just kept going, 'You don't have any idea what goes into making a game, do you?'
In 'Uncharted,' we do the scenes the same way you would do a film or television show. The motion capture - the performance-capture process - is what makes such a difference for this franchise. So I don't approach it any differently. The other actors and I go in and rehearse scenes together, and then we go in the next day and perform.
I don't think there's room in video games for people to bring an ego. It's very frustrating for any actor to have someone who's a celebrity take over your place. Like the 'Uncharted' film, they're trying to find someone to play Nathan Drake. And it's like, why do they not think of us? We do this.
I revel in my anonymity. But when I'm at a specific event and gamers are there, they'll recognise me.
I'm proud of the versatility I've had since I was in high school, getting in trouble for all these voices. What happened was that there were so many of these big heroes I played - in 'Dark Void,' 'Assassin's Creed,' 'Shadow Complex,' 'Uncharted,' and 'Prince of Persia' - and they all showed up at about the same time. It got a little ridiculous.
I know a lot of games have been going to the facial capture. And movies like 'TinTin' are using it, as well.
My first motion capture game was with Sony - NBA: The Life. It was very ahead of its time. Brandon Akiaten, he was the writer and director. He had a real vision of what this game was meant to be; it was a basketball game where I was the Jerry Maguire sports agent type guy. And it was great!
I am a person who believes in the good of people and who may have had things influence them to a certain degree, but deep down I think most people are good and would like to be good.
I'm an actor. Whether I'm on stage, in front of a camera or a microphone, what I do is the same - although with videogames it requires a lot of imagination.