Fans of the Grand Theft Auto series were hyped in December 2023, following the official announcement by Rockstar Games that GTA 6 will be scheduled for release in 2025.
Hardly surprising considering the huge success that its predecessor GTA 5 continues to enjoy, more than a decade after it was released back in 2013.
Previous installments of the Grand Theft Auto franchise have always been popular, but GTA 5 truly raised the bar in open-world gaming, populating Los Santos and San Andreas with fascinating characters.
These were brought to life by top-notch voice actors, capturing the very essence of each individual personality, and making them all richly detailed and engaging.
Aside from exploring the massive landscape based on Southern California, plus the wide array of interactive activities across the map, storytelling and characterization were integral components of what made GTA 5 so compelling.
Of course, this also highlighted just how powerful and influential great video game voice actors can be, making this a fascinating and immersive experience for players.
GTA 5 continues to remain a cherished and much-loved game both for players and those involved in bringing such an impressive game to life.
Indeed, the list of superb voice artists who feature in GTA 5 is just so big, that focusing on all of them in this article would be practically impossible.
For the main trio of leading actors and the supporting cast, working on this video game over three years was a life-changing experience, as we look behind the scenes to take in their thoughts.
Before the casting call for GTA 5 came, Ned Luke was an experienced but semi-retired actor and the midlife crisis was real, tired of the Hollywood scene and chasing jobs.
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“I had soured on the business,” he admitted to TheGamer website, having decided to move back to New York after a four-year sabbatical.
The first opportunity his agent offered was for a video game.
“I was like, ‘I’m not going to do a video game. What would I want to do a video game for? I’m an actor’,” recalls Luke of the skepticism he initially felt, although that quickly changed.
“So, I looked at the audition material and I went from ‘I’m not doing that game’, to ‘Ain’t nobody else doing it,” he said of the test reading.
The role of Michael genuinely resonated with Ned.
He was an actor seeking to turn his back on acting, playing the in-game role of a character who is also looking to move on, albeit from a shady past and life of crime.
“So, I’m back in the business,” he added, referring both to his own life and that of his character in GTA 5.
“Our set was very loose, pretty crazy, and a lot of fun,” says Luke of his cherished memories, given that working on the GTA 5 project spanned more than five years.
Great chemistry with the other leads also rejuvenated his thoughts about acting, while he and the other leads were given “lots of freedom to improvise,” allowing their own in-game personalities to really shine through.
In many respects, appearing in GTA 5 was akin to jumping on a trampoline, launching the acting career of Steven Ogg to new heights.
Image courtesy of Wikimedia.org
Now he’s a familiar face in major TV productions like The Walking Dead and most recently, Snowpiercer.
But ask any fans of the video game and his voice acting, they will always associate him with GTA 5 and the role of Trevor Philips.
“It’s incredible. It’s sort of like, Mark Hamill is forever Luke Skywalker, and I might forever be Trevor from Grand Theft Auto,” explained Ogg during a 2022 interview published online by Looper.
“Listen, I’m proud of it so it doesn’t bug me because it was work I enjoyed,” acknowledged the Canadian actor.
“There’s no big production, you’re just in your motion-capture outfit in a warehouse.
But it sure was fun to create this rather crazy, impulsive character that I had a blast playing,” says Ogg, who did a marvelous job, fleshing out the character of Trevor both vocally and physically.
Behind the scenes, fellow GTA 5 voice actors often recall that Ogg was the life of the party, bringing his own personality to recording sessions.
In-game, we often see animated Trevor appearing at random locations in those iconic tighty whitey underpants.
But he also did that in the studio too, much to the amusement of other cast members, alongside other activities that would put him in the craziness zone for Trevor’s character.
“I was a rebellious little dude, man. I was young, I got into the streets,” remembers Shawn Fonteno about his life before acting.
“I can honestly say, I know what it feels like to be on both sides of the gun, coming from selling drugs and gangbanging,” he freely acknowledged of his youth.
Fonteno had lived the life of the character he was going to portray in GTA 5, just as his cousin Christopher Bellard (AKA Young Maylay) had, before he became famous for portraying lead character CJ in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
“When I got the job it was unexpected,” he remembers of the casting call. “I was just being the real me when I read the lines.”
Fonteno undoubtedly brought his own authenticity to voicing Franklin Clinton, and he was also surprised by the script.
“When I started getting bits and pieces of script of my character Franklin, it was like damn, man, did they research me?” and that was an emotional experience, one that resonated and comes across well in his GTA 5 acting performance.
“Franklin felt just like me, trying to find my way to a better place,” says Fonteno of his video game counterpart Franklin.
“People call us voice actors but we’re beyond that,” he was keen to stress.
“We are performers, we gave those characters a life,” he explained, having provided all the physical acting for motion capture, alongside lending his vocal talent to the role.
Love him or loathe him, Lester Crest was a central character helping to mastermind all the biggest heists in GTA 5, and the man behind the voice was Jay Klaitz.
“I’ve been very fortunate to dip my toes in all the ends of this business,” he reflected about his career on the Larry Lawton podcast, having worked on Broadway shows and TV productions, alongside regularly doing voiceovers for commercials, radio broadcasts, and video games.
“I didn’t know it was going to be something of this scale,” he suggested, regarding the single audition that landed him the role of Lester. Although working mostly from scripts, “they were cool about letting me put my own flavor,” when voicing the character.
“Being part of GTA V is a dream come true! Being a fan of the franchise and go on to be a part of it, man… SO amazing,” wrote Slink Johnson during a chat session with gamers on Reddit.
Thanks to his unique voice and verbal intonations, the character of Lamar Davis quickly became one of the most popular among many featured in the game.
“To be forever a part of pop culture is quite amazing,” enthused Slink, who appreciates that people still “get a kick out of hearing my voice, seeing my face, and associating it with Lamar!”
Back in 2021 Slink even appeared in GTA V Real-Life Comparisons, a miniseries featuring live-action recreations of iconic scenes from the game, including one of the most famous as Lamar critiques Franklin’s new hairstyle.
Image courtesy of Wikimedia.org
“I thought I was going on an audition for just some kind of TV show,” explained Danny Tamberelli during an online meet and greet with fans,
highlighting the secrecy that initially surrounded GTA 5 production.
But when it was Rockstar who sent the scripts, he soon realized he would be featured in a major video game.
As for getting the voice and tone just right for Jimmy De Santa in GTA 5, Tamberelli says he “just tried to harness all the rich assholes that I went to college and high school with,” knowing the character was going to be a whiny kid who loves playing video games.
Tamberelli appreciated the opportunity to reprise his role in Grand Theft Auto Online, with Jimmy featuring in the Casino Heist update. “They were nice enough to let me be a part of that,” sharing his nostalgia for the part he voiced.
“People often refer to us as voiceover actors, but it’s not. We’re actors performing in a video game,” explained Vicki van Tassel when speaking with Entertainment Scoop, having provided the personality behind the character of Tracey De Santa in GTA 5.
Sinnott prefers to use the term “performance capture” instead of video game voice acting or motion capture, regarding her work during production of the game, highlighting that “taking your image, capturing and putting it into a digital form needs a bigger than life quality.”
So much time and effort goes into video game and animation projects.
American English voice talent – Larissa G
Here at Voice Crafters, we completely understand the need to hire gifted and experienced talents.
Bringing characters to life can be challenging for any actor, but we can help you find professionals with all the right attributes and abilities for your productions.
Blessed with an extensive history in performance capture and voice work, Larissa G. boasts an extraordinary resume in voicing animated features and bringing video game characters to life, including digital personalities featured in Red Dead Redemption II.
“The flexibility of being able to play multiple characters in a single session” is part of the rewarding experience for Larissa.
“Being able to collaborate with a director and discover the journey of a character in a make believe world and bring them to life, it’s one of the most exciting things in acting,” says Larissa, who cherishes each and every performance. “Looking back over all the characters I’ve helped create that resonated with others, that warms my heart.”
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