Troy Baker, the industry’s ‘new’ Nolan North
If you’ve spotted the assassin Kai Leng in Mass Effect 3, roamed the streets of Steelport spitting hot lead and one-liners as the voice of ‘Male Caucasian 1’ in Saints Row: The Third, or pillaged dungeons with the Scoundrel as your ally in Diablo 3, you’re familiar with the industry’s newest voice actor all star: Troy Baker.
Before his voice was featured in countless big budget video games, Baker’s career was focused on music, playing in the indie-rock band Tripp Fontaine. Though Baker says music “came naturally” to him, he knew his life would revolve around some form of entertainment. “I knew from when I left my mother’s womb that I was going to be a performer,” Baker tells Joystiq.
Around 2004, Baker “stumbled” into doing car commercials, which led to a chance encounter that would shift his entire career focus. “Since we were doing album work at the same studio, it was just right place right time. So I started doing commercial work, and met Christopher Sabat who plays Vegeta in Dragonball Z.” Soon he was cast in a slew of minor roles throughout the anime and video game world: various iterations of Dragonball Z, bit parts in Lupin III, roles in One Piece, Bloodrayne 2 and Mega Man X: Command Mission. Things started to explode, and did so with a sonic boom when he was cast as the memorable Frank Archer in Fullmetal Alchemist.
He was working frequently and with passion, but Baker’s next big break came from another happenstance situation: being friends with a Gearbox Software employee.Continue reading Troy Baker, the industry’s ‘new’ Nolan NorthTroy Baker, the industry’s ‘new’ Nolan North originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 30 May 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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