Nolan North is perhaps one of the most vocal voice actors in the industry, ranging from Assassin’s Creed protagonist Desmond Miles, to his most famous role as the snarky Nathan Drake. His success even landed him a small role in the next Star Trek film by J.J. Abrams. His voice has been lent to hundreds of games, ranging from small to huge parts, including the… wait… the Penguin from Batman: Arkham City? And he did the voices of the three spheres in Portal 2?!

Yes, voice actors tend to disguise their voices enough so that they can fulfill their roles. Voice acting is a difficult and very picky profession, the actors have to be able to change the tone and pitch of their voice at will. If the role is a very specific one – such as the Penguin – they have to be able to hold an accent as well. Nathan Drake was a perfect match for Nolan, he didn’t even have to add a tone to his voice; he just had to talk normally.

But for other roles, such as the Corrupt Spheres from Portal 2, it can be difficult to notice. The Space Core, for example, is a high-pitched, fast-talking core obsessed with going to space. It’s hard to imagine the voice actor of the sarcastic Nathan Drake prattle off just how much he loves space… but I can still try. My new life goal is to try to get Nolan North to say the Space Core lines as Nathan Drake, if that ever happens I will live the rest of my life in bliss.

Nolan North is lending his many voices to games, but that doesn’t stop other actors famous for their television roles from dipping their toes into the voice acting side. John de Lancie, famous for his role as Q in Star Trek: The Next Generation has taken a liking to giving away his unique voice to a couple of games. Most recently he has played William Miles in Assassin’s Creed: Revelations and Quantum Conundrum as Professor Quadwrangle. He doesn’t have the ability to create as many voices as Nolan, but he still pulls it off quite well with his distinct voice and way of talking.

Mark Hamill is also famous for this, originally gaining fame from playing Luke Skywalker in a small series called Star Wars. He’s done a few voices for cartoon and animated shorts, but the one he was most notable for is the Joker. His work in Batman: The Animated Series created the iconic Joker that we know and love, and landed him the role in the Batman games. His voice is a mix between what Nolan and what John de Lancie uses; he can change his voice to the high-pitched and insane voice that changed his fame from one of the hero of Star Wars to the antithesis of Batman.

Being a voice actor is no easy job; actors have to work hard to be able to hit the highs and lows of the voice, and know their ranges inside and out in order to deduce how to create a voice for a role and how they should act it out. Once voice actors have a good idea, they act it out. The part is more than just a voice; they put their energy into acting as if they were the part, just like if they were playing on a stage.  Mark Hamill was made fun of because he was the only one who stood up to record his lines, but the energy and the way he moved added to the depth of the Joker, and his effort had helped shape how people see the Joker, and made him one of the most memorable characters from the show.