Video games, film and TV dubs and anime often share pools of voice actors, so finding a Star-Making Role in one field can help gain recognition in the other, and vice versa.
A No Recent Examples rule applies to this trope. To avoid any knee-jerk reactions, examples shouldn't be added until six months after the work's released or the character first appears (whichever is later).
Japanese Voice Actors (Seiyuu)
- Final Fantasy:
- Takahiro Sakurai and Toshiyuki Morikawa in The Compilation of Final Fantasy VII (specifically, Advent Children).
- Masakazu Morita (coupled with Bleach) as Tidus in Final Fantasy X.
- Yūki Kaji (coupled with Attack on Titan) as Hope Estheim in Final Fantasy XIII.
- Asami Imai, Chiaki Takahashi (both coupled with the BlazBlue series), Yumi Hara, Hiromi Hirata, and Asami Shimoda in The Idolmaster.
- Also from BlazBlue, Tsuyoshi Koyama.
- Kingdom Hearts:
- Miyu Irino (coupled with Spirited Away) as Sora in Kingdom Hearts.
- Kōki Uchiyama as Roxas in Kingdom Hearts II and Ventus in Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep.
- Tokimeki Memorial:
- Mami Kingetsu (voice actress of Shiori Fujisaki, the central heroine of Tokimeki Memorial 1).
- Kazusa Murai (voice actress of Kaori Yae, an extremely popular heroine of Tokimeki Memorial 2).
- Kenichi Ono as Sanger Zonvolt in Super Robot Wars Alpha.
- Tekken:
- Isshin Chiba as Jin Kazama.
- Ryōko Shiraishi as Asuka Kazama.
- Taketora as Akuma/Gouki in Street Fighter IV.
- Super Smash Bros..:
- Makiko Ohmoto as Kirby, Ness & Lyn.
- Ryō Horikawa as Captain Falcon.
- Sanae Kobayashi as the Ice Climbers.
- Atsushi Kisaichi as Meta Knight.
- Shinobu Matsumoto as Akatsuki in Akatsuki Blitzkampf
- Eiji Takemoto as either Miles Edgeworth in Ace Attorney or Rock Howard in Garou: Mark of the Wolves
- Akio Ōtsuka as Solid Snake in Metal Gear Solid.
- Fire Emblem:
- Hikaru Midorikawa as Marth and Jun Fukuyama (coupled with Code Geass) as Roy in Super Smash Bros. Melee, which the popularity of the two led to future games of the franchise finally getting localized for international release.
- Michihiko Hagi as Ike in Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance.
- Yuu Kobayashi (Lucina), Kana Akutsu (Cherche and Tharja), Tarusuke Shingaki (Stahl and Gerome), Ryuichi Kijima (Inigo) and Makoto Ishii (Laurent) in Fire Emblem: Awakening.
- Renka (singing) and Lynn (speaking) as Azura in Fire Emblem Fates.
- Ai Kakuma, Toshiyuki Toyonaga and Tomoyo Kurosawa as Edelgard, Claude and Sothis in Fire Emblem: Three Houses.
- Sonic the Hedgehog:
- Jun'ichi Kanemaru as Sonic the Hedgehog himself.
- Ryō Hirohashi as Miles "Tails" Prower.
- Taeko Kawata as Amy Rose.
- Nobutoshi Canna as Knuckles the Echidna.
- Chikao Ohtsuka as Dr. Eggman until his death in 2015.
- Koji Yusa as Shadow the Hedgehog.
- Rumi Ochiai as Rouge the Bat.
- Nao Takamori as Blaze the Cat.
- The Legend of Zelda:
- Link:
- Nobuyuki Hiyama in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
- Fujiko Takimoto in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask.
- Sachi Matsumoto in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker.
- Akira Sasanuma in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.
- Kengo Takanashi in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
- Princess Zelda:
- Jun Mizusawa in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.
- Ayumi Fujimura (coupled with Street Fighter) as Fi in The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword and the titular princess in The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds.
- Yu Shimamura in The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
- Ganon/Ganondorf:
- Takashi Nagasako (coupled with Soul Series) in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker and The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures and Demise in The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.
- Nagasako later solidified as Donkey Kong.
- Hironori Miyata in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.
- Link:
- Yohei Tadano in Street Fighter IV as Gen, along with Rick Sanchez, Yoda and Dr. Vegapunk.
- Takaya Kuroda in Yakuza. Before being Kazuma Kiryu, his roles were basically more subdued, less-mainstream characters or villains in certain shows. His popularity and fame skyrocketed ever since being Kiryu but still contained in Japan, until the Like a Dragon series broke through the international market and he became much more known worldwide as Kiryu.
English Voice Actors
- Stephen Russell in Thief.
- Nolan North as Nathan Drake in Uncharted. His role as Desmond Miles in Assassin's Creed could also count as it came out a week before Uncharted. However, because Desmond is largely eclipsed by Altaïr whereas Drake is the main character in his game, Uncharted holds the advantage.
- David Hayter as Solid Snake and Kim Mai Guest as Mei Ling in Metal Gear Solid.
- Patrick Seitz (coupled with Hellsing, Hetalia: Axis Powers, Bleach, One Piece, and Mortal Kombat) as Ragna, Cristina Valenzuela as Noel and the Murakumos (Coupled with K-On! and Puella Magi Madoka Magica), and Lauren Landa as Litchi (coupled with Puella Magi Madoka Magica and Attack on Titan) in the BlazBlue series.
- Adam Howden (coupled with Xenoblade Chronicles 1) as Anders in Dragon Age II.
- Simon Templeman as Kain and Tony Jay (along with The Hunchback of Notre Dame) as Mortanius and the Elder God in the Legacy of Kain series.
- Reuben Langdon as Dante in Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening (he was mostly a Motion Capture actor before DMC3).
- Roger Craig Smith and D.C. Douglas as Chris Redfield and Albert Wesker, respectively, in Resident Evil 5.
- Around the same time, Smith also made a name for himself in Assassin's Creed II as the voice of Ezio Auditore, and as the new voice of Sonic the Hedgehog as of Sonic Colors.
- Douglas' other SMR would be Legion in Mass Effect 2, which came out shortly thereafter.
- Charles Martinet in Super Mario 64 (which was actually his second game voicing Mario).
- David Gasman in Rayman 2: The Great Escape.
- Jesse Mc Cartney as Roxas in Kingdom Hearts II and Ventus in Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, sharing both roles with Kōki Uchiyama above. While Jesse was already a musical star, this gave him recognition as a voice actor.
- Ali Hillis as Liara T'Soni in Mass Effect and as Lightning and Rachel Robinson as Fang in Final Fantasy XIII.
- James Arnold Taylor (coupled with the Ratchet & Clank series) as Tidus and Hedy Burress as Yuna in Final Fantasy X.
- Steven Ogg, Shawn Fonteno, and Ned Luke in Grand Theft Auto V.
- Gideon Emery and Kari Wahlgren as Balthier and Ashe respectively in Final Fantasy XII.
- Troy Baker in Tales of Vesperia, and probably also Persona 4 (as the two games were released around the same time).
- We can also add Bioshock Infinite, The Last of Us and Batman: Arkham Origins on his résumé as well, in particular, the Western-based video games.
- Sam Witwer and David Collins in Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.
- Erin Fitzgerald (Parasoul) and Danielle McRae (Painwheel) in Skullgirls. The former had years of experience as a voice actress in anime and cartoons beforehand, but Skullgirls and her role as the new voice of Chie in Persona 4: Arena gave her more recognition among video game fans. The latter had some VO experience as Karma from League of Legends, but her role as Painwheel helped put her on the map.
- Christine Marie Cabanos as Filia (coupled with her roles as Madoka and Azusa).
- Ryan Drummond and Deem Bristow in Sonic Adventure.
- Antony Del Rio (arguably coupled with his roles as Silas and Percy in Fire Emblem Fates) and S. Scott Bullock in Kid Icarus: Uprising. The latter had been a widely recognized cartoon voice actor for over a decade, but never had a big role to his name.
- Natalie Lander as Terra in Dissidia Final Fantasy and Kinzie in Saints Row: The Third. The former role was of a heroine from a highly-successful RPG. The latter role was an overnight Ensemble Dark Horse.
- Amanda Winn-Lee was already a star in anime dubbing for her role as Rei Ayanami, but after taking a hiatus from voice acting to care for her son, she found new fame as Yukiko Amagi in Persona 4, a role she has gone on to reprise for every appearance of the character in the West.
- Quinton Flynn as Raiden in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty and Axel in Kingdom Hearts II.
- Terrence C. Carson in God of War.
- Minae Noji in Tales of Xillia. She had done voice acting in video games before (like Fire Emblem: Awakening, where she voiced Cynthia and Say'ri) (despite primarily being a TV/film actress), but Milla was her first big role.
- Matthew Mercer (coupled with Thunder Cats 2011, Resident Evil 6, Attack on Titan and Fate/Zero) as Chrom, Amanda Céline Miller (coupled with the Viz Media re-dub of Sailor Moon) as Sully and Cherche, and Kaiji Tang as Owain in Fire Emblem: Awakening.
- Charlie Schlatter in The Wonderful 101.
- Robin Atkin Downes (coupled with No More Heroes) in Team Fortress 2.
- Tara Platt (coupled with Naruto) and Karen Strassman in Persona 3.
- Helena Taylor in Bayonetta.
- Michael Wincott (as a voice actor) in Darksiders II.
- Keith Szarabajka in Mass Effect 2 and Fallout: New Vegas.
- Steve Downes and Jen Taylor in Halo.
- Matt Ryan (coupled with Constantine) in Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag.
- Dave Fennoy, Melissa Hutchison and Gavin Hammon in The Walking Dead (Telltale). Fennoy is notable for having done PSAs and minor roles in Star Wars media for decades prior.
- Sandy Fox (coupled with the Viz Media re-dub of Sailor Moon) as Flonne in Disgaea: Hour of Darkness.
- Greg Ellis and Allegra Clark in Dragon Age: Inquisition.
- Courtnee Draper as Elizabeth in Bioshock Infinite. While Draper played several roles on TV before Infinite, it was her performance here that first brought her to international attention (as well as won her awards and nominations). Ironically, she was considering quitting voice acting at the time.
- Jon St. John in Duke Nukem 3D.
- Laura Post (coupled with League of Legends, Skullgirls, Kill la Kill and Love Live!) as Arfoire in the Neptunia series.
- Marcella-Lentz Pope as the Female Avatar and Scarlet, Rena Strober (as a voice actress, coupled with the Viz Media re-dub of Sailor Moon R) as Azura, and to a lesser extent, either David Stanbra (Xander, Kaze and Shura) and Roger Rose (as Takumi and Niles) in Fire Emblem Fates.
- The game was also this for Max Mittelman (Leo, Kaden and Forrest) and Brianna Knickerbocker (Sakura and Charlotte) as video game voice actors.
- Cara Theobold and Darin De Paul as Tracer and Reinhardt in Overwatch.
- Noam Jenkins in Watch_Dogs.
- Natalie Hoover in Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair as Sonia Nevermind.
- Ashly Burch in Borderlands 2 as Tiny Tina.
- Xander Mobus as the announcer of Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U and the protagonist of Persona 5.
- Erika Harlacher as Kyoko Kirigiri in Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc and Ann Takamaki in Persona 5.
- Dawn M. Bennett as Sash Lilac in Freedom Planet.
- Kimberly Brooks in Mass Effect. While she had fairly decent roles before, it's this video game that served as her SMR.
- Bryan Dechart as Connor in Detroit: Become Human, also providing the character's likeness and motion capture.
- Patricia Summersett in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
- Doug Cockle in The Witcher
- Ray Chase as Noctis in Final Fantasy XV.
- Joe Zieja (coupled with Fate/Apocrypha) as Claude, Chris Hackney (coupled with his earlier role as Boey in Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia) as Dimitri, Abby Trott as Annette, Brittany Cox (coupled with Genshin Impact and Fena: Pirate Princess) as Ingrid, Mark Whitten (coupled with Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba) as Seteth, and Alejandro Saab as Yuri in Fire Emblem: Three Houses.
- Kaiji Tang as Ichiban Kasuga in Yakuza: Like a Dragon
- Aleks Le as the male player option/male Akira Howard in Astral Chain and Sonon Kusakabe in Final Fantasy VII Remake.
- Skye Bennett as Pyra/Mythra in Xenoblade Chronicles 2.
- Sean Chiplock as Spade in the aforementioned Freedom Planet, as Rean Schwarzer in The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel, and as Revali in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
- Maggie Robertson as Lady Alcina Dimitrescu in Resident Evil Village (voice and Motion Capture).
- Lori Alan as The Boss in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater.
- Laura Bailey (coupled with Persona 4) in Street Fighter IV.
Mexican Voice Actors
- Sebastián Llapur in Gears of War as Marcus Fenix.
- Raúl Anaya in Halo as Master Chief.
- Joanna Ruvalcaba and Lourdes Arruti in Overwatch as Mei and Sombra respectively.
- Gerardo Alonso in WarioWare Gold as Wario, plus Moxxie.
Argentinian Voice Actors:
- Adrián Wowczuk in The Last of Us as Joel.
French Voice Actors
- Martial Le Minoux in Rayman M as Hunchman 1000 or Ratchet & Clank as Clank.
- Pierre Tessier as Arthas Menethil in Warcraft III.
