LogInHe shared his experience at the Golden Joystick Awards.
Both the game industry and acting can be really rough, and you shouldn't have any illusions about their shining glory. Neil Newbon, the voice actor behind Astarion from Baldur's Gate 3, knows it well. Despite being a fan favorite now, his journey was no bed of roses.
During the Golden Joystick Awards, where Baldur's Gate 3 broke The Last of Us Part II record for the most awards won in a single night, Newbon confessed that he was close to leaving the industry before joining games.
"My journey to games was an interesting one because when I found games, I was broke, I was on my knees, I actually was very close to quitting the games industry, and the games industry has given me nothing but character work, embracement, love, passion, great friends, and I just can't thank everybody in this room enough for including me in this," he said during his Best Supporting Performer speech.
He added that Astarion means a lot to him because he is a survivor who has gone through trauma, and this corresponds to Newbon's own experience, so he is thankful to Larian Studios and his colleagues for creating "this amazing, beautiful masterpiece."
Image credit: Larian
I think it's very important to talk about the darker part of the industry and acting in general because we see successful actors on our screens all the time, and most of them are people with millions of dollars, but not everyone gets there and if they do, they often have to struggle, financially and mentally. It would be nice to hear more about this side of the job to show beginner actors that they're not the only ones who might find it hard to adjust.
Newbon doesn't usually talk about his personal life but he does sometimes discuss his journey to where he is now, and it was not always easy. You can hear more about it on his Twitch channel, where he also plays Baldur's Gate 3, and it's a fun and chaotic experience.
Newbon has portrayed several video game characters apart from Astarion: his most recognizable roles are Karl Heisenberg in Resident Evil Village as well as Elijah Kamski and Gavin Reed in Detroit: Become Human.
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