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Stephen Russell

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Stephen Russell
Russell in October 2017
NationalityAmerican
Occupations
  • Actor
  • playwright
  • theater director
Children2

Stephen L. Russell is an American actor, playwright, and theater director. He is best known for his video game voice roles as Garrett in the Thief series, Corvo Attano in Dishonored 2, and various characters in Skyrim and the Fallout series.[1][2]

Career

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Russell appeared onstage in Huntington's The Last Hurrah. Other stage credits include The Life of Galileo (Underground Railway Theater), The Bottom of the Lake (Tir Na Theatre), Daughter of Venus (Boston Playwrights' Theatre), A Pinter Duet, A House With No Walls, White People (New Repertory Theatre), And Then There Were None, A Prayer for Owen Meany (Stoneham Theatre), Talley's Folly (The Lyric Stage Company of Boston), and more than two dozen productions with the Wellfleet Harbor Actors' Theatre (WHAT), including The Beauty Queen of Leenane and the Eliott Norton Award-winning production of A New War.[3] He is the author of 13 plays for young audiences and won the 2009 WHAT Award for Sustained Artistic Excellence.[3]

Russell made his debut film appearances as Bob in the 2007 film Noëlle and in 2008 appeared as Luther Norris in the film Chatham. In 2009, he played a minor role in the film The Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. In addition to voicing Garrett in the Thief video game series, he voiced Garrett's chief antagonist Karras in Thief II: The Metal Age, as well as many of the supporting characters in the series. He contributed the voice of the starship Von Braun's central computer XERXES and William Bedford Diego in System Shock 2. He also provided the voices of Andy, Mr. Buckingham, The Great One, Wadsworth, Sergeant RL-3, Cerberus, Enclave Scientists, an Enclave Soldier, and every Mr. Handy in Fallout 3, Fallout 4, and Fallout 76. The 2011 game Skyrim features Russell voicing a range of characters, including Barbas the talking dog, Daedric Prince Clavicus Vile, Belethor, and Thieves Guild leader Mercer Frey. In the 2015 game Fallout 4, he voices Codsworth and the synth detective Nick Valentine. He provided the voice for Lord Protector Corvo Attano in the 2016 video game Dishonored 2.

Russell did not return to the Thief franchise for the 2014 reboot because it utilized motion-capture acting, which required the voice actors to physically portray the characters and perform their own stunts. Eidos-Montréal announced that Russell had been replaced by Romano Orzari for the role of Garrett in the series, and explained their decision: "The actor playing Garrett needed to be able to perform his own stunts. Garrett's a really athletic guy. We could have pasted Stephen's voice on top of the actions and stunts of someone else, but this wouldn't appear natural."[4] The decision upset some fans of the series, who initiated an online petition requesting Eidos-Montréal to bring back Russell as lead voice actor.[5]

Personal life

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He has a son named Peter, who is an actor and musician, and a daughter named Robin, who is a voice actress.[6]

Selected voice credits

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Year Title Role(s) Notes
1998 Thief: The Dark Project Garrett, Statue, Raoul, Guards, Hammerites, Servants
1999 System Shock 2 Announcer, William Bedford Diego, The Many, OnceGrunt, XERXES
2000 Thief II: The Metal Age Garrett, Karras, Guards, Civilians, Hammerite
2002 Freedom Force Man O' War, Time Master, Iron Ox, Pan, Pinstripe, Civilian Male, Judge
2002 Arx Fatalis Fallan Orbiplanax, Undead Creatures, Goblins, Enoill Calpale, Sacred Dagger Speech director
2003 Neverwinter Nights: Shadows of Undrentide Additional Voices
2004 Thief: Deadly Shadows Garrett
2005 Freedom Force vs The 3rd Reich Iron Ox, Man 'O' War, Blitzkrieg, Charles Wilson, Pan, Pinstripe, Time Master, Pierre
2006 Mage Knight: Apocalypse Additional Voices
2008 Fallout 3 Andy, Mr. Buckingham, The Great One, Additional Voices[7]
2011 The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Mercer Frey, Clavicus Vile, Barbas, Additional Voices[7]
2015 The Magic Circle The Old Pro[7]
2015 Fallout 4 Nick Valentine, Codsworth, Mr. Handy, Additional Voices
2016 Fallout 4 Far Harbor DiMA, Nick Valentine, Additional Voices
2016 Dishonored 2 Corvo Attano
2017 Prey Dr. Sylvain Bellamy[7]
2018 Fallout 76 Mister Handy, Giles Sweetwater, Zeke, Additional Voices[7]
2018 Underworld Ascendant Cabirus
2019 ZED The Dreamer
2023 Starfield Captain Petrov, Larry Dumbrosky, and Victor Aiza
2023 Blood West Protagonist

References

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  1. ^ "Stephen Russell". behindthevoiceactors.
  2. ^ Alexander, Daniel (September 25, 2019). "Dishonored: 10 Easter Eggs From The Series You May Have Missed". thegamer.com.
  3. ^ a b "Stephen Russell". huntingtontheatre.org. Retrieved August 31, 2012.
  4. ^ Andy Chalk (April 3, 2013). "Eidos Confirms New Lead Voice Actor For Thief". Escapistmagazine.com. Retrieved October 5, 2013.
  5. ^ Meer, Alec (April 3, 2013). "Why Thief Russelled Up A Different Voice Actor". Rock Paper Shotgun. Retrieved August 11, 2015.
  6. ^ "About Stephen L. Russell". Archived from the original on September 19, 2019.
  7. ^ a b c d e "Behind the Voice Actors – Stephen Rusell". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved February 11, 2020.
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