I got into a little debate with an unsatisfactory resolution. So I need some help, who gets typecasted the worst?
I said David Hayter since I can only picture him as Solid Snake. But Nolan North has a track record with three different-yet-similar characters that I eventually got used to.
What does everyone else think?
Typecasting: David Hayter vs Nolan North
Well, all David Hayter really does IS Snake (nowadays anyways). He is mostly a screenplay writer (X-Men, X2, Watchmen etc.). Nolan North has a much heavier focus on voice acting for his career.
But to answer your question, I guess I would say David Hayter? Even though he doesn't seem to bother doing voice acting anymore unless there is a new Metal Gear game, I can't imagine him as anyone other than Snake, but again, that's all he really does and he probably has a much broader range that we just don't ever hear (he also has a history of playing Captain America). I have played a ton of games with Nolan North and not known it when he had smaller roles. Prince of Persia and Uncharted and Shadow Complex have made him more mainstream, and those characters all shared similarities in their attitudes, but Nolan North has had a HUGE amount of different roles.
nolan north has an excellent voice and has a great sense of humor for good improv...or ad-lib.
hayter is the kind of guy who inhabits a character.
What has David Hayter done besides Solid Snake, a voice in Eternal Darkness and a hilarious live action Guyver movie? Nolan North was in at least 100 games this year, always being snarky.
No love for Simon Templeman??? I'm disappointed.
It might be a bit premature adding him to your list, but I get the feeling that Keith David will turn out to be one of these "too recognizable" character actors.
Here's a challenge for you guys: Name a video game Nolan North has done where he doesn't sound like Nathan Drake. I can't think of any except for his bit part in SWAT 4, and that was "Nolan North faking a New York accent."
To me, North is like Jen Taylor and Cam Clarke: They have only one style of voice, and it's so easily recognizable that it makes it hard to enjoy the character without thinking they're playing some other character.
You can't be considered typecast from one (edit: game) role, so no to David Hayter, unless I am forgetting another Snake-esque character he has voiced?
Nolan North to some extent, though I wouldn't say Desmond Miles and Nathan Drake are that similar. To be fair, it's kinda hard to avoid being typecast if you do a lot of voice work in the games industry, just because of the extreme lack of variety in video game characters, at least compared to other mediums. If you're playing the lead role in a video game, chances are you're playing some variation of a badass.
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