Baldur's Gate 3's Astarion actor was "very close to quitting" acting before landing a role in the RPG
Nov. 13, 2023Neil Newbon’s career could have ended up very differently
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The actor behind Astarion in Baldur’s Gate 3 was “very close to quitting” the industry before landing a role in the Larian RPG.
“The games industry has given me nothing but character work, embracement, love, passion, great friends, and I just can’t thank everyone in this room enough for including me in this,” the actor continues. Talking about his experience voicing one of theBaldur’s Gate 3 companions, Newbon also said during his speech: “One thing I wanted to say is that this character has meant the world to me. He is a survivor, he has gone through trauma.”
The Astarion actor continues: “I’ve had so many people from the community reach out to me, personally, who talk about the stories that our characters have also shared, and they identify with many stories and characters in the game - that the game’s story itself has really reached them.”
Newbon adds: “People have come up to me and said that they’ve felt inspired to deal with their own trauma. As a survivor myself, I understand when they talk to me about it - what they mean. That they feel seen by the game, they feel understood by the characters.”
“That is a testament to this amazing, beautiful masterpiece that Larian, Swen [Vincke], the writing team have all put together and created,” the actor continues, “and to the amazing cast of 248 beautiful actors that put their heart and soul on a daily basis to this.”
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In case you missed it, Baldur’s Gate 3 and Larian also went home with the following awards:Best Visual Design,Best Storytelling,Best Community,Studio of the Year,PC Game of the Year, andUltimate Game of the Year- that’s a lot of Golden Joysticks.
After studying Film Studies and Creative Writing at university, I was lucky enough to land a job as an intern at Player Two PR where I helped to release a number of indie titles. I then got even luckier when I became a Trainee News Writer at GamesRadar+ before being promoted to a fully-fledged News Writer after a year and a half of training. My expertise lies in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, cozy indies, and The Last of Us, but especially in the Kingdom Hearts series. I’m also known to write about the odd Korean drama for the Entertainment team every now and then.
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