If there’s a record for the number of voice roles that’s ever been done by a single person then Laura Bailey surely is in the running for that honor. By watching the clip above you can get an idea of the kind of work she’s been doing for so long, but really the clip is only a small sampling of the overall magnificence that’s been her career since 1999 when she first got started. The first voice roll she did was for Dragonball Z as Kid Trunks. From that point on she’s been on fire and has been in high demand obviously since she’s got a list of roles to her name that is longer than the filmography of many individuals that have been in Hollywood for a decade or more. She’s voiced a small host of iconic characters and many others that are possibly only known by fans of the games, anime, and animated films/TV that they come from, giving her a wide range to work from. While her voice is still distinctive enough to be recognized she does have the talent needed to modulate it and change it just enough to fit each character, which is tough to think about since there are a LOT of characters that she’s done work for.
Some of the voices she’s done are very well known.
Laura voiced the famous bun-wearing, heavy-hitting Chun Li from the Street Fighter games when she was finally given a real voice, and has done so for several games. She’s also lent her voice to a Star Wars game as well as Soulcalibur V and several others. Again it’s all dependent on what a person watches and what kind of games they’re into when it comes to whether or not they would be able to pick her voice out from the rest. Many times players don’t even listen to the voices but during those moments when the story is allowed to play out and the characters are allowed to speak at length it does become important for their voices to be somewhat accurate when it comes to their appearance, otherwise it might disorient the gamer slightly and throw the game off kilter. Believe it or not a voice actor can bring a type of balance to a video game that it might otherwise lack if the proper voices aren’t used for the characters.
Voice acting is real acting.
The dissenting voices that might go so far as to claim that voice acting is easier and not as much pressure don’t seem to realize that for as much as the average voice actor doesn’t need to worry about people seeing them, they are still under some pressure to get things right. After all their inflection has to be right, their pitch and tone has to be correct for the moment in which their character is speaking, and above all they have to take care of their voice so that they continue working. For voice actors the ability to vocalize is more important than most anything since that’s their livelihood. The moment their voice goes out is when they need to find a backup job to make ends meet, as not being able to produce a character’s voice is a big concern for those that work primarily behind the scenes. They go through their own set of struggles and feel the same pressure to get the job done as real actors do, just in a different way.
She’s been in more voice roles than many people have been in live-action.
Think about that. Many upon many actors have made it a point to take on as many roles as they can to enlighten and enliven their career. They work year in and year out to create an impressive resume and to make it pop as much as possible so that people will think they’ve accomplished something. Quite honestly that’s very impressive, but looking at Laura’s list of roles you can’t help but feel your jaw drop as you try to assimilate just how much she’s done and how much she might still have left in her. While her roles might not make her as outwardly famous as any other actor on the big or small screen it is still a testament to how dedicated she is to the craft after almost two decades of sticking to it.
You can go on and admit it, Chun Li was one of the reasons why you might look her up now and see just what she’s done. The woman has amassed a great number of voice roles in her life thus far and there’s nothing to say that she won’t keep going and continue to build her career even further. With the oncoming birth of her first child she might think to take a break, but it’s reasonable to believe that she might keep going right up until term.
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