Lara Croft’s Voice in Tomb Raider Legend
February 23, 2006 by Ingrid Diaz
Filed under Gaming
At long last, the actress’ voice behind Lara Croft in Tomb Raider: Legend has been revealed, and the answer is ….
(drumroll please)
Keeley Hawes
And most of you are like, “Who?”
So here’s a picture.
From the press release:
Keeley, best known for her role of three years as Zoë Reynolds in BBC’s flagship drama Spooks and recently seen in Michael Winterbottom’s feature Cock and Bull Story, took to the part of Lady Lara Croft, 11th generation Countess, effortlessly.
“Lara Croft is such a strong and powerful character, but she also has an edge to her, which was great to portray vocally. Lara is getting up to all sorts of trouble in Legend, I am sure the fans won’t be disappointed!”
“Keeley is perfect for the voice of Lara” said Matt Gorman, Brand Controller for the Tomb Raider series, “she had the right balance of aristocracy and attitude to really bring to life Miss Croft in all her glory.”
Indeed, I love Keeley Hawes’ voice (I’ve got three words for you: Tipping the Velvet). She’ll be replacing Jonell Elliot.
A little history on the Lara voices:
Original Lara Croft voice-over artists Shelley Blond and Judith Gibbins were replaced by Jonell Elliot in 1999 for the release of Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation. Jonell kept the role her own until 2002 and the release of The Angel Of Darkness, the final Tomb Raider adventure helmed by Core Design.
Wonder how long Keeley Hawes will last as Lara? Hopefully a while. I think she’s great in the role. Agree, disagree? Maybe I’ll do a poll …
And if you haven’t seen the kick-ass trailer (taking false advertisement into consideration, of course), here you go:
[info via here and here and here]
Her voice is indeed like velvet ;)
NO WAY!! I’ve watched that show she was on!! “Spooks”!!! AHAHAHAH AWESOME! Maybe I would have noticed a connection if I had ever played the Tomb Raider games.
Wow, well, hope she does well :P
How come the tomb raider video game chick doesn’t look like Angelina Jolie?
You obviously don’t play the game yourself.
The game came first, and Angelina fit the bill for the movie versions.
It isn’t necessary for the game character to look like Angelina, only that she continue to be the great character that we’ve grown used to and love.
Um, sorry…it was an attempt at a joke. I realize that thegame came first…I’ll go back into my corner now…
Poor Chartreuse … so misunderstood… ;)
Ms. Hawes is great on Spooks, and I can’t wait to hear how she sounds in the new game. I can see it now..
GLW: Why are you playing that game?
Me: I’m just listening to Keeley Hawes’ voice, no really I am, come back dear… sigh.
(Why did I call her Ms. Hawes – well I don’t know her personally so it would be presumptuous of mee to use her first name.)
Damnation – that should be “me” as in “I”, not “mee” as in “Goreng”!
Anyone else need a spell checker in here? Let’s start a poll on that!
Hey! Of course there’s no need to mention what a roaring success T.R.Legend is…(although i cant help needing to hear it always!).Keeley, although i havent watched her before, is great.(do you know her biography?)…especially i’ll never forget the point in the game she sais:”ooh, the water is perfect!”-i don’t know why but it’s really cool!-and generally, Ms. Hawes has covered Lara’s character perfectly, just like it had to be done. Well done to all the team of Legend.
P.S. Do you know if there are any “Lara Croft” shops in England?(i mean selling ANYTHING about the TombRaider realm)