Laura Bailey, a Voice Acting Legend

Laura Bailey

May 28, 1981

Very well-known voice actress

Like Burch, Laura Bailey is the voice of many memorable characters in video games. She has also provided voices for cartoons and English dubs of anime shows. She is absolutely phenomenal and is sometimes known as one of America's sweethearts, because she kind of is.

Although there are numerous roles to pick from, I need to focus on two characters in particular. 

FIRST UP: Nadine Ross (Uncharted 4: A Thief's End & Uncharted: The Lost Legacy).

The entire Uncharted series revolves around Nathan Drake, a treasure hunter who travels the world in search of treasures belonging to pirates such as Sir Francis Drake (there is no actual relation but Nathan pretends to be related to him and even changed his last name from Morgan to Drake). In the fourth installment of the series, he is in pursuit of Henry Avery's lost treasure with his older brother, Sam, and his best friend/mentor Sully. We learn that there was another who was helping the Drake brothers with this hunt. His name is Rafe Adler, the spoiled rich boy who really has no need for the money this treasure could cash in, but he wants the pride of locating it.

After believing his brother was shot and killed in a South American prison, Nathan gives up searching for Avery's treasure and moved onto searching for others. He eventually retires after the events of the third game and settles down with Elena Fisher (a beautiful journalist he met back in the first game). Thus, A Thief's End brings Nathan's forgotten past back to him when his supposed dead brother shows up at his office. The search for Henry Avery's treasure resumes after twenty years.

While at an illegal auction in Italy, Sully is greeted by Nadine Ross. They start catching up when Rafe also shows up. It turns out Rafe and Nadine are working together to find Avery's treasure. Yes, these two are the villains in the game; the ones that are always right on your trail or a few steps ahead of the Drake brothers. 

Still, throughout every event and cutscene, we get better chances to get to know Nadine. Yes, she is the antagonist of the story, but she has such strength and soul, which is better revealed in Uncharted: The Lost Legacy where Nadine is the partner to another strong woman protagonist. 

Nadine obviously survives the events of Uncharted 4 while Rafe is killed during the final battle with Nathan. In Lost Legacy, she returns to assist Chloe Frazer (who was one of Nathan's partners/brief love interest in previous games). Since she is right by your side in this game, it's easy to get to know her. It's soon evident that Nadine is so much more than that horrible woman you wanted to defeat in Uncharted 4. She's badass! Actually, that badass part should have already been known considering how easily she beats up Nathan twice in Uncharted 4. Lost Legacy truly allows her character to shine and her developing bond with Chloe is a beautiful thing to witness. Honestly, I should write an entire page dedicated to just that game, because it involves two strong women working together to fight against men and claim what is theirs; and that is absolutely lovely. 

Nadine Ross is someone you don't want to mess with (or you'll risk getting your neck broken). 

Laura Bailey did receive backlash for voicing a black character, though. Neil Druckmann, Uncharted's creative director, explained that they chose Bailey before they had an actual look in mind for the character; they just had her personality and traits down.

Bailey herself commented, saying on Twitter, "It wasn’t until we had rehearsed and arrived for our first day of filming that I saw the concept art for Nadine. One of the very talented artists at Naughty Dog had come up with a beautiful design for her, and it happened to look… very different than me. And that was difficult. Not because it changed anything about my performance. Nadine was the same woman. She had the same background, the same personality, the same strength. But suddenly, because she had a different skin color than I did, there was a chance some would deem my portrayal unacceptable.

But at that point, what’s worse? Choose that beautiful design the artist created knowing there could be backlash because they had already cast a non-black actress? Or change the design entirely out of fear and lose the opportunity to have a strong character of color in the game? I guess I don’t know if there’s a right answer to that. All I can say is, I think she’s one of the most badass people I’ve ever had the honor to play and I’m so proud to have worked on Uncharted 4."

Despite such backlash, Bailey remained strong and gave Nadine an incredible performance. It is risky having a WOC character voiced by someone who is not, but Bailey and Naughty Dog meant no disrespect by it. Truthfully, it's a relief they had this character a WOC and had her be as strong, terrifying, and clever as she is rather than her just being another white protagonist. 

But when Bailey isn't playing a character who can beat down a Drake brother, she is voicing an adorable redheaded Mary Jane Watson (or more affectionately known as "MJ"). 

Spider-Man is my favorite superhero!! So, when I heard there was a video game in the works exclusively for the PS4, I was one of the many people who couldn't contain their excitement on twitter during Sony's E3 conference. The reveal still gives me chills and I've already played the game.

And when I finally bought the game and started playing it, I was excited to see that familiar redhead. Nothing warmed my heart more than MJ catches up with Peter in a diner before he has to rush off and, well, be Spider-Man. It's even better that there's a cameo from Stan Lee as one of the cooks of the diner and... just watch.

Did that bring tears to your eyes like it did mine?!

Peter Parker is the same lovable quirky dork we all know and love, and MJ works at the Daily Bugle. She becomes quite the ally for Spider-Man in the game, relying him information about any of the baddies taking over Manhattan. We also get to play as her, too! Some have complained that her missions are repetitive and I agree, but we get to know her better each time. She continues proving her intelligence and shows immense bravery, especially in the midst of chaos or near death (seriously, a woman who isn't afraid to cause distractions for Spider-Man and sneak around armed men with weird electric powers is an absolute legend). 

It's only fitting that Bailey would be the one to voice yet another empowering woman who has proven that she doesn't need a man to accomplish her tasks. In fact, MJ will often do things without informing Peter first, causing him to worry once she admits to him of what she's done. However, he's left speechless and probably even more in love with her when he realizes the lengths she went to further the mission.

YOU GO, MJ.

Laura Bailey is quite the inspiring woman. I feel like I'm gushing too much, but I can't help myself! I've always admired her and all the work she's put into her characters. Each one stands out from the last. That's just incredible talent right there! A queen of voice acting.