Fun with IMDB

There is so much voiceover work in EQII and most of it is very well done. Voice talent in gaming has come a long way. But did you ever wonder about the real people behind those EQII voices? Sure we all know about Queen Heather and Lucan d'Lee, but what about the minor characters?

If you don't want to break the immersion, skip this post, because I decided to play with IMDB to find out a little more about the people behind the voiceovers. There's a massive amount of voiceover talent in this game so I'm only going to be scratching the surface.

Name: John Kassir
EQII Characters: Geologist Fribden, Janitor Zolbuk, Archeologist Elurad, Orc Cartographer and others.
Fun Fact: John is none other than the voice of the Cryptkeeper from the famed "Tales from the Crypt" TV series. He is also married to the lovely Julie Benz who not only played Darla on Angel but is the voice of Miranda Keyes in Halo II. John joined his wife on the Halo II cast playing a Marine.

Name: Mindy Sterling
EQII Characters: Oracle Ulinara, Darmen Sproutmore, Merchant Novak, Kogna Bonesplit, Oosa Gutwrench, Talooka Skullwrack and others.
Fun Fact: Shagadelic! Mindy played Frau Farbissina from the Austin Powers films. "It got weird, didn't it?" According to this interview, Mindy also "taught the likes of Lisa Kudrow, Cheri Oteri and Chris Kattan at the Groundlings school."

Name: Dwight Schultz
EQII Characters: Duke Ferrin, Korong Shatterjaw, Bargiss Ranlor, Priest Kelian, Delacar Mithanson, Cargomaster Libertius, Edwyn Arcanum and others.
Fun Fact: It's interesting that Dwight does the voices for characters in a virtual world, because he played Reginald Barclay on Star Trek Voyager. Barclay was a character who was introverted and overly obsessed with the virtual world of the holodeck. I always thought that the Barclay episodes were great.

Name: Steven Jay Blum
EQII Characters: Valik, Initiate Lanaru, Chieftan Kraughl, Bartender Bulurg, Brant Omannus, Reinkor McCollin, Corporal Peckett and others.
Fun Fact: Ever watch the excellent anime Cowboy Bebop on the Cartoon Network? Well, Steven is the English voice of Spike Spiegel, the bounty hunter with a troubled past. He's also the voice of the Spike-like character Mugen on Samurai Champloo (same director as Bebop), which is currently running on the Cartoon Network. Highly recommended. He did some voice work on the bizarre but memorable anime FLCL (Fooly Cooly) as well.

Name: Danica McKellar
EQII Characters: Lolla Cotgrove, Pona
Fun Fact: Ah, the Wonder Years. And who was the apple of Kevin Arnold's eye? Yep, that's right, Winnie Cooper, played by none other than Danica McKellar. Say hello to Lolla and see if you hear the echoes of Winnie.

Name: Courtenay Taylor
EQII Characters: Generic Female Half Elf Merchant, Generic Female Barbarian Merchant, Generic Female Dark Elf Merchant, Generic Female High Elf Merchant and others.
Fun Fact: Courtenay did the voice for the memorable KOTOR character Juhani, a jedi who strayed to the dark side. So that's why those merchants can be tough to deal with.

Name: Mae Whitman
EQII Characters: Lilly Ironforge, Thana Rumblehoof
Fun Fact: If you're an Arrested Development fan, you may be interested to know that Mae played Anne Veal, George Michael's very religous girlfriend.

Name: Wil Wheaton
EQII Characters: Festus Septimus, Overseer Zerrin, Merchant William, Innkeeper Valean
Fun Fact: I'm sure you all know who Wil is, but if you don't he's the boy genius everyone loved to hate, Wesley Crusher from Star Trek: TNG. Wil is also a very prolific blogger.

As I said, I only scratched the surface here. Perhaps I'll revisit the EQII voice cast list another day for more trivia fun.