He’s Ezio Auditore da Firenze from the “Assassin’s Creed” franchise. He’s Chris Redfield in “Resident Evil.” He’s Kyle Crane of “Dying Light.” He’s Raphael from “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.” He’s Batman in “Arkham Shadow.”
He’s Roger Craig Smith, and he’s been the voice of dozens of iconic video game characters over the past two decades. But this year, he’s celebrating the 35th anniversary of what is inarguably his biggest role: Sega’s Sonic the Hedgehog.
“Not a day goes by where — and part of this is because we get to do these fan convention circuits now, where you go out and you travel the world literally, and meet people from all over the world that bring you their Sonic fan art,” Smith told Variety. “They bring you their stories about what that game and what that character meant to them from way back in their childhood. And it started landing for me a few years ago, when I’d have somebody in their 30s go, ‘Bro, you’re like the voice of my childhood.’ And I thought, but you’re 30? And then all of a sudden I’ll be like, that’s right, I’ve got these white whiskers showing up now. And it was because they started playing when they were 15 or 16, and I’ve been voicing Sonic for 16 years now. And so I have to pinch myself every day to think, it’s one thing to have somebody like yourself want to talk to me about something that I’ve done for 20 years in a very cutthroat and challenging industry, to have had a career of over 20 years and still be staying busy is lightning striking more than once, in that regard. But then to also say, I’ve voiced iconic game characters and things that have had an influence on people throughout the years, it’s very surreal. It never gets old.”
Jen Rosenstein
JEN ROSENSTEIN
Smith notes that “there’s never been a better time” to be working as the blue hedgehog, as the Sega IP is at peak popularity with Ben Schwartz voicing Sonic in the Paramount film franchise and Deven Mack leading the Netflix animated show. And as Sonic turns 35 this year, Smith has more in the works than ever, including an upcoming appearance at gaming event IGN Live, running June 6-7 in Los Angeles.
“What I know that I can say is that I’m extremely excited to be a part of this,” Smith said, when asked if he’ll be joining IGN Live to reveal something tied to Sonic’s big birthday. “It is such a cool event, and I cannot wait to get out there and be a part of the energy that’s in that room, and get to participate in whatever way they want us to participate. It’s gonna be a very, very fun event. I wish I could give more details and that kind of thing, but I think that’s for IGN to spill the beans on, and I will play it safe and just go: I’m excited, I can’t wait to be in Los Angeles and be a part of this massive, massive event. It’s the worst thing about my job, I would violate all the NDAs. There’s exciting stuff coming down the pike and I am so stoked for the 35th anniversary of Sonic the Hedgehog. There couldn’t be a better time to be a part of something like that. So I’m tight lipped but expressing my intrigue and my excitement, we’ll leave it there.”
What’s that? You aren’t familiar with Sonic? Oh, then Smith has a first runnerup answer to the question of his most impactful role: The narrator of TLC’s “Say Yes to the Dress.”
“There’s something very funny about what I do for a living where it’s like, if you and I sat on a plane next to each other and suddenly, if I even bothered to say, ‘Oh yeah, this is what I do,’ — very often, the next question is, ‘Anything I would have heard of?’” Smith said. “And depending upon the age or the background, it could be anything, right? I’m like, ‘Are you a big gamer? Or do you like anime?’ But it seems like across the board, if somebody’s not heard of Sonic the Hedgehog, or Kyle Crane, or any of these other characters or things that I’ve done, if I mentioned that, somebody always goes, ‘Oh!’ Or my favorite is the tough guy who always goes, ‘I don’t watch that show, but my girlfriend watches,’ or my wife, and then, like, five minutes later they go, ‘So wasn’t there an episode where the grandma got stuck in the parking lot?’ Oh, yeah, you don’t watch.”
As “Say Yes to the Dress” maintains its relevance through old clips turned into viral videos circulating on TikTok, Smith will happily claim the credit with pride — just don’t ask him what he learned from it.
“Fourteen seasons, multiple different series,” Smith said. “They had the Atlanta show and all these different spinoffs that they had done. And it was a blast. And to this day, I think people think I know things about wedding dresses, and I assure you, I know nothing about wedding dresses.”
Source: variety.com
