In the video above I spoke with actor Marisha Ray who is best known by Dungeons & Dragons fans for playing her Druid character Keyleth on Geek & Sundry's D&D livestream Critical Role. As a voice actor she has a lengthy list of credits from video games like Star Wars: Battlefront, Lego Dimensions and Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. That isn't touching upon the short films she has been in or even her theater background. Her voice-acting career had just begun when she joined the Critical Role game and she channeled that resulting anxiety into her character Keyleth.
Marisha Ray: The social-awkwardness of Keyleth, was spawned from being a part of a new group with Laura Bailey, and Travis Willingham, and Liam O'Brien and all of these amazing voice actors who I didn't really know at the time and I was just getting started in my voice acting career. So, I was like "Okay, well if I play someone who's super low-charisma, who just like, kinda nervous and scared to talk to people, maybe it'll just like that's my character and I won't look nervous or scared to talk these people at all."
Voice acting and role-playing has had a particular appeal for Marisha because of it's lack of any real limitation beyond your own imagination.
Marisha Ray: I think what I love most about voice acting is that you are not limited by your looks and your body type, to play pretty much any character. So, I've played a range from everything from badass-assassin chicks, to soldiers, to little boys and little kids, to old women and I can get to stretch my legs and do those types of roles that I wouldn't have gotten cast in if it was just on camera work, 'cause this (motioning to her face) is hard to pass as a 12-year-old boy. Maybe on my off days you know... I think, acting is acting. So, if it's on camera, if it's voiceover, if it's in an RPG, on the stage, I'm down for it all. I love it all.
Marisha Ray: Part of the reason I became an actor is because I couldn't really decide on what career I wanted to do, and I was like "If I'm an actor, I can pretend to do all of them." So, I love doing everything from soldiers to the creepy witches in RPGs. Villains are always amazing and it's heroes and comic book characters, one of my dream roles is Poison Ivy. One of these days maybe I'll do Poison Ivy, fingers crossed.
