How Yuri Lowenthal bridges video game and animation artists work

Yuri Lowenthal Video game characters may be best known for bringing out the same Marvel's Spider-ManPeter Parker and Personality 3A hero in life, but unbeknownst to anyone, his career extends beyond the world of video games. are in prestigious roles such as NarutoSasuke Uchiha and Code Guess' With Suzaku Kururugi padding his resume, Lowenthal is a great example of an industry talent that has managed to bridge the gap between gaming and animation. Due to his range in tones, adaptability to directing styles, and willingness to reprise roles, the actor's repertoire continues to grow as his options are endless.

Marvel's Spider-Man 2Yuri Lowenthal isn't the only one who's been able to bridge that gap, though, with artists like Troy Baker, Laura Bailey, and Matthew Mercer finding their way into the animation industry. Much of that, of course, is due to the skills of artists like these, but the gaming industry has also been transforming over the past two decades in such a way that the gap between video games and animation is becoming ever thinner. As a result, actors with the talent level of someone like Yuri Lowenthal are finding it easier to break into the world of animation — or even the other way around, if their careers started in animation and then branched out into gaming.

A close-up shot of Spider-Man's back from Marvel's Spider-Man remastered

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Bridging the increasingly narrow divide

At one time, animation and video game voice work demanded two different things from actors. In animation, an actor's voice needs to be exaggerated and expressive, primarily because the performance itself defines the character's personality, tone, and energy. In fact, animators will often build characters around their voices, matching the personality of the actor responsible for bringing that character to life.

In gaming, on the other hand, voice acting hasn't always been treated as a requirement as much as a bonus. For one thing, most of the early games didn't even have fully voiced characters, and if any at all, it was extremely limited. But when developers and publishers started paying actors to voice characters in their games, for a long time, it was still just text boxes and a multitude of other silent side characters and extras.

Actors with the talent level of someone like Yuri Lowenthal find it easy to infiltrate the world of anime…

It wasn't until the late 90s that the gaming industry had what it might call a “cinematic breakthrough”, where video games began to feature full voice acting in their stories. Like games Metal Gear Solid is a great example of this, and is widely considered to be one of the first games where the voice acting actually carried the story and the characters felt like real performances. Later, like games Final Fantasy 10 and Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Taking it even further, the former has an entire cast of fully voiced characters and the latter has an entire world of characters with voices.

This is acting, not voice acting

Over time, voice acting in video games evolved so significantly that it is now frowned upon to refer to those actors as “voice actors” rather than “actors”. The reason is that their performances now demand the same energy, expression, and natural delivery that is required of anyone working in animation or film and TV. There are still many games made today that don't feature voiced characters in any capacity, almost expected to look more cinematic in their presentation, as it can be awkward to have a character that looks like a real person speak only through a text box.

Thus, technological advances in the gaming industry have bridged the gap between video games and animation, and artists such as Yuri Lowenthal have had the opportunity to exist in both worlds. Well, that and the fact that artists like Lowenthal are extremely talented and therefore valued on both sides of the aisle. However, a lot of that still comes down to what video games are capable of today, and what developers and publishers are willing to do for realism and cinematic presentation.

Games are held to the power of animation

To put it simply, artists like Yuri Lowenthal can effectively contribute to both animation and video games because modern games look like movies and TV in a way they never have historically. But they look the way they do—and they're often given deep, emotional arcs—they require more actors than just their voices. This is where performance capture can come in handy, ultimately allowing for more expressive, more convincing portrayals.

Lowenthal actually captured the performance Marvel's Spider-ManAnd that's one of the reasons why many can't imagine another voice coming out of Peter Parker's mouth. Spider Man Video games out here. Using performance capture doesn't require actors to remain locked in a recording booth, allowing them to immerse themselves better in their character's physical expression and display more emotion than they might otherwise. If done well, these characters can feel inseparable from their voices, just like animation was long before gaming.

Artists like Yuri Lowenthal have the range to require both media

But another phenomenon begins to happen when Yuri Lowenthal's voice becomes recognizable enough that his fans follow him across media, even if they're following him in something they may not have initially been interested in — like anime. Because in Peter Parker Marvel's Spider-ManFor example, a player may have such an effect on their emotions, they may be more intrigued by his work outside of video games, and, as a result, may pursue him in that space. Because fans now associate the voice with the character's identity in video games, that same identity can draw fans into other media.

Actors like Yuri Lowenthal can effectively contribute to both animation and video games as modern games look more like movies and TV than they historically have.

But again, it's not just that the gap between video game and animation acting work has narrowed over the years in that actors can occupy both spaces. Those talents still need the kind of range the media can support, and Yuri Lowenthal is one of them. Sure, Lowenthal has an incredibly distinct voice that's somewhat easy to pick out in a crowd, but he's proven himself over time to be someone who can handle a variety of roles well.

He can shift between dark, brooding intensity, light, energetic humor, and grounded vulnerability, seemingly on a whim, making him a perfect candidate for a variety of genres, roles, and media. In other words, there is still a significant gap between the worlds of video games and animation that actors from both worlds must manage, even if the gap is not as wide as it once was. Finally, other talented actors like Matthew Mercer and Laura Bailey are also able to do this, and thus they exist in different media.

That overlap has created a space where the same performance can exist in different media without needing to be completely transformed. While games continue to lean towards cinematic storytelling and animation retains its performance-first identity, artists with the right range and adaptability exist to move easily between the two. Yuri Lowenthal stands as a clear example of that shift, not only because he is alone in doing it, but his career reflects how natural that crossover has become. The gap may still exist in form, but in practice, it is no longer something that can be related to performance.