Vocal Shapeshifting: Acting for Video Games with Andrew Whieldon-Dennis

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Melissa: 

Welcome to High Notes: Conversations on the Art and Business of Voice. Make sure you never miss a video on our channel by pressing that subscribe button. And if you like this episode, please give it a like and leave us a comment below.

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Now, let’s meet this month’s guest. Step into the fascinating world of video game acting with Andrew Whieldon-Dennis — a remarkable talent who’s brought countless characters to life in both indie gems and blockbuster titles. Andrew has earned his reputation as a true vocal shapeshifter. Join us as we discover what it takes to breathe life into virtual characters and how cultural diversity can enrich performance in unexpected ways.

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Andrew, welcome to High Notes. Thank you for joining us today.

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Andrew: 

Thank you so much for having me.

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Melissa: 

I’m so excited to talk to you. Let’s get straight into it. You’ve worked across such a wide range of roles — scrolling through your credits just goes on and on, from indie games to massive AAA titles. Let’s start at the beginning. Do you remember the moment you first thought, this is what I want to do?

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Andrew: 

Yeah, I think that idea was planted in my head pretty early. I’d been playing video games since I was very young, and they were always comforting and creatively inspiring — the worlds, the characters. 

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I remember watching my sister play an old Sierra point-and-click adventure game called Laura Bow. It was a remaster with updated VGA graphics, and it had voices on the CD-ROM. That was the first time I heard voices in a game. I must have been about twelve, and it blew me away — it made the game feel like a film.

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I even remember having opinions about the performances, but the idea that this could actually be a job, something I could do as an adult, was completely alien to me at the time.

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Melissa: 

You’ve been called a “vocal shapeshifter.” What does that phrase mean to you now? And how did you develop that skill? Was it something you naturally developed on your own, in your bedroom or hanging out with friends? Or was it something you trained for?

 

Andrew:
I’d say it’s something I instinctively had in me. I can’t really pinpoint where it came from. I don’t come from a particularly creative family, though my mum used to sing a bit, and there was always music and sound around me.

Growing up in Puerto Rico was incredibly vibrant — full of wonderful sounds, both in nature and in culture. When I moved back to England, I got into acting properly and started training. By the time I went to university, I was really thinking about how to develop my skills beyond just that instinctive desire to explore and, well, be a bit weird.

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Melissa:
Nothing wrong with being weird. You mentioned your family — you’re both English and Puerto Rican. Does your cultural background influence how you approach characters and stories?

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Andrew:
Yeah, it does. My heritage is something I didn’t fully embrace growing up — I had to make a conscious effort as an adult to reclaim and rediscover it. Since then, it’s helped me in a few ways. Professionally, it’s opened up more opportunities because I’m able to audition authentically for Latino roles as well as British ones.

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On a personal level, I love having that authentic experience to draw on — what it was like growing up in a Latin American country, being immersed in Latino culture and ideas. Of course, it’s just one part of who I am — all my life experiences feed into how I develop characters.

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Melissa:
Listening to you, I really identify with that. I’m half Mauritian-Indian but didn’t grow up in Mauritius. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve explored that side of me more. When I was younger, growing up in very white Devon, I didn’t really think about it — and now I absolutely love that I’m mixed.

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Andrew:
Exactly. I had an existential crisis about it a few years ago. I realised I didn’t fully feel like I was “from” anywhere. I didn’t grow up here in the UK, though I’ve lived here the longest now. I sound British, but when I talk to friends who grew up here, there are gaps — I don’t know what it was like to grow up in the ’90s here.

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In Puerto Rico, I loved my childhood, but looking back I can see I was treated differently because of my lighter skin and blond hair — people saw me more as a gringo. Later, in America, kids latched onto my Britishness rather than my Puerto Rican side, even though I’d just come from there.

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At some point as an adult, you realise you have the autonomy to decide how you identify with your cultural heritage — and that’s really empowering.

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Melissa:
Yeah. And circling back to the earlier point about being a vocal shapeshifter — you’ve really been shapeshifting your whole life, fitting in wherever you were. Honestly, I don’t call myself a vocal shapeshifter, but I absolutely identify with everything you’re saying. We’ll definitely talk more about that over a pint when we eventually meet up in person.

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But there’s so much going on when a new character lands in your inbox. Can you talk me through your process? Our audience always asks about this — where do you begin? How do you start finding the voice of the character, literally and emotionally?

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Andrew:
I’ll try — though it may be a bit of a boring answer, because honestly, I don’t really have much of a systematic process. At this point, having done it a long time and played so many characters, I try not to overthink it.

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I like to keep things fresh. I don’t want an audition to dwell in my mind too much or put myself in a position where I get overly invested and end up disappointed if it doesn’t work out. So I try not to have a rigid routine.

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The main thing now is: does this interest me? That doesn’t necessarily mean it has to be a huge role with an intricate story arc. It could just be something about the art they attach, or a line in the description that speaks to me, or simply that it’s a monster or creature — whatever catches my attention in that moment.

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Melissa:
That reminds me of Kieran Culkin — I heard him in an interview saying he just shows up and does what he does, doesn’t overthink it. Which is quite different from some method actors who get really deep into the role.

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And in voice work, we often don’t have that kind of time. You might have several jobs in a day — a corporate narration, a highly intense video game character, an animation, then another narration — sometimes you don’t even get the script until the session starts. So you don’t always have the luxury of a “process,” do you?

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Andrew:
Exactly. For the most part, it’s nothing like what a theatre or screen actor might do, where they have weeks to prepare. We just don’t have that kind of time.

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In fact, one of my favourite things about video games is discovering things in the moment — in the session. That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t like to see scripts beforehand sometimes and think more deeply about characters, but I really enjoy just talking through it, trying things, and finding something unexpected in the room.

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When it comes to auditions, I never think about the voice first. I focus on who the character is — how they behave, what they’re like as a person. In the past, I got too hung up on what they should sound like, and my success rate dropped.

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Once I let go of that and just focused on the character, everything started to flow better. I think of my voice as an instrument — let it sound and resonate naturally. The little details — maybe they should sound older, more authoritative, more intimidating — those are just textures you can add later by lowering your pitch, adding some gravel, whatever. But I don’t make the vocal quality the core of my work.

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Melissa:
That’s really interesting — and it aligns with what we believe at BRAVA. The time you have to work on characters is in the training. That’s where you develop your craft. And the more you practice and build that consistency, the more you can bring it into sessions where you don’t have time to think too much.

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So tell me — what training did you find the most valuable? Which has really stuck with you now that you’re an experienced video game actor?

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Andrew:
Well, I did performing arts for my degree. I’d auditioned for a few drama schools, got a couple of recalls but didn’t get in anywhere. I took that pretty hard at first — I thought, “That’s it, I’m not going to be an actor then.”

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But after some time away, I realised I still wanted to study, so I went to Winchester to do a performing arts degree. I loved it because, instead of just intense, focused actor training — which I still think is brilliant and would love to do someday — it was a much broader approach.

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We explored everything: traditional acting, avant-garde work, physical theatre, Buto dance, puppetry, immersive theatre — all kinds of performance styles. It really opened my mind and made me rethink what performing arts actually means.

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I picked up so many different skills and got to experiment, make mistakes, do weird stuff I’ll probably never do again — but it was invaluable for getting all of that creative play out of my system without limitations.

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It wasn’t until many years later, around 2016, that I decided to take voice acting as seriously as I could and make it my main focus. That’s when I started doing more online workshops.

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One of the great things about the voiceover industry is how much online training is available. I really believe training is vital — though I completely understand not everyone has the budget for it. That was me for years, until I started booking enough work to reinvest in my development.

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So my advice is: don’t go overboard, but set aside a little training budget each year. Do some workshops and keep building your skills.

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Melissa:
You’ve voiced so many characters in so many games — Baldur’s Gate 3, Dragon’s Dogma 2, and too many others to list here. Honestly, check out Andrew’s IMDb page — you’ll be scrolling for minutes and minutes! Are there any experiences, from all those games you’ve worked on, that really stand out to you?

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Andrew:
Yeah, the first one that comes to mind is probably The Casting of Frank Stone. It’s still by far the largest project I’ve worked on in terms of my role, and there were so many aspects that made it unique — something I’m going to treasure for a long time.

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It was the first time I played a Latino character who wasn’t just a supporting role with a few lines. He had real depth and was such an interesting character to explore. That really stood out. And working as an ensemble — which is so rare — made it even better.

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On top of that, working with a director like Damien Goodwin was just brilliant. I feel like he really helped me level up as an actor. I was doing a lot of the process-based work we talked about earlier — which I don’t usually do — but there was still room for my usual instincts.

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Even though I received scripts in advance, it was never a full “golden” script with the entire story. I only had my own material, so there was still plenty of guessing. But the team was amazing — they gave us time to think about how our characters would respond, and there was even some flexibility in the wording.

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That whole experience was just so much fun, and it really stands out as a highlight for me.

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Melissa:
I love hearing that story because, as you and I both know, we often don’t get that kind of time. Time is money — we’re in and out, or connecting online.

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You’re highly skilled at voice work, but you also mentioned your experience in motion and performance capture. Do you prefer one over the other? Do you bring different things to each? How is your work split?

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Andrew:
I’d say I prefer voice work, because it’s my strongest suit. I can do so much more with my voice than I can with, you know, my body. That’s really where my heart is.

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But as an actor and as a creative person, I’m interested in all of it. Any opportunity to do different things, or combine them in different ways, is always really exciting to me.

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Melissa:
Let’s talk a little about advice. You’re a wise old sage in video game acting now — what advice would you give to someone just breaking through? Maybe they already have acting chops, but they’re new to voice work.

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We get so many people contacting us saying, “I want to act in video games.” We always explain we don’t specifically teach acting for video games, but we do teach characters here at BRAVA. It’s such a big dream for so many people starting out. What would you tell them?

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Andrew:
Train. Train, train, train. Get yourself in environments where there are other people creating characters — where you can watch, observe, join in, and fail.

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Fail as much as you possibly can, because that’s like mining — you’re digging through a lot of dirt to find the good stuff. Experiment, develop, and grow.

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For voice acting in particular, you have to develop a really keen ear. That doesn’t mean you need to master every accent or be able to do every extreme voice — but you do need to be able to hear what’s going on and break it down in a way that makes sense to you.

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Develop the ability to be your own best critic. Listen back to your work — pay attention to your breathing, your use of space (space is huge; too many people rush), your cadence. Then listen back again to the adjustments you make, and keep developing that keen ear so you can catch the subtleties others might miss.

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And one more thing — treat every part of the process as part of the job. Not just the session in the booth. The audition is the job too. Treat it with respect and do your best. But once it’s sent off, move on — you’ve done your job. Then focus on the next thing.

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Melissa:
Listening to you talk through that really makes me think about the importance of giving aspiring actors, voice actors, and performers permission to take their time. This isn’t something you can learn in a single workshop or in one week.

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And managing your emotional state is just as important — we talk so much about rejection and not catastrophising. As important as we might feel we are, we’re still just a small cog in a much bigger machine.

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You need to listen to other people’s experiences, have conversations, and build a network of people you trust. All of that takes time. That’s something we emphasise a lot — you just can’t rush this work. Hearing you talk about it really brings that idea of time into focus for me.

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Andrew:
Yeah, I completely agree. And I’d add a few things to that.

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I was talking to a colleague recently about where we want to go with our careers and what the next steps might be, and I realised something: the moment I booked my first video game job — even though it wasn’t enough to make a living yet — I had already achieved my dream. My dream was to be a professional actor, specifically a voice actor in games.

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So I’ve done that. The stress really should ease up after that, because now it’s about staying in the dream. Of course, it still comes with its ups and downs, but it’s important to reset your expectations and keep them in perspective.

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Melissa:
That’s such a good reminder — because sometimes we forget to notice how far we’ve come. We’re always chasing the next achievement, the next job, the next thing.

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Sometimes you have to stop and say, actually, I think I’ve done all right. And take a moment to appreciate that about yourself, because no one else is going to do it for you.

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Andrew:
Absolutely. I’m not in a rush. I love what I do, and I want to linger in this moment for as long as I can. I’m not in a hurry to “level up” — I just want to see what unfolds organically and naturally.

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On the topic of mental health, one thing that really changed how I deal with the ups and downs of the industry was getting into meditation a couple of years ago. It completely changed how I handle stress and lingering worries.

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I give myself much more space now — to be quiet, to slow down, to listen to what’s coming through my heart and into my head.

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And one last piece of advice for people getting into acting for games: consume the things you want to create.

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Play video games. Even though I don’t have much time to play anymore, I still watch games online, follow releases, and listen to how other actors approach their roles. I’ll watch RPGs, shooters, all sorts of genres, and really listen to the performances.

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And not just games — I love film and cinema, and I’m always watching things that inspire me, because that keeps me passionate about what I do. Even reading — we assume everyone does these things, but actually, not everyone does them well.

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Melissa:
Exactly. It’s not stupid at all — and no, not everyone does these things. That’s something we see at BRAVA — we assume everyone is curious about the world, but they’re often not.

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Everything we do here is about deep conversations and genuine curiosity — even about areas and industries we might not naturally be drawn to. If you’re working in games, learn something about advertising. Go to plays, read new books, read the papers.

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I know we live in a time of global overwhelm — there’s so much accessibility to so much, people can feel paralysed. But just being curious about something beyond your own bubble can help a lot.

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We train across narration, commercial, characters, and beyond, and it all blends together. So hearing you — as a prolific video game and mocap performer — say that you’re curious about more than just games is really important.

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Andrew:
Yeah, exactly. Whatever it is that keeps you passionate about being alive — not just about creating art — do that.

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If something sustains you, do it as much as you can. Have hobbies, things that delight you, and make time for them.

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Melissa:
And community too. That’s something we talk about a lot. One of the most wonderful things about BRAVA is the privilege of meeting and working with so many creatives. Surrounding yourself with different kinds of people and having those conversations is so important.

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Andrew:
Absolutely. In the past, I kind of resigned myself to the idea that, as a voice actor, I was just going to be alone — and that I didn’t really need friends in the industry because I already had plenty of other friends.

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But looking back now, that was naive. After lockdown, like so many others, I started really craving that sense of community again — time with other people, conversations, connection.

 

Melissa:
I want to talk about something I’m really proud of — the fact that you live in Bristol. Here at BRAVA, we work globally, of course, but part of our mission is also to support and connect with creatives and experts based here in Bristol and the southwest. What is it about this city that keeps you here?

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Andrew:
I don’t know — it was just love at first sight with Bristol. I came here with my ex-partner about 12 years ago. We were at a crossroads, trying to figure out where to go next. Brighton was the other option on the table — she was actually offered a job there, so it seemed like we’d probably go to Brighton.

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But then a friend of ours, who was at uni here, said, “Why don’t you come up for a weekend? Come visit me and see what you think of Bristol — I think you’d like it.” So we thought, yeah, why not?

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And it really was love at first sight. One of the first things I did was walk around Stokes Croft, and I just loved how rough around the edges it was — but not in an aggressive or dark way. It had this alternative vibe that I hadn’t really experienced in any UK city before.

And the longer I’ve stayed, the more I’ve fallen in love with it. I think part of it is the location — so close to Wales and all that lush countryside. It’s such a green city, with lovely little parks and green spaces, but also this thriving, busy city energy.

It’s really multicultural too, which is huge for me. I love meeting people from different places, hearing languages, experiencing cultural traditions. Bristol just ticks all those boxes — the kind of place I want to live, and the kind of people I want to be around.

Creatively, it has such a beautiful history of incredible artists and performers — from music to acting. Did you know Cary Grant is from Bristol?

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Melissa:
I didn’t know that — that’s mind-blowing! And Carol Vorderman too, another person I absolutely love. And Massive Attack, of course — I actually bumped into Tricky the other day and thought, that’s Tricky over there!

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Andrew:
Yeah, it’s wild. You walk out and bump into people you haven’t seen in ages — or someone you didn’t expect to see at all.

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Melissa:
Yeah, often! It’s a small city, geographically speaking, but it has such a big-city feel to it. And because of its size, it’s not as overwhelming as bigger cities can be.

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Melissa:
Well, we’re coming to the end of what has been such a fascinating conversation for me. What’s next for you? Anything exciting coming up — in life or work — that you can share?

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Andrew:
Work-wise, unfortunately it’s all under NDA at the moment. But there are a couple of projects that I think will come out relatively soon, which is nice — I won’t be waiting too long.

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There are definitely things in the pipeline I’m super excited about. I’ve been slowly working my way into the world of animation, which is really exciting.

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And there’s a project I’ve been working on — I can’t talk about it yet, but when I can, oh, it’s going to be great. I can’t wait.

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Melissa:
Well, let us know, and we’ll definitely share the news here at BRAVA when you can talk about it.

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Andrew:
Thank you — I will.

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Melissa:
It’s been so good to talk to you, Andrew Whieldon-Dennis. Thank you so much for your time.

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Andrew:
A pleasure. So nice to catch up with you, Melissa.

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Melissa:
You’ve been listening to High Notes: A Podcast on the Art and Business of Voice.