It’s been thirty years since Lara Croft was unleashed on the world via the hit video game “Tomb Raider.”
Released first in Europe, on Oct. 24, 1996, for the Sega Saturn, the title broke the rules in every way: an action-packed video game for adults with a female lead player character.
With her double handguns, long plait and kickass attitude, Croft became an instant hit and “Tomb Raider” has continued to inspire new games and screen adaptations over the past three decades (the latest, Prime Video’s adaptation starring Sophie Turner, is already building plenty of anticipation).
While superstars including Angelina Jolie and Hayley Atwell have all inhabited the character, the woman who first breathed life into Lara Croft was Shelley Blond, then just a fledgling voice actor whose role on for “Tomb Raider” was only her second ever professional gig.
Ahead of the game’s thirtieth anniversary, Blond sat down with Variety to reminisce about that first audition, the role Lara continues to play in her life and the impact of AI on the voice acting community.
Read on below…
How did you end up being the first voice of Lara Croft?
I had recently signed with a voiceover agent and done one job, and she called me and said they were looking for the voice of Lara Croft, but that I probably wouldn’t get it because they’d been looking for six to nine months. She thought it would be a great experience for me to audition, just for the audition experience.
They faxed me over a rough picture [of Croft] and some script lines, and I pressed play and record on my cassette recorder, because it was 1995, sent it back in the post, and then a few days later heard that they wanted to do a conference call, which I did. Again, I repeated some lines over the conference call, and then they told me at the end of the call that I got the job.
What do you think it was they’d been searching for for nine months that they eventually found in you?
I don’t know. I think it was just hearing the voice and knowing that was her. They said to me when I did the recording they wanted it to be very… kind of a female James Bond delivery. Sean Connery but without the accent. They wanted an Indiana Jones but female. I don’t know. They must have heard something in my voice that went with the idea of her that they had in their head.
The picture of Lara Croft that they faxed you, did it end up changing much in the final version?
No. It was rough, as in, it wasn’t colored in, but it was pretty much the shorts, the gun, the holster, the plait, and I thought she was very sexy and very ballsy, and I liked the look very much. I really just did my own voice, and it just resonated with them. So, lucky for me, I got the gig.
How much did you know about “Tomb Raider” at that point and how much anticipation there was for it?
I’m not a gamer, so even at that time, I wasn’t aware of any video games beyond “Pac-Man.” Core Design and Eidos were the two companies that that made the [original “Tomb Raider”] game and the character, and they both said to me, “We don’t know how well this game is going to do because we’ve never done a game for adults before. But let’s see how we go.” They didn’t know themselves. They had no clue. I certainly didn’t have a clue. For me, it was just a gig that I’d managed to get, but they had no clue that 30 years later she’s still at the top of her game, she’s globally iconic. There’ve been so many games within the franchise, so many spin-offs. It’s an incredible thing that they just didn’t see would happen.
When did you realize Lara Croft had become a cultural phenomenon?
I think when I walked past a newsstand and I saw her on the front cover of The Face, and I said, I thought to myself, “Is that the character I voiced?” First of all, I didn’t know but she looked very familiar, and then I thought, “My goodness.” I did not realize that she would have her own front cover. And I think I’m correct in saying that Lara Croft has, of any game character, the most front covers of magazines. I remember seeing her on the front cover of The Face and just thought, “This is huge.”
Did being the voice of Lara Croft open any doors for you?
I was doing a lot of presenting for Trouble TV and Bravo and CITV [in the U.K.], and they devised a show for me called “Room Raiders,” which was to go into a teenage room and redesign it within a day and surprise the teen. That’s the only thing that I would think, apart from 20 and 30 years later hosting “Tomb Raider” events. People are always surprised to hear that I’m the voice, and I’ve had a very steady voiceover career for 30 years now. Nobody really mentions that they’ve booked me because of Lara Croft.
Over the past three decades Lara has been voiced by a pretty incredible lineup of women, from Hayley Atwell to Minnie Driver and, of course, the on-screen adaptations with Angelina Jolie, Alicia Vikander and Sophie Turner. What does it feel like to be the inaugural Lara in that lineup?
It’s an absolute privilege to be part of this. Not just one of the voices, but to be the original, where it all began. It’s such a privilege and an honor. When I go to Comic Cons, as I’m going to on Sunday for the 30th anniversary in London, and I meet fans of the game, that’s when it really hits me, what Lara meant to fans, what she means to the fans still. I have people that tell me that they were too scared to come out, and Lara gave them the confidence to be who they are. Other people tell me that their parent has passed away, but they used to play the game with the parent, and so the music and my voice is all is all caught up in the memories of that. And I cannot tell you what an honor it is to be part of people’s precious memories.
On a slightly different note, there is a lot of discussion particularly among voice artists about AI and what it means for their careers, even after they’ve gone. Are you actively doing anything about it, for example trademarking your voice or making provisions in your will?
I’m not doing anything. AI is so wonderful in so many ways, but so scary when it’s taking away jobs for people. I’m with a fabulous agency who always makes sure with contracts that AI is not involved, and there’s no way that your voice can be stolen for AI. But as far as after I’m gone, if my voice was used on things, I would love to know that I’m still carrying on, even though I’m not here.
This interview has been edited and condensed.