Roger Craig Smith (born 11 August 1975) is an American voice actor and former stand-up comic. Smith has voiced characters in varying media productions, including those in animated television shows such as Naruto, Wolverine and the X-Men, Code Geass, and Avengers Assemble.
Aside from this, he has also provided voice-overs for video games, adding his talents to characters such as Sonic in the Sonic the Hedgehog series, Siegfried Schtauffen in Soulcalibur IV and V, Chris Redfield in the Resident Evil series, and Batman in Batman: Arkham Origins, as well as additional voices for other games, such as in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Red Dead Redemption, and varying other projects.
For the Assassin's Creed series, Smith has most notably provided the voice of Ezio Auditore da Firenze.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Roger Craig Smith was born on 11 August 1975 in St. Joseph, Michigan. In 2003 he graduated from Chapman University's Dodge College of Film and Media Arts with a degree in screenwriting.[1] His first video game related voice work came in 2004 with Castle Shikigami 2.[2]
Assassin's Creed[]
Prior to 2009, when Roger was first approached by Ubisoft, his agent warned him that the the previous game didn't do too well and didn't know the future of the franchise. Regardless, Roger took the opportunity and voiced the character of Ezio Auditore da Firenze. When the game released on 17 November 2009 the fan response was very positive. To get the voice of the character down, Roger researched Italians speaking English with an accent. He chose however to give Ezio a general Italian accent and not a Venetian or Florentine accent in order to not alienate western audiences. Ida Darvish acted as Roger's dialect coach and worked tirelessly with him to create Ezio's voice and to get his Italian pronunciation correct.[3]
Unaware that more games would be made, Roger returned to voice Ezio in 2010 for Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood. Halfway through production, Darvish was replaced as his dialect coach by Peter Arpesella. After the time it took to practice speaking Italian for Assassin's Creed II, in Brotherhood it was decided to cut back on the Italian to save time. He returned again for Assassin's Creed: Revelations and Assassin's Creed: Embers in 2011. As Ezio got older, Roger changed his voice to suit.[3] In 2013, Roger had a voice cameo as Ruggiero Ferraro and an Abstergo market analyst in Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag.[4]
Roger Craig Smith was not asked to voice Ezio in Assassin's Creed Chronicles: China, and in 2015 rerecorded the character's dialogue for a fan video after the negative reaction to his anonymous replacement.[5]
Assassin's Creed credits[]
- Assassin's Creed II (2009) – Ezio Auditore da Firenze
- Assassin's Creed II: Discovery (2009) – Ezio Auditore da Firenze (alongside Kid Beyond)
- Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (2010) – Ezio Auditore da Firenze
- Assassin's Creed: Ascendance (2010) – Ezio Auditore da Firenze
- Assassin's Creed: Revelations (2011) – Ezio Auditore da Firenze
- Assassin's Creed: Embers (2011) – Ezio Auditore da Firenze
- Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag (2013) – Ruggiero Ferraro, Abstergo market analyst
- Assassin's Creed: Valhalla (2020) – Ezio Auditore da Firenze (archive audio)
- Assassin's Creed: Nexus VR (2023) – Ezio Auditore da Firenze
References[]
- ↑
Roger Craig Smith on Wikipedia
- ↑ Elise, Abigail (02-02-2015). Voice of 'Ezio' And 'Sonic' Roger Craig Smith Advises Voice Actors: 'You're Not The Greatest Thing To Hit This Industry'. International Business Times. Archived from the original on 13 May 2016. Retrieved on 13 January 2020.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1
An Ezio Auditore restrospective with Roger Craig Smith on the Thumb Culture YouTube channel
- ↑ Roger Craig Smith at the Internet Movie Database
- ↑ The Training of Shao Jun - ft. Roger Craig Smith (Assassin's Creed Chronicles: China tribute) on the Loomer YouTube channel
