Shelley Blond on Becoming Lara Croft’s First and Original Voice

By Marcus Bennett

Shelley Blond won the voice role of Lara Croft in 1995, before the character’s Oct. 24, 1996 debut in Europe on Sega Saturn, according to her account in Variety. The original Tomb Raider made Blond the first performer to voice Lara. It was only her second professional job.

Blond spoke to Variety ahead of the game’s 30th anniversary. She described the release as breaking the rules: an action-packed game for adults with a female lead, double handguns, a long plait and a defiant attitude. Croft became an instant hit and inspired later games and screen adaptations.

Core Design and Eidos, the two companies behind the original game and character, told her they had never made a game for adults and did not know how it would perform. Blond said she was no gamer and knew no games beyond Pac-Man. For her, the part was simply a job.

Blond had signed with a voiceover agent and completed one job. Her agent said the producers had been looking for Croft’s voice for six to nine months, so Blond probably would not get the role. The agent still recommended the audition for the experience.

Blond said they faxed her a rough picture of Croft and some script lines. The final design did not change much from that image. It lacked color, but showed the shorts, gun, holster and plait.

The brief sought a female James Bond delivery: Sean Connery without the accent, and Indiana Jones recast as a woman. The producers, Blond said, heard something in her voice that matched their idea of Lara.

Blond recalled: “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.”

In 1995, she pressed play and record on a cassette recorder, mailed the tape back and, a few days later, joined a conference call. She repeated the lines, and the producers told her at the end that she had the job.

The character after 30 years

Blond said neither she nor the game’s makers foresaw Lara’s three-decade run. She called the character globally iconic and said the franchise had produced numerous games and spin-offs. She and the companies had no idea that Lara would still be at the top of her game three decades later.

Blond noticed the change when she passed a newsstand and saw Lara on the cover of The Face. She first wondered whether the familiar face was the character she had voiced, then recognized the scale of it. Blond said she believed Lara held the record for the most front covers of any game character, while qualifying that belief.

While working as a presenter for Trouble TV, Bravo and CITV in the U.K., Blond presented Room Raiders. The program sent her into a teenager’s room to redesign it within a day and surprise the teenager. Blond said it was the only door the Lara role opened, apart from hosting Tomb Raider events 20 and 30 years later.

People are often surprised to hear that Blond voiced Lara. She has maintained a steady voiceover career for 30 years, but said performers rarely cite Lara when booking her. The connection remains separate from most of the work that has sustained her career.

Blond named Hayley Atwell and Minnie Driver among later game voices. Film portrayals came from Angelina Jolie, Alicia Vikander and Sophie Turner. The latest was Prime Video’s adaptation starring Turner, which Variety said was already building anticipation.

Blond described being Lara’s original voice as an absolute privilege and honor. She said meeting fans at Comic Cons brought home what Lara had meant, and still meant, to them. Blond planned to attend the London anniversary event on Sunday for the game’s 30th anniversary.

Some fans told Blond they had been too scared to come out and that Lara gave them confidence to be themselves. Others said a deceased parent had once played the game with them. Blond said the music and her voice now held those family memories, which she considered an honor to share.

What changes for voice actors?

AI has prompted debate among voice artists about job losses and the possible use of their voices after death. Blond has taken no steps to trademark her voice or protect it through her will. “AI is so wonderful in so many ways, but so scary when it’s taking away jobs for people,” she said.

Blond said her agency always writes contracts that exclude AI. She also believes those terms prevent anyone from taking her voice for AI use. She would like her voice to remain in use after her death, even though she would not be there to hear it. She has taken no steps to secure that wish.

For voice actors working now, Blond’s example points to contractual exclusions as one safeguard. A contract can govern the current engagement while leaving later use of a recorded voice unresolved. Blond has made no trademark or will provision, so her own answer stops at the present.

On Sunday, Blond heads to London for the 30th-anniversary event. Her testimony links one human voice to confidence, family memory and three decades of play. The next challenge for Lara’s makers is to protect that authorship while AI changes paid voice work.