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The actor behind Astarion in Baldur's Gate 3 was "very close to quitting" the industry before landing a role in the Larian RPG.
On November 10, at The Golden Joysticks 2023, Neil Newbon won the Golden Joystick award for Best Supporting Performer for his role as Astarion in Baldur's Gate 3. During his acceptance speech, the actor revealed that we almost ended up with a completely different Astarion: "My journey to games was an interesting one, because when I found games I was broke, I was on my knees, I actually was actually very close to quitting the industry," Newbon reveals.
"The games industry has given me nothing but character work, embracement, love, passion, great friends, and I just can't thank everyone in this room enough for including me in this," the actor continues. Talking about his experience voicing one of the Baldur's Gate 3 companions, Newbon also said during his speech: "One thing I wanted to say is that this character has meant the world to me. He is a survivor, he has gone through trauma."
The Astarion actor continues: "I've had so many people from the community reach out to me, personally, who talk about the stories that our characters have also shared, and they identify with many stories and characters in the game - that the game's story itself has really reached them."
Newbon adds: "People have come up to me and said that they've felt inspired to deal with their own trauma. As a survivor myself, I understand when they talk to me about it - what they mean. That they feel seen by the game, they feel understood by the characters."
"That is a testament to this amazing, beautiful masterpiece that Larian, Swen [Vincke], the writing team have all put together and created," the actor continues, "and to the amazing cast of 248 beautiful actors that put their heart and soul on a daily basis to this."
Larian's efforts definitely did not go unrecognized at the Golden Joysticks 2023, as Baldur's Gate 3 had the biggest night at the Golden Joystick Awards since The Last of Us: Part 2 and The Witcher 3.
In case you missed it, Baldur's Gate 3 and Larian also went home with the following awards: Best Visual Design, Best Storytelling, Best Community, Studio of the Year, PC Game of the Year, and Ultimate Game of the Year - that's a lot of Golden Joysticks.
Find out what other games did well with our Golden Joystick Awards 2023 winners round-up.
