Star Wars Outlawsprotagonist Kay Vess is portrayed by Humberly González, a talented Venezuelan actress with a solid track record performing in other Ubisoft-developed games likeFar Cry 6,Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, andStarlink: Battle for Atlas. Despite her notable appearances both in video games and in film, her role as the lead inStar Wars Outlawsrepresents both a massive career milestone and a touching personal moment.
Game Rant chatted with Humberly González about howStar Wars Outlawsstacked up against some of her previous work, and she revealed howher role as Kay Vessand pilot of theTrailblazerreminds her of her first video game role also featuring a spacefaring protagonist. Additionally, González opened up about how working in games was one of her earliest career ambitions.
Star Wars Outlaws Isn’t Humberly González' First Time In Space
González' first video game role was as Calisto Chase Da Silva inUbisoft’sambitious toys-to-life space gameStarlink: Battle for Atlas,in which Calisto was a racer-turned-pilot with a space-faring hotrod. It’s typical for studios to fashion various props to assist motion capture performers with their performances, and in González case, capture forStarlink: Battle for Atlasinvolved placing her in a wooden spaceship.
“I was very proud of that because I always wanted to do video games and it was my first introduction to it. In my very first in-person callback, they built a wooden spaceship for me because it so happens that my character was the fastest race car driver on Earth, but then she had an accident and couldn’t race, but she got recruited to this space mission where she got a bionic arm and leg and she was able to now race in space.
I definitely had a full circle moment of my very first baby and introduction to this world, to now leadingStar Wars, and I now get to drive a bigger wooden spaceship! I always think of that character and how far I’ve come and how much I’ve grown. The fact that I, as the motion capture performer, do have experience in driving a wooden spaceship was very cool.”
Fast forward a few years later and González is once again at the helm of a wooden spaceship in a motion capture studio, only this time it’s for something much larger. González was understandably sentimental about this progression topiloting theTrailblazer, as this move represents personal and career growth for her.
While it’s often the case that actors discover their passion for working in video games later in their careers, González says thatacting in video gameshas been a goal of hers since she was a student. That said, she noted that she doesn’t play favorites and enjoys her work regardless of the medium. González feels that motion capture in video games helped her to grow as a screen actor since every subtle movement of her body needs to be controlled and reflected in the animation.
“I will be fully transparent that video games and motion capture was something that I knew I wanted to do before even considering film and TV. When I was training in theater school, I got exposed to motion capture in Montreal and I got to wear the suits and we got to do mock scenes.
I had no idea that real actors were in video games; I thought it was all animated. It was really amazing for me to see that, and it opened this whole side of the industry that I didn’t even know existed.”
It’ll be interesting to see how González' career develops after such a high-profile role as was the case recently when Maggie Robertson’s masterful Lady Dimitrescu performance led toOrin the Red inBaldur’s Gate 3. Perhaps next time González will find herself piloting an even bigger wooden spaceship.
