Stephen Russell

Stephen L. Russell is an actor who voiced various characters in Fallout 3, Fallout 4 and its add-on Far Harbor, as well as Fallout 76 and its updates Wild Appalachia, Wastelanders, Nuka-World on Tour, Mutation Invasion and Skyline Valley. Most prominent among his roles are the Mister Handy robots throughout all three games, in addition to the companions Nick Valentine and Codsworth in Fallout 4.
==Career==
===Work on the Fallout series===
====Fallout 3====
Russell first provided voice work for the Fallout series with Fallout 3 (2008), in which he was introduced as the voice of Mister Handy robots. Russell initially became involved with Bethesda Softworks productions as a result of his connections with Looking Glass Studios, as many of its former employees moved to Bethesda, including Emil Pagliarulo, among others. Russell's voice for the Mister Handies took some inspiration from a Basil Fawlty-type delivery, and it came naturally to Russell through the sort of characterization the directors wanted, as well as the writing of the Mister Handy characters.LIVE Interview with the voice of CODSWORTH and NICK VALENTINE, Stephen Russell! (11:21) Russell also voiced Harold, a character from previous Fallout games, in addition to male Enclave soldiers.
====Fallout 4====
Russell voiced various characters in Fallout 4 (2015), with his work being recorded over a few years, in periods of several back-to-back days, approximately every four months.Stephen Russell Answers Fans (Part 1) He reprised the role of Mister Handies, including the companion Codsworth. Compared to his performance as Mister Handies in Fallout 3, Russell stated that Codsworth is more fleshed out and mature, with a "code of ethics that may have evolved beyond what was programmed into him." Codsworth also became known for his ability to say a wide range of player character names. Russell recorded these names over one week near the end of production, ending each session with around an hour of saying names.Fallout 4 - Creating Codsworth
Russell also voiced the character of Nick Valentine, another companion in the game. Russell's performance as Nick received significant praise.An Ode To Nick Valentine, Fallout 4's Best Companion He took inspiration from the style of noir detective that Nick is based upon, in particular the actor Humphrey Bogart, whom Russell said he has seen just about every film he starred in. Russell stated that Nick is one of the "most soulful" characters he has played, owing to his moral compass and "intentionally ironic" in a way, given his status as a synth. When recording for Nick, Russell did not yet even know what the character looked like, as he only had a script to work with. However, he thought that Nick's final appearance ultimately fit the character very well.LIVE Interview with the voice of CODSWORTH and NICK VALENTINE, Stephen Russell! (37:03)
He reprised the role of Nick Valentine for the Far Harbor add-on (2016), in which he also voiced DiMA. Although the two characters are directly linked and share many scenes with each other, their lines were recorded by Russell in different sessions. Russell described some of DiMA's dialogue as the hardest and most emotional, but also the most fun to record.Stephen Russell Answers Fans (Part 2) The development of DiMA's voice involved a series of back-and-forth attempts at different cadences and speeds. One challenge that Russell encountered while voicing DiMA was balancing the need to differentiate DiMA from Nick with a different voice range, but also adhering to DiMA's status as a more reserved and calculating prototype synth.LIVE Interview with the voice of CODSWORTH and NICK VALENTINE, Stephen Russell! (44:22)
====Fallout 76====
Russell returned to the franchise with Fallout 76 (2018), where he again reprised his role as Mister Handies. Due to the initial lack of human characters in the game, Mister Handies and other robots became more prominent in Appalachia, with many acting as quest-givers. He continued in this capacity for the Wild Appalachia update (2019). With the introduction of the Wastelanders update (2020), Russell again voiced more Mister Handy characters, such as Davenport, even as human NPCs entered the game world. Russell also voiced expanded dialogue for some characters already in the game, such as Jack O' Lantern.
With Fallout 76s status as a live-service game, Russell returned to the game two years later with the Nuka-World on Tour update (2022), in which he voiced Mr. Lovely and an ex-raider. He also voiced the narrator of the Rip Daring radio play, as well as a fictional Mister Handy character, Percival, introduced in the Mutation Invasion update (2023). In the Skyline Valley update (2024), he voiced the Mister Handies Gumley and Murry, as well as David Shuffleworth, the announcer for the event Dangerous Pastimes.
===Other work===
Russell began his career as a theatre actor, though he entered voice acting in 1997 by auditioning for Thief: The Dark Project. He was cast as the protagonist, Garrett, and reprised the role in the next two entries in the series. He also voiced Karras, the chief antagonist of Thief II, as well as voicing some of the minor characters in the series. Russell additionally contributed the voice of the starship Von Braun's central computer XERXES and that of William Bedford Diego in Irrational Games and Looking Glass Studios' System Shock 2. He has since become a popular figure in both communities. Russell also voiced over two dozen characters in Bethesda Softworks' The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, released in 2011. 
Russell went on to voice Corvo Attano, the protagonist of the Dishonored series, who became fully voiced in Dishonored 2 (2016). He also voiced Dr. Sylvian Bellamy in Preys 2017 reboot, as well as Cabirus in Underworld Ascendant (2018), a game developed by former Looking Glass Studios employees at OtherSide Entertainment.
==Credits==
===Fallout series===
===Other work===
==Behind the scenes==
* Russell voices the most amount of characters in Fallout 76, with over 35 roles across the original release of the game and its various updates, including many Mister Handies, which are common in the game.
* Russell has only had a few roles in the Fallout series in which he played fully human characters, including the Enclave soldiers in Fallout 3 and the ex-raider in Nuka-World on Tour. Although they are not seen, being voice-only characters, the narrator of Rip Daring in Mutation Invasion and David Shuffleworth in Skyline Valley also appear to be human voices. All of his other roles include Mister Handy robots, the synthetic Nick Valentine and the mutant Harold.
==Gallery==
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Stephen Russell.jpg
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==External links==
Interviews
* "Fallout 4 - Creating Codsworth": interview with Stephen Russell (Bethesda.net - November 18, 2015)
* Stephen Russell Answers Fans (Part 1 and Part 2) (Kirain/Tumblr - June & September 2016)
* Stephen Russell Interview - Golden Triangle Comic-Con 2017 (Powers Not Included/Heroshot Media - August 22, 2017)
* Eagre Games interview with voice actor Stephen Russell (Eagre Games - December 20, 2017)
* LIVE Interview with the voice of CODSWORTH and NICK VALENTINE, Stephen Russell! (Gavaroc - July 28, 2018)
Podcasts
* Fallout 4 Cast & Crew Reunion ft. Courtenay Taylor, Matt Mercer, Keythe Farley, & MORE! (MrMattyPlays - December 5, 2020)
* Apocalypse Squares with the STARS of Fallout 3, 4 and 76! (CHAD: A Fallout 76 Podcast - December 12, 2021)
* Fallout 4 Cast Reunion ~ Wes Johnson, Stephen Russell, Paul Eiding, Peter Jessop, and more (CHAD: A Fallout 76 Podcast - June 23, 2022)
==References==
Category:Fallout 3 voice actors
Category:Fallout 4 voice actors
Category:Far Harbor voice actors
Category:Fallout 76 voice actors
Category:Wild Appalachia voice actors
Category:Wastelanders voice actors
Category:Nuka-World on Tour voice actors
Category:Mutation Invasion voice actors
Category:Skyline Valley voice actors
ru:Стивен Рассел