Nolan North

Young Justice

**Nolan Ramsey North** (born October 31, 1970)[2] is an American actor and voice actor. His voice-work includes characters such as Nathan Drake from the *Uncharted* series, Desmond Milesfrom the *Assassin's Creed* series, Ghost from Bungie's titles *Destiny* and *Destiny 2*, the Penguin in the *Batman: Arkham* franchise, Palawa Joko from *Guild Wars 2*, Meepo the Geomancer in *Dota 2*, David in *The Last of Us*, Cpt. Martin Walker in *Spec Ops: The Line*, Deadpool in various media, Superboy in *Young Justice*, himself as one of the voices for the Boss in *Saints Row IV*and Edward Richtofen in the *Call of Duty* Aether storyline.[3] He voices the titular character from the Nick Jr. series *Blaze and the Monster Machines*.

## Life and career

North was born in New Haven, Connecticut and raised in Rhode Island. He attended Bishop Hendricken High School in Warwick and played baseball there.[4] He majored in journalism at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a baseball scholarship.[5][6] He worked as a reporter for almost a year in New Jersey before moving to New York to pursue stand-up comedy and acting.[5] North eventually relocated to Hollywood and was cast in the *General Hospital* spin-off series *Port Charles*, playing Dr. Chris Ramsey during the show's run from 1997 to 2003.[6] He married fellow *Port Charles* actress Jill Murray in 1999,[5] and has two children. During the run of *Port Charles*, he worked on a few video games as a voice actor and began to focus on voice acting following the cancellation of *Port Charles*.[6]

One of his most notable roles came in 2007 when he voiced and performed motion capture for the character Nathan Drake for the video game *Uncharted: Drake's Fortune*. Since then, he has continued to portray the character in *Uncharted 2: Among Thieves* (2009), and *Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception* (2011). In an interview with *The Guardian*, North reflects on his time as Drake as requiring "a lot of imagination. Motion capture is basically theatre in Spandex; there's minimal props, and you need a willingness to make an ass of yourself."[7] North as Drake has been twice nominated at the Spike Video Game Awards in the "Best Performance by a Human Male" category. North reprised his role as Drake in *Uncharted 4: A Thief's End,* released in 2016.[8]

North had a role in *Star Trek Into Darkness*, the sequel to 2009's live-action movie *Star Trek*. Director J. J. Abrams cited North's performance as Drake for the casting, he and his son being fans of the *Uncharted* series.[9]

He's a huge fan of gaming and he was telling me how people just don't understand [the medium] yet, but they're going to catch up. They don't understand how amazing this technology is and it doesn't get the respect it deserves, but if it keeps making the money it makes you're going to see more and more people converted. I mean, Gary Oldman, one of the greatest actors on the planet, did *Call of Duty*. He wouldn't have done it 10 years ago. It's a new age dawning, and I'm just really proud to be part of it.

Other notable video game voice work includes roles as the Prince in *Prince of Persia*, Shun in *Ar tonelico II: Melody of Metafalica*, Vossler in *Final Fantasy XII*, Eradan in *Lord of the Rings: War in the North*, Doctor Edward Richtofen in *Call of Duty: World at War*, *Call of Duty: Black Ops*, *Call of Duty: Black Ops II* and *Call of Duty: Black Ops III*, Brawl in *Transformers: War for Cybertron*, Ghost Rider in *Marvel: Ultimate Alliance*, Shadow Demon, Lycan, Lone Druid, Brewmaster, Gyrocopter, Ogre Magi, Meepo, Earth Spirit, Troll Warlord, the Keeper of the Light in *Dota 2*, and voices various *Team Fortress 2* characters, including Merasmus, Redmond Mann, Blutarch Mann, Zepheniah Mann, various lines for the Engineer and the Bombinomicon. More recently, he replaced Peter Dinklage as the voice of the Ghost in *Destiny: The Taken King*. In addition, he re-recorded all of Dinklage's lines from the base game of *Destiny* and continues to voice the character in subsequent releases.

North is well known in his animation roles such as Cyclops in *Wolverine and the X-Men*, Snow Job in *G.I. Joe: Renegades*, Raphael in *TMNT*, both Superboy and Superman in *Young Justice*, and Smokescreen in *Transformers: Prime*. He has also voiced Blaze in *Blaze and the Monster Machines* since 2014.

North will be honored at a special event hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts during Electronic Entertainment Expo 2018, where he will be given a Special Award for his "outstanding contribution to performance in games".[10]

As of May 6, 2018, North and fellow voice actor Troy Baker host the weekly YouTube series, *Retro Replay*.