Voice of Overwatch hero Baptiste explains how the role changed his life
IMDB / BlizzardBaptiste is Overwatch’s newest support hero – but his voice actor nearly turned the role down without even knowing what Overwatch was.
Actor Benz Antoine stated in an interview with Variety that the audition process for the character was so secretive, he almost walked away from the project altogether.
“It was secretive, so we didn’t know what it was for,” Antoine said of the role. Despite his agent’s doubts, Antoine managed to land the job in his first-ever voice acting foray – and he called the role nothing less than life-changing.
“…I got to tell you, my character isn’t even in the game yet but my life is already more changed that I could imagine,” he said. “I’ve spent 25 years working as an actor and no one in my family thought I was cool until I got this.”
As a Haitian character, Baptiste needed an actor who could speak Creole. Luckily, Antoine comes from a Haitian background, and even embraced his accent for the role (which he had actively been trying to avoid).
“Speaking Creole was fun,” he continued. “Being able to go back and check out the authenticity with my grandmother and hearing Creole in the game for all of the Haitians, that’s going to be exciting.”
While Baptiste has yet to be released, the character was teased with a short trailer in late February, revealing him to be a “shrewd combat medic.”
Antoine is a storied actor best known for his roles in ‘Death Race,’ ‘Four Brothers,’ and ‘Romeo Must Die,’ with an upcoming appearance in ‘Dreamland’ with stars Evangeline Lilly and Gary Oldman.
Baptiste releases for all players on March 19.