Ray Liotta — "Grand Theft Auto: Vice City"
The "Grand Theft Auto" series is thought to be the pioneer in casting Hollywood actors in its video games. "Grand Theft Auto III" had a low budget and a relatively low profile at the time, but still had an all-star cast.
The next game in the series, "Vice City," starred Ray Liotta as the protagonist Tommy Vercetti. Now, though, lesser-known actors voice the main characters, but celebrities are still used throughout the games to voice DJs, villains and even to portray themselves.
Samuel L. Jackson — "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas"
Samuel L. Jackson is no stranger to the video game world. In addition to playing Officer Frank Tenpenny in "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas," he also voiced characters in "Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars," "Iron Man 2," "Afro Samurai" and "The Incredibles."
Jackson isn't the only famous actor to lend his voice to the game. Other stars include: Ice-T, Andy Dick, Axl Rose and James Woods.
Patrick Stewart — "The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion"
Patrick Stewart might be best-known for his work as Charles Xavier in the "X-Men" series, as well as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in "Star Trek: The Next Generation." But he's also the voice of Emperor Uriel Septim in "Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion."
Lynda Carter — "The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim"
Lynda Carter is most famous for being "Wonder Woman" in the TV show from the 1980s. But you can hear her in "The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion" as some female Nords and Orcs, and she reappears in "The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim" as the voice for Azura and Gormlaith Golden-Hilt, which you can hear in the video below.
Kristen Bell — "Assassin's Creed"
Before Kristen Bell voiced Anna in Disney's "Frozen," she gave her voice (and likeness) to Lucy Stillman in "Assassin's Creed," "Assassin's Creed II" and "Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood."
John Goodman — "Rage"
In "Rage," the first person the protagonist meets is Dan Hagar, voiced by John Goodman. The game's creators didn't choose Goodman because of his voice-acting chops, however. They went with him because the initial sketch of Hagar reminded them of Goodman's character in "The Big Lebowski."
Ben Kingsley — "Fable III"
Sir Ben Kingsley lends his famous voice to the character Sabine in "Fable III." He told CVG at the time: "It's very energising and good for us actors to realise that [acting] is so diverse now. [Games] are as big a jump now as I suppose when cinema was invented, when people went from the stage to the cinema thinking: It's not really acting, is it? Now, it's video games — and it is acting. It's very demanding."
Hayden Panettiere — "Kingdom Hearts"
Hayden Panettiere is well-known for her role as Claire Bennet, the cheerleader in the TV show "Heroes" ("Save the cheerleader, save the world!") and as Juliette Barnes, a country singer in the show "Nashville." But she also did the voice for Kairi — the love interest of the main character, Sora — in several of the "Kingdom Hearts" games.
Neil Patrick Harris — "Saints Row 2"
Neil Patrick Harris was just recently nominated for a Tony Award for his role as Hedwig in "Hedwig and the Angry Inch." He's also known for gracing the TV screen in "How I Met Your Mother" and, of course, "Doogie Howser, M.D."
But that's not all. He also did the voice for a few video game characters, including Veteran Child in "Saints Row 2" and "Saints Row IV."
Heather Graham — "EverQuest II"
The 2004 game "EverQuest II" featured Heather Graham — of "Boogie Nights" and "Austin Powers" fame — as the voice of Queen Antonia Bayle. But she's not the only famous person in that game: Wil Wheaton, Danica McKeller and Minnie Driver are also among the famous actors to lend their voice.
Seth Green — "Mass Effect"
The very funny Seth Green, who already lends his voice to Chris Griffin in "Family Guy," is the voice of Joker in the "Mass Effect" series.
And how he got to be the voice of Joker is very simple: "I got asked! As a voice-over actor, I get approached from time to time to participate in video games, but this is one that seemed like it would be a lot of fun," he said in an interview with MTV.
Martin Sheen — "Mass Effect"
It's pretty well-known that Seth Green does the voice of Joker in the "Mass Effect" series. But the voice of the Illusive Man is none other than Martin Sheen.
Kiefer Sutherland — "Call of Duty: World at War"
It was recently announced that Kiefer Sutherland, who plays Jack Bauer on the TV show "24," will be the voice for Snake in "Metal Gear Solid V." But in addition to voicing the Jack Bauer character in the "24" video game, Sutherland did the voice for Sgt. Roebuck in one of the early "Call of Duty" games, "Call of Duty: World at War." (Bonus: Gary Oldman does the voice for Sgt. Reznov.)
Mark Hamill — "Batman: Arkham Asylum"
It was just announced that Mark Hamill would be reprising his role as Luke Skywalker in "Star Wars: Episode VII." But another role he's famous for is not only playing the Joker in "Batman: The Animated Series," but taking his talents to the video game world, lending his voice to the Joker in both "Arkham Asylum" and "Arkham City."
In 2010 he said that "Arkham City" would be his last time playing the Joker, and even tweeted about the decision the following year. But since then, he's said "never say never" when asked about whether he would lend his talents to the villain again.