British Academy Games Award for Performer in a Leading Role

The British Academy Video Games Award for Performer in a Leading Role is an award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) in honour of the best leading performance featured in a game "from voice artistry through to motion capture".[1]

British Academy Video Games Award for Performer in a Leading Role
Awarded forBest performance in a game
Presented byBAFTA
First awarded2020
Currently held byNadji Jeter
Most nominationsLaura Bailey
Websitewww.bafta.org/games

BAFTA has honoured video game performances since the 8th British Academy Video Games Awards ceremony in 2012, with Mark Hamill winning the inaugural award for his performance as the Joker in Batman: Arkham City.[2] From 2012 to 2019, performers in both leading and supporting roles were considered together in the merged category of British Academy Games Award for Performer but, as of the 16th British Academy Games Awards, during a reconfiguration of categories, BAFTA announced that the Performer award would be split into both Leading and Supporting categories.[3]

The inaugural winner in the Leading category was Gonzalo Martin for his role as Sean Diaz in Dontnod Entertainment's Life Is Strange 2.[4] Laura Bailey has received the most nominations with two, one for her role as Kait Diaz in Gears 5 and one for her portrayal of Abby in The Last of Us Part II, which she won.

The current holder of the award is Nadji Jeter for his role as Miles Morales in Spider-Man 2, who won at the 20th British Academy Games Awards in 2024.

Winners and nominees

edit
 
Laura Bailey, two-time nominee and 2020 winner
 
Christopher Judge received the award in 2022.

In the following table, the years are listed as per BAFTA convention, and generally correspond to the year of game release in the United Kingdom.

Table key
Indicates the winner
Year Performer Game Role(s) Ref.
2019

(16th)

Gonzalo Martin Life Is Strange 2 Sean Diaz [5]
Laura Bailey Gears 5 Kait Diaz
Courtney Hope Control Jesse Faden
Logan Marshall-Green Telling Lies David
Norman Reedus Death Stranding Sam Bridges
Barry Sloane Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Captain Price
2020

(17th)

Laura Bailey The Last of Us Part II Abby [6]
Cody Christian Final Fantasy VII Remake Cloud Strife
Nadji Jeter Spider-Man: Miles Morales Miles Morales/Spider-Man
Ashley Johnson The Last of Us Part II Ellie
Cherami Leigh Cyberpunk 2077 Female V
Daisuke Tsuji Ghost of Tsushima Jin Sakai
2021

(18th)

Jane Perry Returnal Selene Vassos [7]
Ozioma Akagha Deathloop Julianna Blake
Jason E. Kelley Colt Vahn
Jennifer Hale Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart Rivet
Jon McLaren Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy Peter Quill/Star-Lord
Erika Mori Life Is Strange: True Colors Alex Chen
2022

(19th)

Christopher Judge God of War Ragnarök Kratos [8]
Sunny Suljic God of War Ragnarök Atreus
Alain Mesa Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II Alejandro Vargas
Charlotte McBurney A Plague Tale: Requiem Amicia
Manon Gage Immortality Marissa Marcel
Siobhan Williams The Quarry Laura
2023

(20th)

Nadji Jeter Spider-Man 2 Miles Morales [9]
Amelia Tyler Baldur's Gate 3 Narrator
Cameron Monaghan Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Cal Kestis
Neil Newbon Baldur's Gate 3 Astarion
Samantha Béart Karlach
Yuri Lowenthal Spider-Man 2 Peter Parker

Multiple wins and nominations

edit

Performers

edit
Performer Nominations Wins
Laura Bailey 2 1
Nadji Jeter 2 1

References

edit
  1. ^ "British Academy Games Awards Rules and Guidelines 2015" (PDF). British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 May 2015. Retrieved 14 March 2015.
  2. ^ "Games in 2012". BAFTA Awards. British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Retrieved 14 March 2015.
  3. ^ "BAFTA announces new categories for 2020 video game awards, submissions now open". Eurogamer.net. 9 September 2019.
  4. ^ "'Outer Wilds' Wins Best Game at BAFTA Games Awards". 2 April 2020.
  5. ^ "2020 BAFTA Games Awards: The Winners". 3 March 2020.
  6. ^ "2021 BAFTA Games Awards: The Winners". March 2021.
  7. ^ "2022 BAFTA Games Awards Winners". 3 March 2022.
  8. ^ "2023 BAFTA Games Awards: The Winners". BAFTA Games Awards. 30 March 2023. Archived from the original on 31 March 2023. Retrieved 30 March 2023.
  9. ^ "2024 BAFTA Games Awards: The Winners". BAFTA Games Awards. 11 April 2024. Retrieved 12 April 2024.
edit