Maggie Robertson ’13 Finds an Performing Area of interest within the Video Recreation Trade
Her efficiency as Girl Dimitrescu in “Resident Evil Village” opened up a world of alternative.
By:
Meghan Kita
Thursday, October 12, 2023 02:38 PM
Girl Dimitrescu and Maggie Robertson ’13
Take heed to a extra intensive interview on the alumni podcast 2400 Chew:
Within the leadup to the Could 2021 launch of the online game Resident Evil Village, one in every of its characters went viral amongst avid gamers: Girl Dimitrescu, a 9-foot-6-inch castle-dwelling vampiric matriarch. Maggie Robertson ’13 listened to her gamer mates rave in regards to the character for months. When the sport got here out, she may lastly inform them: “That’s me.”
“I used to be nonetheless beneath [a non-disclosure agreement], so I used to be watching my character sort of pop off and change into this cultural sensation,” says Robertson, who was a theatre main with minors in English and music at Muhlenberg. “I used to be watching this complete factor occur from the darkish corners of my room, and unable to inform anybody that it was me, unable to speak about it.”
By the point she may speak about it, she was scanning the web to see if the Girl D within the full recreation lived as much as the early hype — and she or he did. Gamers beloved the character, an “older, curvy, mature lady. She is unapologetically herself. She does not endure fools,” as Robertson describes her.
Robertson had no concept what she was stepping into when she booked the function. It was shortly after she moved to Los Angeles after graduating from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Artwork (LAMDA) with a grasp’s in classical performing. The casting name was in search of somebody tall (and she or he’s 6 ft). Months after the preliminary audition and callback, she discovered she acquired the half and what it was — a performance-capture function for Resident Evil Village.
“I didn’t even know that I used to be doing efficiency seize once I was auditioning,” she says. “I typically characterize my time in ‘the quantity’ — that is what they name the house that you simply movie efficiency seize in — as sort of a lightning bolt second. The second I acquired into the quantity, I felt instantly that that is what I wanted to be doing … You are primarily working within the spherical and in a black field expertise the place you do not have units. You do not have hair, make-up, costume items, something that can assist you inform this story outdoors of your self, your physique, your physicality and your entry to your personal creativeness.”
Now, the vast majority of her work is efficiency seize and voiceover work, a lot of it for video video games. Her most up-to-date function was as Orin the Crimson within the Dungeons & Dragons-inspired recreation Baldur’s Gate 3, which got here out in August. Robertson feels grateful to have discovered a distinct segment within the online game house, the place virtually everybody engaged on a undertaking can also be a gamer and a fan.
“I wish to say that Girl D modified my life in each method,” she says. “It actually did create a profession for me in a single day the second the sport got here out … Folks within the trade know who I’m, simply from that one function.”
Why I Selected Muhlenberg — Maggie Robertson ’13
“Muhlenberg was the place the place I fell in love with the craft of performing. The professors actually inspired us to become involved within the inventive course of and discover inspiration throughout a number of disciplines. It’s additionally the place I used to be first launched to the fantastic thing about Shakespeare — one thing that in the end influenced my determination to pursue a grasp’s diploma in classical performing at LAMDA. My Shakespearean coaching nonetheless closely influences all the things I do as an actor right now.”