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When it comes to gaming, most table-toppers know Ashley Johnson for her work on Critical Role, or shows that it has spawned - The Legend of Vox Machina and The Mighty Nein. But when it comes to video games, Johnson may be best known as the actor behind not just the voice but the physical performance of Ellie Williams, arguably the main character in Naughty Dog's The Last of Us games and the HBO series they inspired. Recently, Johnson had the opportunity to chat about what she took from that latter experience, and how being in a motion capture suit on a PlayStation sound stage changed how she approached her other work.

That was a subject of conversation during a live taping of the Collider Ladies Night, in which host Perri Nemiroff challenged Johnson and costars Marisha Ray and Laura Bailey to share a moment that changed how they approached their voice acting careers.

"Not just for voice acting," began Johnson, "But just acting as a whole and performing: The Last of Us. Because that was my first time doing motion capture. You have to strip away so much that, you know, you can't rely on your shoes to walk the way that your character walks. You can't rely on flipping your hair or the way that you look. [...] You can't use your little tricks."

"You're like a stuffed sausage walking around with cameras," the Blindspot star continued, "You're like, 'I could not look more weird.' But you have to get over it and get into this imaginary world. There's something so important to stripping it all away and still being able to find it."

Years after the game first hit platforms, Johnson's performance in The Last of Us is still regarded as one of the best put to the medium, even earning her a cameo spot in the HBO series that it inspired. And if that doesn't count as 'finding it,' I honestly don't know what does. 

With two animated series on Prime Video, Campaign 4 in full swing, and so much more Exandrian lore to come, Critical Role is showing no signs of slowing down. That's why the adventuring party at Popverse are here to bring you everything we can from those nerdy-ass voice actors & Bo., including:

• Critical Role release schedule
• Critical Role's Campaign 4 characters ranked
• How to watch Critical Role in order
• Ways for you to relive the Critical Role panel from ECCC '26
• Taliesin Jaffe on playing Mollymauk Tealeaf for Campaign 2 vs. playing him for Prime Video
• Matt Mercer's homebrew warrior class (created originally for Vin Diesel)

...and much, much more. Roll initiative, player. Magic awaits.