Laura Bailey

Laura Bailey’s Path from Mississippi to Funimation’s Booth

A behind-the-scenes special on Dawson’s Creek planted the seed. Watching Katie Holmes discuss her craft convinced a college student in Plano, Texas, that acting was a real career path – not just a hobby. At Collin County Community College, Laura Bailey threw herself into the theater program, and it was during one of those productions that voice actor Kent Williams spotted her and invited her to audition for Funimation. She walked into the Dragon Ball Z booth and walked out with the role of Kid Trunks, delivering the character with a raspy growl that immediately announced a distinct talent. That debut led straight to leading-role assignments: Marlene Angel in Blue Gender, Tohru Honda in Fruits Basket, and Lust in Fullmetal Alchemist. Within a few years, she had also stepped behind the director’s chair, handling ADR on Gunslinger Girl while simultaneously voicing Henrietta in the same production.

Video Games and a BAFTA-Winning Performance

The transition into video game work redefined Bailey’s career footprint. BloodRayne in 2004 marked her entry into the medium, and over the following two decades, the credits accumulated to an extraordinary degree – Jaina Proudmoore in World of Warcraft, Rise Kujikawa in Persona 4, Chun-Li in Street Fighter, Serah Farron in Final Fantasy XIII, Kait Diaz across the Gears of War franchise, Mary Jane Watson in Marvel’s Spider-Man and its 2023 sequel, and Abby Anderson in The Last of Us Part II. That last performance earned her the BAFTA Games Award for Best Performer in a Leading Role and the Game Award for Best Performance in 2020, cementing her standing as one of the most decorated performers in the industry. In 2025, she voiced Invisigal in Dispatch, continuing an output that shows no sign of slowing.

Critical Role and the Expansion of an Empire

Since 2015, Critical Role has grown from a group of friends streaming Dungeons and Dragons sessions into one of the most successful independent media companies in the world. Bailey is a co-founder and has played central characters across every campaign – Vex’ahlia in Campaign One, Jester Lavorre in Campaign Two, Imogen Temult in Campaign Three, and Thimble in Campaign Four. The animated spinoff, The Legend of Vox Machina, arrived on Amazon Prime Video after the cast’s Kickstarter campaign shattered its original target by raising over $11 million. A second animated series, The Mighty Nein, was announced for the same platform. Beyond on-screen performance, Bailey serves as executive producer on the animation side of the Critical Role universe.