The Gifted Cast of The Gift - Part 1

By K

As many viewers recognized, The Gift has a fantastic cast. In this series of blog posts, les chats noir celebrate the talented actors of The Gift. We’re very lucky to have had an opportunity to work with all of them.

In order of appearance (with one exception):

Marc "GP" Cholette as Phil Carey

GP requires no introduction. He has played countless roles in over 150 Machinima movies, ranging from a horny bottle of beer, a serious elf, a comic Latin playboy, a charismatic (and semi-comic) French playboy, beasts, aliens, and numerous leading men of varying temperaments. His enormous range often makes him unrecognizable from movie to movie. I used to spot him by picking an exceptional voice actor on whose voice I don’t seem to be able to put a name.

GP is also a professional musical composer, and wrote soundtrack for a number of Machinima pieces as well as movies and TV productions.

His composer website / His voice actor page

Sonya Cross as Emily

Sonya is another voice actor in extreme high demand. It's no surprise. She has a voice clear as spring water, sweet as an apple, and crisp as Brut Champagne. But the real surprise and delight comes when you hear all the different personalities and emotions coming alive through that lovely voice. Sonya has quite an impressive voice acting résumé outside machinima as well, appearing in various mediums such as radio plays, video games, and advertisements.

Her website

Melanie Greaves (AfterThought) as Zinnie

It wasn’t easy to find a perfect Zinnie, the no-nonsense older-sister-figure for Emily, but we found one in AT’s rendition. Her Zinnie is playful, feisty, sexy and warm all at the same time. I am very much attracted to her Zinnie and wish I will be able to write a bigger role for AT one day. Check out her movies at the link below, if you haven’t seen them yet.

Her Vimeo site

Tyre McAllister as Greg

Before we posted invitations for open auditions on TMU and Voice Acting Alliance site , we were worried that we might not be able to get enough people willing to try out for Greg, the attempted date rapist. Not only have we had an opportunity to hear many different actors creating various excellent versions of Greg, we also got to meet Tyre's voice during the audition process. What I particularly love about his performance is his perfect timing for comic effect. S, who had already read the script, cracked up every time I played the last few lines of the coffee shop scene (which I did over and over again while shooting). Those lines did not strike him as being funny until Tyre added his magic touch.

Kid Millions as Child

Pedigree brought Kid Millions to the spotlight early in his life. After his 2010 debut as a little kid in Surfs Up! directed by his father (theBiz), Kid Millions took up an even more challenging role this year in Ethyl Merman Lies Beneath. In The Gift, he plays the child of Phil and Emily, causing lots of coos and "aw"s in the audience.