Camilla Luddington (born December 15, 1983) is an English American actress who portrays Lara Croft in the Survivor Timeline. She provides voice, facial, and motion capture for Lara. Outside of Tomb Raider, her most notable role has been as Jo Wilson on Grey's Anatomy.
Biography & Personal Life[]
Born in Ascot, Berkshire, Camilla traveled much of her early life between England, Texas, and Pennsylvania, attending schools such as the American School (Thorpe, Surrey), Westwood High School (Austin, Texas), and Susquehanna University (Pennsylvania). Her stint at Susquehanna was short-lived, and she soon transferred to the New York Film Academy, where she completed her education. After returning to her home country for a brief period of time, she then moved to Los Angeles to pursue her acting career.
Her early television and film parts were small, with her first break coming in 2012 with 10 episode appearances in Californication. Following this would be a recurring role in True Blood before she landed her role on Grey's Anatomy.
Luddington has been in a relationship with actor Matthew Alan since 2008, whom she married in August 2019. The pair have two children, a daughter named Hayden, born March 2017, and son Lucas, born August 2020.
Tomb Raider[]
Crystal Dynamics, wanting to keep the development of Tomb Raider a secret, put out a casting call for a project called "Cryptids" with a character called Sara. Camilla was informed of the role by her agent; reading the character description, Camilla was reminded of Lara Croft and went to the first audition wearing shorts and boots. The casting team was impressed with Camilla 's performance and narrowed her down to one of the finalists, before finally offering her the role. She was informed that she had won the role while sitting in her car, claiming to have screamed upon learning that she was playing Lara Croft.
Camilla spent three years doing performance capture for Lara for Tomb Raider. She reprised her role as Lara for the sequel Rise of the Tomb Raider, its story expansion packs, and then culminating with Shadow of the Tomb Raider. Camilla also promoted the Tomb Raider games on shows such as Conan, at multiple E3 and San Diego Comic Cons alongside co-star Earl Baylon, and won multiple awards such as Best Voice Actress at the Spike Video Game Awards.
Camilla's performance as Lara has been generally very well received, being praised for bringing so much depth and emotion to the character. However, in speaking with Entertainment Tonight (see video section), Camilla announced that Shadow of the Tomb Raider might be her final appearance as Lara Croft.
In 2021, it was announced that in the animated sequel series to Shadow on Netflix, Camilla would be replaced by Hayley Atwell in the role of Lara, thus ending her 5-year tenure with the series. On the 25th Anniversary of Tomb Raider, Camilla was among the roster of women that joined together in celebration with Crystal Dynamics. She thanked fans in a recorded message remotely as fellow Lara Croft voice actresses Shelley Blond, Judith Gibbins and Jonell Elliott appeared together. Keeley Hawes did not appear, but she did send in a statement. To mark the occasion, Crystal Dynamics donated $25,000 to the International Rescue Committee. As a special thank you for her involvement in the Survivor Trilogy, an extra donation of $20,000 to Women for Women International was made in Camilla's name.
Appearances[]
- Tomb Raider (2013 Game) - Lara Croft
- Rise of the Tomb Raider - Lara Croft
- Shadow of the Tomb Raider - Lara Croft
- Tomb Raider (Arcade Game) - Lara Croft
Trivia[]
- Camilla is the first person to provide voice, motion and facial capture for Lara.
- Camilla is the first person to voice Lara in a main series game whilst residing outside of the United Kingdom.
- Camilla took archery lessons as a child, which she stated that she saw as pointless until getting the role as Lara.
- Crystal Dynamics gifted Camilla a onesie with a picture of Lara's climbing axe and the phrase "Tomb Raider in Training" when she announced the gender of her first child.
- Camilla has been nominated twice for the NAVGTR Awards (Outstanding Performance in a Drama, Lead), and once each for the Spike Video Game Awards (Best Voice Actress) and The Game Awards (Best Performance).
- Camilla and Earl Baylon are the only actors to appear in every Survivor Trilogy game.
Gallery[]
Videos[]
Interviews[]
- How Camilla Luddington's Role on Grey's Anatomy Inspired Her Tomb Raider Character, Popsugar, September 18, 2018
- Camilla Luddington Explains How She Does Lara Croft’s Death Screams in ‘Shadow of the Tomb Raider’, The Wrap, September 17, 2018
- Getting to Know Camilla Luddington, Bella NYC
External links[]
- Camilla Luddington on Wikipedia
- Camilla Luddington at the Internet Movie Database
- Camilla Luddington on Instagram
- Camilla Luddington on Twitter