Cyberpunk 2077 Female V Interview
Interview with Cherami Leigh, Actress for (Female V) in Cyberpunk 2077
For call based interviews we try to present the conversation replies as close to verbatim as possible, for context.
A staple I do in all interviews in order to start things off is to ask that you elaborate a bit about your work, and this particular role for those not familiar with it?
Cherami: I voice a Female V in Cyberpunk 2077. I love getting to play this character, from the demo in 2018 all the way through to the DLC it's been a lot of time with this character.
If anybody has played this game they know there is a lot of content, a lot of dialogue choices and a lot of options. So it's been really such a gift to get to work on this project and to get to work with CD Projekt Red alongside the incredible cast so it's been fantastic.
I've been acting since I was six years old doing film work; TV animation, anime, obviously video games and commercials and anything in between. I've gotten to direct some projects; I've gotten to produce some projects, write some projects so I've definitely experienced a wide variety of this industry.
In Cyberpunk 2077, you provide the voice for Female V. Could you tell us a bit about the character and the situation she finds herself in?
Cherami: Obviously it's going to shift based on people's initial choices of which path that you want to take. One of the things that I really loved about working on this project; I love when characters are, especially for video games in a very realistic relatable setting although hopefully most of us don't live in a place like Night City.
The one thing that is super relatable is the emotion and the connections with the people in the game. I hate to spoil it because I know some people are just jumping in for the first time, even though the base game came out years ago but there is a really intense relationship that V has that is kind of put through some emotional turmoil pretty early in the base game and that kind of shifts and based on your relationship and which path you take.
It kind of sets the bar for the game and the stakes and what happens to V as you play this game. The stakes are definitely life and death from the very beginning which is always fun to get to play because you know emotions are high. Everything's very intense and it's just a beautiful game to immerse yourself in.
I remember when they first showed me the demo. I was so enamoured by how realistic everything looked and how honest everything was and how grounded they wanted everything to be and it was really cool to get to be a part of it.
It’s been some time since the release of the initial game, what was it like reprising your role for the recently released Phantom Liberty?
Cherami: So fun to get to go back but anytime I've gotten to reprise a character that I've played for a video game or for an animated series that I worked on ten years ago.
Whatever the case may be there's a lot of pressure getting to come back; especially for a project that is as beloved and known as this one, especially when you're surrounded by such incredible heavy hitters of talent that you get to work with.
The last thing you want to do is let anybody down so as excited as I was to get to go back I really just wanted to make sure to do the content justice and to be able to go back and voice V again even though years had elapsed you just want to make sure that nothing is getting lost and nothing is getting forgotten and you are right back to where you were a couple of years ago when you were recording the base game.
When preparing to voice V, were you given any initial direction in regards to the character? Just in terms of an example of prep work to get into the mind set of this particular performance?
Cherami: I think initially the audition that I was given said so much about the character. I got two audition scenes and I remember them very vividly. One audition scene was with Vik and that was really just having that scene and getting to see the relationship with V and Vik told me so much about who this character was and I really connected with that. I remember leaving the audition going man I love this character and I feel like I can relate to this character.
There's so much heart in V and that's something that I really gravitated towards, especially in a world that feels so desolate and aggressive and harsh. To know that somebody has something that they will always fight for and I think V is always fighting for something. So aggressively and passionately and looking out for the people that V cares about.
That was very helpful to know but when you audition for something you know that there's going to be hundreds if not thousands of actors that are auditioning for the same role so you just hope that your swing is what they're looking for and so when they called me to work on the demo in 2018 that kind of told me about the world and how things had shifted and what the stakes were.
I think that the initial demo was going in on a mission with Jackie and kind of presenting that and then as things changed obviously direction would change based on this path or this path or what would be changing what would we be seeing before this.
I was still very fortunate to work with the creative and narrative team at CD Projekt Red who were very helpful in giving any sort of information because there are so many side quests and so many quests and then I have a fantastic director in Pierce O'Toole who is so meticulous and so organized and he makes sure to give you exactly where you were coming from before even if we recorded that six months prior to what we're working on now.
Just to make sure that we're in the right emotional space he knows exactly what performance he's going to be getting from the other actors even though we're recording separately. So much of being a voice actor and working in video games is trusting the narrative team who is seeing what the art looks like, trusting the quests that are being written.
All the elements that you are unaware of and you can't see and trusting the people like leading you through this kind of blind box and then just jumping and diving right into that and letting all of the unknowns kind of fall away and just trusting what is right in front of you. The dialogue, the story of the characters and being fully immersed in that.
When performing the role, were there any particular lines or moments that really stuck out to you? Whether that’s a behind the scenes moment or from the dialogue?
Cherami: We started working; I think in May or April of 2018, came back again and did the second demo in I think April of 2019 and then I worked on the base game probably from April of actually probably more of like May or June of 2019 all the way through probably February of 2020 pretty consistently so there were a lot of amazing lines that I loved.
One of my favorite lines is V says “I just want the world to know that I was here and that I mattered” and I think that that's something that's so relatable for all of us. I mean we all want to make an impact; if it's our career, if it's our relationships, if it's the people that were around we just want people to know that there was evidence that we were here. That our lives mattered, that it made a difference and what's been so cool about getting to work on this game and seeing people take ownership of V from the character creation through the choices that they make.
I love getting to watch the streams and watch other people play, getting to see how all of these people have made V matter and what those choices look like for them. Like what makes life worth living with all of these different people and I feel like it's a really cool way to connect us all, especially during the pandemic when we felt so isolated.
I was just watching streams of people playing Cyberpunk going this is actually so surreal, like this is my voice or Gavin's voice depending on which which stream I was watching and just seeing like well, we're all bonded by these choices that we're making and oh my gosh I would have made that choice. Oh that's interesting, I wouldn't have made that choice but that's so valid and that's such a cool outcome.
So that's a line that's always stuck with me and has also affected how I've responded to other people playing the game and connecting with the character which has been really lovely and then a lot of the fun sayings that you get just in Cyberpunk.
We would be recording it and like you know checking like is this right? Does this make sense, are we saying it in the right inflection so that was really a fun a fun process to get to work on and then during Phantom Liberty, man it's so hard to pick moments that were my absolute favourite.
Gosh it's so hard because there's a couple that stand out based on different endings so I would be interested to see the endings that people pick and what lines stick out to them because those are some of my favorite ones.
That's the thing about CD Projekt Red, they do not like play it safe or go like yeah we want to make sure that everybody gets a nice little tied up you know ending. No, it can go any and all ways. I mean, the child proof locks are off you guys are in for in for a ride.
That encompassed my whole experience recording the game there were days that I would like leave, from day one recording the demo I would leave and be driving home or driving to my next session and I would just be like lost in thought of what does this world mean.
Like if this was the life that I was living like what choices would I make, what would be important to me so it absolutely makes you think and I love games like that but getting to live that as I was recording and then getting to live it again playing the game and watching other people get play the game it's like so special. But yeah that's one of my favorite things about this team and how they write is they're not gonna let anybody off easy.
Like they want you to really sit with it to like feel everything, think through these characters like really sit with your choices and then you can always go back and change unlike in real life. It does make a difference and there are consequences or there are repercussions or great things that can happen from the choices you make but I think this game does a really great job of letting you kind of live with that and see what happens.
While Cyberpunk 2077 appears to be wrapped up at the current moment, is V a character you’d be interested in revisiting should some sort of sequel come around down the road?
Cherami: Absolutely; my cat even says yeah, knows how much I love this character. Any time that I would get to come back and get to Voice V again or to work with CD Projekt Red I would be elated. This is such an important character for me. I've spent so much time in such a condensed amount of time with her.
I don't know if I've ever played a character that's had this many lines or maybe it just feels that way because some of the characters that I've played have been spanned over ten years and then this one was a lot of lines in a condensed amount of time but no I love her so much.
Tell Us About Your Cat(s)? (Since during the interview recording a cat was walking about)
Cherami: I have two cats, two black cats Aries and Zemi. Aries is clearly the one who is not camera shy. Yeah, anytime I have self tapes or often auditions he sits right outside the booth so he can see me and make sure I'm okay while I'm recording and for when we'll do self tapes at home for on-camera stuff he's had multiple experiences where he'll meow or he will walk right in front of the camera.
There's been a couple times he's jumped into the frame. Zemi not so much but Zemi is better at parties with people nearby. Aries can't do that, he'll hide behind a booth so virtual people he's fine with the idea of getting to say hi to people, at least everybody is at a virtual distance.
What are your thoughts on the genre of Cyberpunk in general?
Cherami: Oh I love it, I've become even more of a fan after working on this project of course but I think what's been so cool about this, I guess resurgence because it's been around for forever, a long time obviously and people have been involved and like loved doing this and creating campaigns and doing all that stuff which is always fun to get to see.
But what's been so cool is getting to see like the anime that that came out that brought people into the Cyberpunk world so people that weren't really aware or were like I don't know if the game speaks to me but the anime speaks to me or getting to read the audiobooks or things like that.
I think it's so cool because now this great resurgence of Cyberpunk world, people are jumping in whatever genre speaks to them and then they branch out and go oh maybe I'll try this or maybe I'll try this and it's just been kind of a really fun way to connect everybody to figure out which path everybody took to find their way into the Cyberpunk world.
What are other voice over characters that viewers might know you from?
Cherami: A lot of people know me from my work as Asuna in Sword Art Online which is an anime that I can't believe we worked on for like eleven years. Also Lucy in Fairy Tail, Makoto in Persona 5. Patty Soul Eater. I also voice Trixx in Miraculous Ladybug. I voice Sailor Venus in Sailor Moon and Sailor Moon Crystal.
I worked for Radio Disney for twenty years, I was the voice of the station and I also got to write for them as well which was really a fun thing to get to be a part of. I've gotten to work on a lot of things, oh Sarada in Naruto Next Generations which has been really fun to get to play.
I again never thought I would get to jump into the Naruto Boruto Universe and then I work on Fire Emblem. I play Rhea in Fire Emblem, I play Irelia in League of Legends so just a variety of things. Usually they're really good with weapons, I am not good with weapons so that's usually the one thing that we don't have in common hahaha.
To build on that, I understand you were the Quartermaster in Call of Duty WW2. We still try to stream that one about once a month on the channel. We call her the cute quartermaster, to humor us briefly would you tell us a bit about that role and the character? Just since I don’t think this will come up again.
Cherami: Yeah totally, no I loved getting to do that. That was the very first time that my likeness got scanned into a game, which is pretty crazy. My cousin when the game came out they had, scanned my likeness and put me in the game and he was playing it and he told.
I think he was like oh man, twelve or thirteen at the time and my aunt was like no that's Cherami and he's like no it's not, her hair's in a ponytail and Cherami never wears her hair in a ponytail. So when we were doing the scans for the game we did one scan with like no makeup hair in a ponytail, one scan with it like a nice like 1940’s like dolled up look and then we did like something in between.
So of course what they wanted to go with they're like well I feel like as the quartermaster she doesn't have time to fix her hair and put on a lot of makeup so we went just basic all-natural. No makeup which my cousin was like that's not my cousin at all but it is. No that was really cool to get to be a part of.
I loved getting to kind of jump into the 1940s. getting to do that kind of fun accent and of course getting to be in Call of Duty which was really special. I got to do that right after doing Horizon Zero Dawn so that was two projects that I remember.
I had gotten the call back for Horizon Zero Dawn on crutches and thought, that I had just sprained my ankle obviously we know that I broke it and I booked that job and I had to heal really quick after. I had found out I booked the job and broke my ankle, I got called in to do the audition for this one and I was like please disregard the giant cast on my leg and the crutches.
I will heal and they said well it's okay uh we're only gonna need to use like your likeness from like waist up so I got to do the job with a with a broken ankle. Both of those are at the exact same time which was pretty surreal, you would think like when you're injured you're done especially for motion capture when they're capturing your likeness but I was so lucky they were able to make it work.
Going back to Cyberpunk, I wanted to chat more about the dialogue of the game. There are some very interesting in-universe phrases, what’s it like to say some of the more out there phrases and do you have any unique favourite words from the game?
Cherami: I think V says it, or Takemura says it to me. I can't remember but somebody says in the base game
“you're a smart little muffin” and we thought that was great. We had laughed about that for a while, we're like well we don't we don't have cookies anymore like everybody's a smart little muffin now. So we really liked that one but yeah that's some of the fun of just being an actor in general.
It's like sometimes you get the craziest most out there lines that are actually so grounded in the universe and so you get to escape this world, jump into that one. Say these things and go if I ever said this anywhere nobody would know what I was talking about or everybody would ask a bunch of questions but here it's just totally normal.
Yeah I mean I when I got to work on the Cyberpunk audiobook recently for no coincidences that was very fun and I was used to all of the slang and all of the words because I had played the game. It just felt like coming home and jumping into this world but the producer who was working with me and like you know reading everything he's like should we check the pronunciation of this word I was like oh no this is very common.
This is not a weird word this is a very common word he was like okay. I was like just trust me on this, it's very Cyberpunk and then once he got to the end of the book he was like yeah it was very common. I feel like I know this world now it's like you do know now that you got to jump into the game so yeah it's always a lot of fun. You just learn a new vocabulary and now you feel like you speak a different language. It really has its own distinct flair to it.
Cyberpunk 2077 can be a rather dark and grim world. What was it like balancing more casual go wild exciting voice lines versus more somber points within the narrative?
Cherami: That's some of the most fun I think as an actor is keeping it all in perspective because yeah when we're living our Lives even the most bleak desolate times in our lives where we're the most depressed where everything feels like it's going wrong. We're still trying to find moments of humor, we're still trying to find moments of levity because that gets us through.
So what I love about this game is while everything is so serious and the stakes are life and death we're not going to shy away from cracking jokes. I mean V definitely has a gallows sense of humor. I have a darker sense of humor anytime I have the option to infuse a slight bit of a joke to a little bit of a line giving somebody the option if they want to go there with the humor.
I'm all about it just because I know especially when things are so bleak and when I know when I'm playing a game or when I'm watching a movie or when I'm living a time in my life where everything is really challenging. If everybody is just so somber and serene and like I'm so sorry dealing with this it makes it feel so much heavier and so much harder to get out of it and if you're playing this game and this is your escape from the frustrating time in your life.
The last thing you want to do is jump into a game in a world where everybody's like oh this is so somber and so bleak. You want like a little bit of levity and as you're getting through the story so I think it's important to get to have that option and that's what's great about this game is like there's always a more serious option that you can say no, I'm gonna stick with this very dark path.
I want to go and embrace it which I also admire that and I also take that path multiple times. So I really love working on that and playing those characters. I also like really enjoyed getting to do like the most absurd things like the scenes with Brendan the vending machine or getting to like go and talk to people as they're just like having these most random conversations or advertising the most absurd products.
All that stuff is really fun and I think it helps balance because this is such a heavy game and it needs to be such a heavy game. I love when I get to talk to players and they'll say the message of this game or the impact this game has on me, it's changed my life.
It's made me rethink things about myself and what I really want in my life and make these like huge life-altering changes which is amazing and that's incredible to be a part of a game that does that for people and has also done that for me and I don't want to lose sight of that. But I also want to make sure that people are having fun and it's a really, I think it's a really important balance to be able to strike both of that and I think this game does it really well.
I’m not necessarily sure this is a thing, but being V your character is often up against Johnny Silverhand aka Keanu Reeves, did you ever imagine him being there while delivering lines or I guess in general what did you think of the connection between the two characters. V and Silverhand?
Cherami: It's impossible not to. I never have gotten to meet him. I got to see him once ride off on a motorcycle literally as the sun was setting. I was pulling up for my session, he was riding off into the sunset which is like a very, that's got to be like the way that you have to encounter Keanu for the first time in real life.
Usually he had recorded before me or at least had moments where I would get to hear his voice and so I would get to know how he would respond to the dialogue and so it's such a gift to have his performance to play off of and have this banter between the two of them because that's some of the stuff that's the most fun to get to do and yeah it's impossible not to imagine someone being there having a conversation with them especially when you're lucky enough.
If you're lucky enough to have that actor recorded before you that you can hear them and hear what their performance was. Some of my favorite stuff to work on in the base game was one of the endings where without spoiling anything if somebody hasn't chosen that ending yet.
V and Johnny Silverhand are more aligned than they have ever been in the game and it was so cool to get to play opposite not only Keanu but Gavin who voices Male V because Gavin's timing and my timing have to be very close but CD Projekt Red really wanted to make sure that we didn't feel like we were being forced to do a copycat performance of each other. They were like we hired both of you, we want you to do your versions of this character we just have the parameters of timing so we would have to do things a couple different ways but they didn't want us to listen to each other and just like copy paste.
So for that one ending it was really cool to have to figure out how do I sync up with both of these performances while making it my own and we all three have our unique identities and our own way of playing these characters but in this moment everybody has to be aligned and it was such a fun challenge and it was some of my favorite stuff to record ever just because like everybody would go this is so frustrating. I'm so sorry this is so hard; I'm like no I love it, it's so cool.
It seems like an impossible challenge but we'll find a way, we'll make it through and that was that was really cool to get to be a part of and to get to listen to their performance and go oh I love the way they did that. That's not how I would do it so how do I integrate what I would do without losing their performance and that was very special because it gave me an even greater appreciation for both of them. They're such incredible actors so it gave me an even greater appreciation for their work and also an even greater understanding for how they have chosen to play these characters great.
Lastly I would like to leave a spot for you to say something or go over anything I might have missed during the interview?
Cherami: I don't think so, I'm just so yeah absolutely thank you so much for having me and thank you so much to all of the players for this amazing fan base of Cyberpunk who has embraced this game and loved this game and I so appreciate any time I get to see you or see comments and get to talk to you at events.
I, it really means the world to get to hear how you interacted this game and how much you enjoy it. I'm really loving seeing how everybody is enjoying the DLC and if you're just jumping in for the first time enjoy your time at Night City and I hope to get to see you soon.
View our Interviews Hub
View our Game Hubs
Read our Cyberpunk 2077 Review
Xbox
Playstation
Nintendo
PC
Mobile
