Voice Compare » Resident Evil » Leon S. Kennedy
Comparision of the voice over actors who have been the voice of Leon S. Kennedy with sound clips and images.
Created by Pokejedservo on Fri Aug 6 2010, 17 Comments, Add Comment
Special thanks to NCZ for additional sound clips.
EDITOR'S OPINION
For the 2nd VC for the Resident Evil series I figured it would make sense to do one for the 2nd main male hero of the series namely LEON SCOTT KENNEDY! His initial debut in the series was in the 2nd Resident Evil game in which he was voiced by Paul "90's X Men Quicksilver" Haddad. While not as reviled (and laughed at) as the voicework for the 1st Resident Evil game the voicework for the 2nd game was never all that well received. Personally I didn't think it was that bad and I always though Paul Hadded delivered one of the better performances in that game as Leon S Kennedy. I mean Paul's voice & performance did suit the role well as a young police rookie whom lets just say was at the wrong place at the wrong time whom does try to be strong while he figures out what is going on here.In Resident Evil 4 (and all other appearances) his current VA is none other than Paul Mercier! And Paul Mercier's Leon voice is a bit lower and a bit smoother which does make sense considering how Leon is older and not actually a rookie anymore when it comes to dealing with hordes of evil monsters. And Paul Mercier's performance as Leon is his most known and quite possibly his most renowned and I can fairly understand why as while Leon may not have the best one-liners but Paul Mercier is still able to pull off an effective performance for Leon here. Overall both VA's have done well here in somewhat different ways for this role.
(Update: Leon had 2 new VA's in 2012 namely Christian Lanz and Matthew Mercer and they are both worthy alternatives to Paul Mercer's fine work. Christian does a fine job playing Leon as the heroic young cop while Matthew does a good job playing a somewhat more somber slightly older take on the role if I do say so myself. While I am sure plenty of folks will miss Paul Mercier's work as Leon and I can understand why but Matthew Mercer and Christian Lanz are fine alternate choices for Leon as well.)
Pokejedservo
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ShadowJay98 said at 1:48 AM on Mon Dec 31 2012
I loved all of Leon's VA's. They all played great parts and they seemed to work well with the different parts. Mercier does a great job of playing the a younger Leon in better quality games while Mercer is excellent as Leon after the time skip, with I think works great with his bigger figure, (which is hard to miss compared to his slimmer physique in the ALL of his previous appearances) older look, and more serious style.
ReplyJYNaRa said at 2:33 PM on Mon Dec 3 2012
I like both Mercier and Mercer, though I voted for Mercer on the poll.
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ConfusedPhantom said at 12:16 AM on Sat Oct 20 2012
Lanz did a great job portraying Leon's 'green' days, he sounds how he would if Leon was a bit younger. Mercer is also a fine alternative to Mercier, as well. ...so...I can't really pick anymore. XD Mercier, Mercer and Lanz all do a fine job.
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Zylphia said at 4:33 PM on Tue Oct 23 2012
@ConfusedPhantom I can't pick either. LOL. If anything, I'd say that all three did an amazing job at capturing this character's voice as he aged through the line of games that came out. However, if I was forced to pick someone, I guess I'd pick Mercier, since he was the first one to give Leon the better voice. I can't say much for Haddad's performance because I wasn't really digging ANY of the character's voices from the first two RE games. lol
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MegaMac said at 2:23 PM on Tue Oct 16 2012
Lemme tell ya, I wasn't entirely sure the current Leon WASN'T Paul Mercier. Very similar nuances and such. I will say that Matthew does fit Leon due to the similarities allowing Leon to sound a bit older at times. In fact, I think all three VA's "escalate in age" in a nice way. Lol, I also think it's funny how all three of their names are similar too, Paul/Paul Mercier/Mercer...=P
ReplyXenogeist said at 3:57 PM on Fri Oct 5 2012
Troy Mercer is going to voice Leon this time around in RE 6, but I'll forever enjoy Mercier's role as Leon.
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GearDragonAzure said at 2:18 PM on Mon Apr 9 2012
Mercier makes Leon sound like his normal sexy self, Haddad makes him sound kind of naive, which fits for his "yuonger" self I suppose. But my vote goes to Mercier.
ReplyMagnum44 said at 11:25 PM on Thu Mar 29 2012
Lol.Me and leon have the same hair(resident evil 4)
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Metabad said at 12:41 AM on Fri Aug 26 2011
I like Paul Mercier much more here, Paul Haddad just sounds whiny like he's complaining all the time.
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Blixa said at 4:39 PM on Sun Aug 14 2011
I think it's not that Paul Haddad did a bad job, up till RE 4 that was the norm and as good as it could get. It's just that Paul Mercier raised the bar sooo high. The feeling, emotion and intonations Paul Mercier put into his VA really brought Leon to life and I think was a major part in the success of Resident Evil 4 and all the rolls featuring Leon after that. (Degeneration,Umbrella Chronicles) Could anyone imagine Leon with any other voice. lol No, I wouldn't want to. He's perfect. I just hope that Paul Mercier's voice talents are used for ALL future rolls involving Leon. Thanks Mr. Mercier. Best character voice ever!
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ZigTheHunter said at 11:40 PM on Sat Aug 13 2011
A little funny how both his voice actors' first names are paul, but I think Merceir did a better job.
Replywilliambirkin (Guest)
said at 6:53 PM on Tue Dec 7 2010
said at 6:53 PM on Tue Dec 7 2010
I was wondering if you knew who did the voice for birkin when he growls.
said at 1:08 PM on Tue Mar 26 2013
Matthew Mercer makes him sound too much like a typical brooding, growling action hero with little personality, but he's not a horrible replacement. However, Capcom were being idiots for replacing Paul Mercier at all.
Paul Haddad isn't anything special, but I enjoy his corny acting in Resident Evil 2. I don't mind it and he gave a decent performance for back then.
Christian Lanz... once again they ruined a good character by making him sound like a generic action hero, and he's even less fitting than Matthew Mercer.
I really enjoy Paul Mercier and his voice, he needs more work. His performance is what made Leon an enjoyable character to me and I'm still a little pissed that Capcom didn't bring him back.