Hollywood Goes Gaming

Emmanuelle Vaugier Revs into Action

You might have seen her in hit movies like Saw II or 40 Days and 40 Nights, or maybe you saw her in one of her recurring roles on the CBS shows CSI: New York or Two and a Half Men, but now you can directly interact with Emmanuelle Vaugier as she plays Nikki, your hard-driving ex-girlfriend in Electronic Arts' Need for Speed™ Carbon.

This Hollywood actress loves her Xbox 360.

The Canadian actress spent a week at EA's Vancouver studio to bring Nikki to life. Unlike traditional videogame work, which usually only requires an actor to record dialogue, Need for Speed™ Most Wanted and Carbon both employed Hollywood special effects to blend live-action acting with computer-generated racing.

Vaugier said the process, which relies completely on green screens, was a new challenge. She'd worked on TV shows like Smallville, and even starred in the videogame movie House of the Dead 2, but Need for Speed Carbon was the first all green screen job she had ever taken.

"Working with green screens can be very challenging, because you're dealing with an entire world that doesn't exist," said Vaugier. "Much of the work was making sure your line of sight was correct, since I'd be looking at little markers on the screen. The role of Nikki also was different because I spend a lot of time talking directly to the player, which meant I had to speak to the camera without other actors to work off of."

Virtual Girlfriend
Although Vaugier grew up playing classic video games like Pac-Man and Outrun, she's spent much of her recent years building her acting career. She has friends and family who are gamers, and although they've seen her on both the big and small screen, they tended to be more excited about her virtual role in the new Need for Speed.

Vaugier has a starring role in Need For Speed Carbon.

As part of the preparation for her first videogame role—a job she got while sitting on a ski lift at a charity event—Vaugier picked up Xbox 360™. She wasn't familiar with the Need for Speed franchise before scoring this gig, so EA sent her a collection of games, including Need for Speed Most Wanted and Burnout Revenge™, to give her a tour of today's video games.

"I've spent a lot of time playing Burnout Revenge and Need for Speed Most Wanted, and of course, Need for Speed Carbon," said Vaugier. "EA sent me a bunch of games, which is a nice benefit from working on this game. I'm going to never leave my house now."

While in the past, her gamer friends would keep her away from the controllers, Vaugier's gaming skills have improved since she bought her Xbox 360. She can now hold her own in the racing games, a genre that she's always been a fan of.

The Gift that Keeps on Giving
The actress loves the new Xbox Live® Marketplace features, which allow gamers to download hit TV shows, including shows from CBS, the network on which Vaugier was last seen, and also to rent movies in high definition. She looks forward to soon being able to download a TV show she appears in on her Xbox 360 in HD. Vaugier has been so impressed with the next generation visuals of her Xbox 360 game that she's going shopping for her best friend.

Need for Speed Carbon features plenty of muscle.

"I'm going to buy my friend an Xbox 360 just so I can give him my game," said Vaugier. "I think it's hilarious that I'm in a game and he's my best friend, so I want to share that with him. I'm not sure how happy his wife's going to be with the gift, though."

Did Someone Say Catsuit?
In addition to her recurring television roles, Vaugier has been broadening her big screen presence with a new comedy, Blonde and Blonder, and a new thriller, Unearthed. The actress compared Blonde and Blonder to Dumb and Dumber with women, and she had fun playing The Kat, a black pleather catsuit-clad character, opposite Denise Richards and Pamela Anderson.

Article by John Gaudiosi