It is no secret that 1996’sResident Evilwas the beginning of what would become a worldwide phenomenon. Shortly after its release,Resident Evillaid the groundwork of what a survival horror game could be, and in many ways its influence and impact can still be felt to this day. However, it is also no secret that despite its success, the firstResident Evilgame is also infamous for its voice acting and dialogue, resulting in countless memes, which is why Pablo Kuntz, who prefers to go by Pablo, was initially hesitant to reveal himself as the original voice of Albert Wesker.
In celebration of Halloween andResident Evil’s 25th anniversary, Pablo spoke with Game Rant to talk about his experience inoriginating the role of the iconicResident Evilvillain. He said whileResident Evilhas been around for nearly three decades now, it wasn’t until three years ago when he discovered the franchise and the role he played in it.
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How Pablo Kuntz Discovered His Role as Albert Wesker
When Pablo recorded his lines forResident Evil, he said Capcom didn’t really provide him with an in-depth overview of the character. He was just told thatthe character is the leader of S.T.A.R.S.Pablo said he only figured out that Wesker is the game’s antagonist while reading his lines.
Shortly after recording the voice work for Wesker, Pablo said he never knew what happened to the recordings, and he completely forgot all about it. After his brief stint as a voice actor, Pablo went on to do other things, such as establishing his own company called Unique Japan that helps Japanese businesses such as sword makers sell their products internationally. However, in a YouTube video where he was showcasing a Japanese sword, one viewer commented asking, “Are you really the voice of Albert Wesker?” Initially, Pablo had no idea what the comment meant, given it had been over twenty years since he voiced Wesker. Still, curious about what the comment meant, Pabloresearched Albert Weskerand was surprised to hear his voice.
“So, I searched the name Albert Wesker on YouTube, pressed play, and I heard my voice. I took me completely by surprise. I had zero clue! I had no idea I was in Resident Evil, and so I went through many stages digesting this new revelation of me becoming Wesker.”
How Pablo Embraced His Role as Wesker in Resident Evil
Shortly after immersing himself in theResident Evilfranchise, Pablo discovered memes created by fans commenting on the game’s dialogue and voice acting. He admits that at first he was hesitantto reveal himself as Albert Wesker, and went through multiple stages before embracing his iconic role. The first stage was surprise and shock after watching the original game’s videos, and then there was a bit of laughter because some videos credited Wesker’s role to Sergio Alarcon - who playedResident Evil’s Brad Vickers.
Afterward, Pablo saw videos online of people ranking games with the worst voice acting, and almost every single time the firstResident Evilgame appeared. Pablo thought, “Maybe it’s not such a bad thing that Sergio was credited.” However, the voice actor then revealed to his son Lexonal that he was the voice of Wesker. Upon showing his work to his son, Pablo said Lexonal was initially embarrassed, but thought him being part of this huge franchise was cool. This led Pablo to realize that he should be proud of originating the role of Wesker.
Right then, the voice actor decided to reveal himself as Albert Wesker, and responded to that YouTube comment confirming his rolein the originalResident Evilgame. Soon after, Pablo was flooded with support from fans, saying things like, “You have no idea about the role your character played in my childhood.” Pablo said he was overwhelmed with the positive reception fromResident Evilfans. Currently, Pablo and his son have been doing videos re-enacting Wesker’s iconic lines, and the duo are making videos following their first playthrough ofResident Evil.
“That’s a rule in life. It’s not good to hide from something. I could easily have just said, ‘Oh, it’s Sergio.’ I could have done that. But I didn’t, I thought this was just too interesting and I wanted to see what comes from it all.”
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