Rainbow Six Bandit VA interview: “I became aware of this world I didn’t know existed”
By Andrew Amos
Bandit’s voice in Rainbow Six is one of the most recognizable. The man behind it though, Carl Bishop, only realized his impact recently, despite doing the gig six years ago. He’s become aware of a world he “didn’t know existed,” and wants to keep diving deep into it.
Bandit has been a mainstay on Team Rainbow since its very inception. The German defender hid the scars of a troubled childhood growing up in East Berlin with his slightly silly mannerisms.
Funnily enough, that’s exactly where Carl Bishop gets his iconic voice from for Bandit.
“I modeled my voice after this one voice actor friend of mine in Berlin and he’s a smart guy,” he told Dexerto. “He and I would have these dark conversations about politics and cultural differences because he grew up in East Berlin, so his childhood is interesting, to say the least.
“He has a bit of darkness about him because he struggled, and that’s where Bandit came from in part. It’s part me, but it’s part my friend Victor and his experience growing up as a kid.”
Bishop, a 20-year old veteran of the voice acting industry, dove into a completely new world when he took on Bandit in Siege. (Read the full article at Dexerto)
Rainbow Six Siege Voice Actor, Carl Bishop, Speaks About His Experience Being LGBTQ+ In The Industry
By Stephanie Minor
“As you can probably tell, I read straight. So, if you met me on the street, you’d probably assume I’m straight,” Carl Bishop, the voice actor behind Rainbow Six Siege’s Bandit tells me. “Initially, that helped in the world of advertising, because it was definitely more of a ‘man’s world.’ When I got signed by my agent in New York in 2006, it was still probably 20 to 30 percent straight women and 70 percent straight men. So, I had to express myself like I was straight. That wasn’t a problem on the voice side of things, but getting my head into the space of a straight person was the challenge.”
Bishop’s known for a long time that he’s gay, and this has created an extra barrier for him in the acting industry. Though he makes it clear that he’s confident in his abilities, having to navigate into a different mindset before recording was often a challenge for him. He explains how many of the commercials he’d have to record were focused on sports, cars, and fast food—all of which were geared towards a young, male audience. “I’d go to these auditions and be sitting here with all these bros, because they’re my colleagues, and they’ve all got girlfriends and wives. And while they live and breathe this content, I couldn’t care less about sports, trucks, and fast food. I’m thinking, ‘Oh god, how do I put myself in their minds?’ So, the challenge was that I had this extra step to take.” (Read the full article at The Gamer)
The Macho Voice in Beer and Army Ads Belongs to This Guy
By Matt Baume
You probably already know Carl Bishop, but you don’t know that you know him. You may have heard him in your ear, murmuring about beer or shampoo. He’s urged you to vote for Hillary Clinton, he’s narrated training videos for the Army, he’s informed you about chronic bronchitis medication, and he’s the voice of the counterterrorist named Bandit in Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six.
A voiceover artist, Carl exudes warm, masculine confidence—but for the first half of his career, he says, every time he landed a new gig he’d think to himself, “Ha, I fooled ‘em again.” Nobody knew he was gay.
“I played the game right, but then I was like, ‘It sucks that I’ve got to play this game,’” he says. For years, he kept his personal life hidden, afraid that coming out would ruin his career; but now that’s all changed. The voice of macho beer commercials, New York’s Port Authority, and video game heroes can finally be open in an industry that has rapidly transformed — not to mention in front of fans, thanks to a growing TikTok following. (Read the full article at The Stranger)