In 2023, millions of people around the world cheered as Neil Newbon received the Game Award for Best Performance for his role as Astarion in the massively successful Baldur's Gate 3. The win has had a strong positive impact on Newbon's career; he has been involved in a number of projects as an actor, performance capture artist, director, and content producer, with many more planned for the future. Newbon, who returned to the Game Awards as a presenter, sat down with The Best War Games to reflect on his 2023 win and how things have changed for him since Baldur's Gate 3.
Newbon Did Not Expect His Best Performance Win
Although Neil Newbon's stellar performance as the charming, multilayered vampire spawn Astarion received significant praise, with many calling Astarion one of Baldur's Gate 3's best characters, the actor did not think he would win the Best Performance award. "When I got nominated, it was thrilling," Newbon said, "[but] I wasn't prepared to win." He described the moment at the 2023 Game Awards when his win was announced:
"I was in shock. It wasn't until I hugged [presenter] Christopher Judge that I realized it was real, that I had actually won. So I had to think of something to say."
The actor clarified that the win came as a surprise because he saw himself, and Astarion, as "part of an ensemble" and did not expect to be singled out for an award. "I was literally the last to know," he said. "I thought, going into it, that Ben [Starr] was going to win. His performance was phenomenal in Final Fantasy XVI." Newbon was happy to attend as a presenter this year, finding it "thrilling and wonderful" to be able to focus on cheering on his friends — particularly his Baldur's Gate 3 castmate, Jennifer English, who won 2025's Best Performance award for her role in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.
'It Definitely Opened Some Doors' Winning Best Performance Led to Significant Career Opportunities
Although the win was unexpected for Newbon, it has had a significant effect on his career over the past two years. "122 million people watch[ed] that show," Newbon said of The Game Awards. "So that has an effect [on] your platform." Although the actor had previously had roles in a number of successful games such as Resident Evil Village, he felt unprepared for the amount of attention he received following his win:
"The fact that Larian [Studios] made this incredible game that was so successful also had a major, major impact on my career and life. I'd been a part of big franchises before, but I was always the bridesmaid, never the bride, right? So this was very unexpected to have that amount of focus on me, particularly in a very short amount of time."
Neil Newbon has used the attention he received to grow his platform and advocate for the rights of actors in the game industry. Earlier in 2025, he announced the founding of the Pixel Pack, a collective dedicated to speaking up about the need for recognition and respect for game actors, who have historically not received the same level of attention as their film and TV counterparts. In addition to Newbon, the Pixel Pack includes a number of industry names such as Abubakar Salim, Alex Wilton Regan, Anjali Bhimani, Matthew Mercer, Maggie Robertson, and many more. Speaking about his work with the Pixel Pack, Newbon said:
"[Winning Best Performance] definitely allowed me the platform to speak up for other actors. That was quite amazing...It's given me a certain amount of ability to to fund things like the Pixel Pack, celebrating actors in games and making sure people understand that we are on the same level as TV and film, as well as being able to champion new actors coming into the space."
'I Know What Success Is' For Neil Newbon, It's About Continuing the Work He Loves
Since his win in 2023, Neil Newbon has been busier than ever. He has played roles in a number of games, including Warframe, Lies of P, Date Everything, and Dead Take, and appeared in the New York and Los Angeles productions of the live action Dungeons and Dragons play, The Twenty-Sided Tavern. He also launched a podcast, Dungeons & Dragons & Dramas, alongside several fellow actors, including Baldur's Gate 3's Devora Wilde. Newbon is also serving as voice director and playing the role of companion Preach in upcoming RPG Starfinder: Afterlight, and hinted that he is involved in multiple other projects that have not yet been revealed.
Newbon sees the ability to make a living as an actor, director, and performance capture artist as his personal definition of success. He said:
"The bottom line is, I know what success is. Success is taking care of my family, putting a roof over my head, [and] not having to do any job other than the job I love. If I get to spend the rest of my life never having to do any other job other than the stuff I already do right now, I would have had an incredibly successful, fulfilled life."
In conversation, Newbon is consistently humble. Getting him to talk about himself, rather than enthusiastically praising his friends and collaborators, can be quite the challenge. However, he admitted that this was not always the case, describing himself as "very entitled and quite bitter and jealous" in his younger days. He feels that moving from TV and film into video games, particularly performance capture, was a "second chance" for which he is extremely grateful. "The fact that I am here is a testament to other people taking a chance on me," Newbon admitted. The award-winning actor hopes to use his success to help and uplift others, saying:
"If you don't help people, if you don't try and champion other people, then you shouldn't expect yourself to be championed. Because then you're just taking — you're not actually giving back to try and make this a symbiotic experience."
Neil Newbon has found that his unexpected - but extremely well-deserved - win led to a wealth of opportunities, and he's not slowing down any time soon. Fans of the actor's work should keep an eye out for Starfinder: Afterlight, which recently concluded a highly successful Kickstarter, his regular streaming sessions, and his Dungeons & Dragons & Dramas podcast, which can also be supported via Patreon. The actor has a number of other exciting projects that have not yet been revealed, but he is excited to share them with his fans and supporters when he can.