Neil Newbon

Neil Christie Newbon^[2] was born in Birmingham on 14 August 1978,^[2] the son of sports presenter Gary Newbon.^[2] He is of Scottish descent on his mother's side and Belarusian descent on his father's side.^[2] His sister Claire is a journalist, while his twin brother Laurence is a cameraman.^[3] He played football as a teenager, usually as a goalkeeper.^[2]

In 1998, Newbon appeared in the BBC Two comedy series Goodness Gracious Me as James, a waiter in the show's notable "Going for an English" sketch. He has appeared in numerous films. He voiced a tank driver in Jackboots on Whitehall. He starred in the music videos for the Now Voyager Mix of "You Got the Love" by The Source and Candi Staton in 2006 and "Kingdom of Rust" by Doves in 2009.^[4] In 2012, he joined the cast of the Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks as Simon Walker.^[5]

Since 2012, Newbon has provided the voice and motion capture for numerous video game characters, including Elijah Kamski and Gavin Reed in Detroit: Become Human, Nicholai Ginovaef in Resident Evil 3, Karl Heisenberg in Resident Evil Village and Astarion in Baldur's Gate 3. For his performance as Astarion, he won Best Performance at the 2023 Game Awards as well as the Golden Joystick for Best Supporting Performer.^[6][7]

Newbon is a co-founder of the training facility Performance Captured Academy, which offers courses on motion capture for aspiring actors.^[8][9]

Newbon married film director China Moo-Young in October 2012, and they had one daughter together before divorcing in 2015. He confirmed that he was in a relationship with his Performance Captured Academy co-founder Saleta Losada in 2018, and they were married in June 2023.^[10][11]

Newbon has trained in various martial arts for over 16 years, including kung fu (in the styles Crane, Shaolin, Snake, and Tiger), kickboxing, judo, and Wadō-ryū karate.^[2]