Chad Michael Collins, the actor who plays Alex in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, stars in this week's Totally Game, taking us through what it's like to audition for, star in, and then play the spectacular shooter.
The actor has recently been streaming his time playing Call of Duty as Alex on Twitch, and told Totally Game about what it's like to be playing as the character he brought to life. Collins says: "A lot of the feedback I kept hearing was ‘this is so cool, I’ve been playing games for 15 years and I’ve never known a video game actor to engage with fans. It’s been a wide range of emotions, some people start crying, some people start laughing, some start screaming hysterically. Some are like ‘can I record this my friends are never going to believe me."
Despite building up a strong body of work, Collins didn't initially know what he was auditioning for when he got the call for Modern Warfare, only discovering that it was a Call of Duty game when he got the role. He says: "When I was hired I got sent to a mysterious address but everywhere on the outside it said ‘Activision’ so I was like ‘ok, the plot thickens – I’ve got a good feeling this is going to be a Call of Duty game."
His hunch was correct and Alex quickly became a fan-favourite for the series. During the lockdown, Collins has used his time to connect with the fanbase by playing with them online. He tells Totally Game: "Actors don’t get to do what they love to do without people watching their stuff or buying their movie or buying the video game they’re starring in, so I’ve always tried to do my best to take the time to acknowledge that. I love that I get to do that in a more interactive way through streaming. The gaming has been such a fun part because it’s a natural extension of me and who I am, I’ve always gamed. I plan on doing this more in bigger and better ways for the foreseeable future.”
Totally Game is a weekly show that focuses on the stories of players around the world, from the inspiring tales of people who have overcome difficulties using games to the amazing feats of record breakers. You can catch new episodes every Wednesday on Snapchat, YouTube, TikTok, and right here on GamesRadar.
Catch up with the series so far by watching episode seven here.
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Ben Tyrer is a freelance games journalist with over ten years experience of writing about games. After graduating from Bournemouth University with a degree in multimedia journalism he's worked for Official PlayStation Magazine as a staff writer and games editor, as well as 12DOVE (hey, that's this website!) as a news editor. He's also contributed to Official Xbox Magazine, Edge, PC Gamer, GamesMaster, PC Games N, and more. His game of the year - no matter the year - is Rocket League.