Many years ago, video games were reserved for nerds and niche hobbyists. Fast forward to today and they’ve since become both a way to relax and unwind for many people and also a full time job, being their main source of income, for others.
It may come as a shock to you, but many celebrities enjoy letting loose and fire up a game in their downtime. Here’s a list of the celebrities you probably didn’t know were into their video games.
Neymar Jr.
Neymar is one of the most renowned faces in all of football, but you might be surprised to know that he’s an avid CSGO player and has played with his Brazil teammates in the 2018 World Cup.
We don’t yet know if his CS:GO gaming skills have spilled over to the CS:GO gambling scene, but who wouldn’t love to watch Neymar play CS:GO roulette in 2021 and play along with his stream.
Brie Larson
Moving on to Captain Marvel herself, Brie Larson has admitted a few times over the years that she’s partial to a bout of gaming and has even launched her own Youtube channel where you can catch some content of her playing sometimes.
Nintendo even featured her in an advert, with her lounging and playing the relaxing sim game Animal Crossing in the advert. She’s also stated she’s a big fan of Super Mario, but her favourite game recently has been The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
Matthew Perry
Well known for his role as the loveable funnyman Chandler Bing in hit 90’s sitcom Friends, Matthew Perry also managed to snag the role of voicing the character Benny in Fallout: New Vegas after he declared his love for the series.
He went on an interview with Ellen Degeneres and actually gifted her a copy of Fallout 3, which caught the eye of Bethesda who asked him if he wanted a role in the next game in the Fallout series, New Vegas. He even admitted to Ellen that he liked Fallout 3 that much he played the game to the point where he had to visit a doctor and get treatment for carpal tunnel syndrome!
Rosario Dawson
Recently portraying Ahsoka Tano in the Star Wars spin off series The Mandalorian, Game fans may already know about Rosario Dawson’s love for video gaming. She comments about it quite often and has actually used her prowess as an actress to leak this passion into her professional work.
She voiced a role in the ratchet & Clank animated movie based on the video game and also featured in the promotional material for Call of Duty: Black Ops 3. She has a soft spot for Nintendo games and her absolute favourite is the classic monster catching game, Pokemon.
Will Arnett
Known for his excellent portrayal as nihilist animated horse Bojack Horseman and ‘Gob’ in Arrested Development, Will Arnett has a very public love for Call Of Duty – one that led to him getting a role as a character in Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2.
He stated he plays matches online with some of his other famous comedy pals, including Jerry O’Connell and Jason Bateman. Arnett also ran a short lived game streaming show called Game Chat, which featured him playing games and chatting with other stars.
Vin Diesel
Known for playing Riddick in the Pitch dark films and Dom in the Fast & Furious series, Vin has a well known love for getting real nerdy when it comes to video games. He’s openly stated he loves all different genres of games, including MMO style games and first person shooters such as the popular Call of Duty games.
Diesel even went so far as to start his own video game development studio called Tigon Games. They ended up releasing The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay on Xbox, the absolutely brilliant video game adaptation to one of Vin Diesels most acclaimed roles, Riddick.
Mila Kunis
Whilst on the surface she may not look like she likes to play games, Mila Kunis is actually a big video game player. She admitted to being addicted to the hugely popular MMO World of Warcraft – We wonder whether she played as the Alliance, the good guys… or the Horde, the bad guys?!?
Whilst she stated she doesn’t play World of Warcraft much anymore due to time constraints, she said she’s moved onto Call of Duty as it takes up less time. Maybe some lucky gamers out there have managed to play her in a match…
Jack Black
This one is probably not a big surprise. Voicing the titular hero Eddie Riggs in rock based adventure game Brutal Legend, Black has told interviewers his proudest achievement is completing the old Xbox game Project Gotham Racing.
Starting a Youtube channel called JablinskiGames, Jack Black has recorded himself playing old style retro arcade games and has even played Minecraft with none other than Pewdiepie himself.
Henry Cavill
Yes, Superman himself is a video game nerd. He openly admits to being an avid PC gamer, loving World of Warcraft – and it’s even rumoured that his geeky knowledge of WoW is what managed to land him the role of Superman.
He even played the role of Geralt in The Witcher series on Netflix – We would put a bet on that he spent a few hours playing the game to get into the character.
Michelle Rodriguez
Another Fast and Furious star, Michelle Rodriguez has admitted to being an avid gamer just like her co-star Vin Diesel. Although she’s more partial to shooting games, she was introduced to the Doom series through her brother and has been hooked on first person shooters ever since.
Whilst she might not be rocking up to Vin Diesel’s Dungeons and Dragons evenings, who knows – maybe they like to play a few matches on Call of Duty together?
Drake
With numerous number 1 hits and an album that went platinum on the day it was released, you wouldn’t think Drake would have time to play video games. Well, he doesn’t – he fits in time on the smash hit battle royale game Fortnite with friends whilst he’s in the studio.
He has been known to play Fortnite with video game streamer Ninja from time to time. Who knows, maybe playing games is his secret to unlocking his creativity?
Daniel Craig
First Superman likes to play World of Warcraft, and now Bond likes video games? Daniel Craig has admitted his love for the Grand Theft Auto games – mainly the Scarface inspired Vice City. Although he’s said he can’t play them for too long as they make him feel ‘dirty’.
He’s a fan of games with long and enthralling stories and used the popular epic FPS game Halo as an example of a game he likes that tells a long story and has lots of detail and interesting lore.