A 23-year-old mystery tied to the original Resident Evil released in 1996 has been solved by a dedicated group of fans. It's strange to think that anything related to Resident Evil would have remained a mystery for so long, given the popularity of the franchise. But the 90s were a different time in many ways. One of them is that people involved with game development didn't always get proper accreditation. Such is the case with the Resident Evil live-action actors.
In the 1996 version of Resident Evil, Capcom used live-action footage for both the game's opening sequence and its epilogue. There's also a short sequence introducing the game's live-action cast of important characters: Chris Redfield, Jill Valentine, Barry Burton, Rebecca Chambers, and Albert Wesker. In 90s fashion, these actors' real names are only mentioned in the game's credits by their first name. As such, most of them have remained mysterious and unknown. Rebecca Chambers, who was listed only as "Linda," was one of the actors who had remained unknown - until now.
It's not entirely clear how Linda was found, but somehow one of the Resident Evil fans pursuing these actors' identities was put in touch with her. According to Fred Derf of the RaccoonStars blog, Rebecca's actor's name is Linda X. It's not clear is X is a last name used to protect Linda's identity. Derf then performed an interview with Linda to confirm her identity and learn about Capcom's live-action shoot. Linda confirmed it was her in the game and also thanked Derf for bringing it to her attention. Apparently she'd never actually seen her performance in the game.
Linda described how "high tech" the shoot was at the time, recalling how Capcom has made "these amazing man-made machine Dobermans." She's referring to the hounds shown in Resident Evil's opening movie that killed Jason, a member of the STARS Alpha team. Funnily enough, Linda had no idea that the project she was involved in was so popular. She didn't even remember doing the job until Derf's interview reminded her.
With Linda X's identification, four of the six actors with voice lines in the original Resident Evil have now been identified. Two actors remain unidentified. Those two include Jill Valentine's actor, who was apparently a high-schooler at the time and is referred to as Inezh in the game's credits. Jason, the STARS Alpha team member who was killed by a zombie hound in the opening movie, also remains unidentified. Fans' pursuit of proper accreditation for all Resident Evil actors and voice actors involved with the project continues.
Resident Evil is available on the original PlayStation and Sega Saturn.
Source: RaccoonStars