Emmanuel Bonami is a French actor in numerous films and television series, and an art director in video games. He is also known as a voice actor for dubbing in French characters in movies and video games, most notably for his role as Solid Snake in Metal Gear Solid.[1]

Emmanuel Bonami
NationalityFrench
Occupation(s)Voice actor, art director, actor
Years active1997–present

Early life

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Bonami was living in London prior to his first dubbings, but also in Turkey, and Ukraine in his life.[2]

Career

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Voice actor and Metal Gear Solid (1997-2004)

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Bonami's earliest participation as a voice actor was in 1997's Ghost in the Shell for its French dubbing. As one of his friend was working on the European localization of Metal Gear Solid with Konami, Bonami went in time to participate in the French dub of the titular game in Summer 1998. At the time of the recording, there were no English dub produced yet, and went on working with the Japanese version of the game along with one of Konami's Japanese project manager. Though the franchise did not receive dubs in other languages since Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, Bonami would unofficially dub Snake occasionally, such as the introduction scenes of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, and Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain as Venom Snake.[2][3] After participating in this project, he would continue working as a voice actor for dubbing video games characters, such as Half-Life 2: Episode Two with Father Grigori in 2007, and Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction in 2010.[4][5]

Actor (2005-present)

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Bonami moved out to Paris later in 2005.[2] Shortly after, he has started working as an actor for movies and television shows,[4][5] such as Wolf in 2019's Fornacis,[6] and the eponymous character in 2014's lucid horror movie Horsehead.[7] In 2011, he has announced in an interview that he was making a short movie named Innocence.[2] In 2018, he played the antagonist Zerda in the short TV series and adaptation of Michel Bussi's The Double Mother, Mother Is Wrong, in which he was marked by the scenario of both the book and its adaptation, and the character.[8] In an interview held in September 2021, Bonami explained that he goes through numerous castings in various media, and works with a group of friends in short films.[8]

In 2022, he dubbed the character of Jacob Lee, played by Josh Duhamel, in the video game The Callisto Protocol.[9]

In 2023, he declares to the French media Eklecty-City his desire to play Solid Snake again if a remake would be born. He confides: "I am very attached to this character. We've been following each other for almost 25 years with Solid Snake. It's kind of crazy when you think about it... ¼ of a century! [...] I'll be really excited to see this iconic character once again".[9]

In 2024, Emmanuel Bonami joins the cast of the NCIS spin-off, NCIS: Tony & Ziva, with Michael Weatherly and Cote de Pablo.[10]

Roles

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Movies

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Year Title Role Note Ref.
2024 Le Mangeur d'âmes [9]
2023 Vermin Gilles [9]
2020 Family Swap Colonel
French Blood Mr. FROG
2018 Fornacis Wolf [6]
All the Gods in the Sky Doctor Cartier
2016 Revenge Antek Bando
2015 Through the Air Killer
2014 Horsehead Horsehead [7]
Dealer Le Belge
2013 Macadam Baby Policeman in custody 2
2011 Ugly Manu
L'histoire d'une mère The Military
2010 Djinns Ballant
2007 13 m² Civilian policeman
The Golden Compass French dub [5]

Short films

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Year Title Role Note Ref.
2021 Saturday night beaver The Beaver
2020 Nuage Father
Trois pissenlits dans un verre d'eau Frédéric
2018 The Day My Mother Became A Monster Father
2017 On s'est fait doubler! The cop
2016 Exterminatus Caron
2015 1/2 Father
Under My Skin Priest
2014 Revolution Terrorist
2013 Heritage Father
Guet-apens Inspector
2012 Facteur X Hostage
Innocence, Do Not Enter His World Steve [2]
Le réserviste Village chief
2011 Wracked
2010 Mon père The father
2009 Le prix à payer Fred
Roches rouges Papa
2007 Final Gear Solid Snake
2006 Au banquet des loups… Cop 2

TV Series

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Year Title Role Note Ref.
2024 NCIS: Tony & Ziva [10]
2023 Machine [9]
2022 Carpe Diem Michel
In Tandem Luc Forget [11]
2019 Candice Renoir Pascal Louvier
2018 Insoupçonnable Simon [12]
Mother Is Wrong Zerda [12]
2016 Falco Yannick Le Moulec
2013 Nos Chers Voisins Philippe
2012 Ainsi soient-ils Assistant Superior St. Cyprien
Zak Policeman
2009 Ladies of the Law Boulgakov
2007 Martin Paris Inspector DST

Animation

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Year Title Role Note Ref.
2018 Robozuna Vermis French dub
2016 Lastman French dub
2010-2011 Digimon Fusion Pharaohmon, Skullscorpiomon French dub

Video games

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Year Title Role Note Ref.
TBD Fairymm: the Insomniac Beauty [13]
2023 Final Fantasy XVI Additional voices French dub
Diablo IV Additional voices French dub
2022 The Callisto Protocol Jacob Lee French dub [9]
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II Ghost French dub [9]
2021 Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker Susano French dub
Necromunda: Hired Gun Kal Jerico
Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance
WarioWare: Get It Together!
2020 Assassin's Creed Valhalla
No Straight Roads DJ Zam, Announcer, Janitor French dub [14]
Star Wars: Squadrons
Tom Clancy's The Division 2: Warlords of New York - Expansion
2019 Marvel Dimension of Heroes Hulk
2018 Far Cry 5
Jurassic World: Evolution George Lambert French dub [9]
WarioWare Gold Jimmy T, M. Brillant
2017 Assassin's Creed: Origins
Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood Rasho
Final Fantasy XV: Episode Gladiolus Additional voices
Brain Age: Concentration Training Dr. Kawashima
LEGO Worlds
XCOM 2: War of the Chosen Jeriah
Mirror's Edge: Catalyst
Mass Effect: Andromeda
2016 Dead by Daylight [9]
2015 Yo-kai Watch Blasters
Dying Light
Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward Estinien
Mortal Kombat X
2014 Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
Inazuma Eleven GO
GRID: Autosport
The LEGO Movie Videogame
2013 Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn Bremondt
2012 Remember Me
Lego Batman 2 [5]
2011 Total War: Shogun 2 [4]
2010 Inazuma Eleven 3 Sonny Raimon
Vanquish Additional voices
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction [4]
2009 Inazuma Eleven 2 Astram Schiller, Inspector Gregory Smith
Empire: Total War [4]
2008 Viking: Battle for Asgard [5]
Need For Speed Undercover [4]
2007 Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn French dub
Half-Life 2: Episode Two Father Grigori French dub [5]
2006 Medieval II: Total War
Pokémon Battle Revolution [5]
2004 Mashed Blue Jay
IndyCar Series 2005
Richard Burns Rally
Driv3r Additional voices
1999 Metal Gear Solid Solid Snake French dub [1]
1998 Colony Wars: Vengeance
Enemy Zero
1997 Ghost in the Shell

Other roles

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Year Title Note Ref.
2022 Dying Light 2: Stay Human Directors [9]
2014 Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Art director
2013 Remember Me Art director
Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy Art director
2001 Horizon Additional voices

References

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  1. ^ a b "Metal Gear Solid : Framboise Gommendy, traductrice et doubleuse, livre une interview touchante" (in French). IGN France. September 9, 2011. Archived from the original on September 9, 2021. Retrieved July 1, 2022.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Interview de Emmanuel 'Snake' Bonami" (in French). metalgearsolid.be. November 3, 2011. Archived from the original on November 22, 2021. Retrieved July 1, 2022.
  3. ^ Thomas (September 1, 2018). "EMMANUEL BONAMI DOUBLE BIG BOSS DANS METAL GEAR SOLID V" (in French). Eklecty-City.fr. Archived from the original on November 22, 2021. Retrieved July 19, 2022.
  4. ^ a b c d e f DEBKAZU (July 21, 2016). "Une voix #2 : Emmanuel Bonami" (in French). boiteagames. Retrieved July 1, 2022.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g EvilGost (January 20, 2008). "[INTERVIEW] Emmanuel Bonami, voix française de Solid Snake" (in French). gamergen. Archived from the original on November 23, 2021. Retrieved July 1, 2022.
  6. ^ a b Magnien, Marine (August 2, 2019). "Prix de la Meilleure Photographie pour "Fornacis"" (in French). Linfo.re. Archived from the original on April 18, 2021. Retrieved July 1, 2022.
  7. ^ a b Barton, Steve (April 28, 2014). "First Trailer for French Horror Film Fever Is Loaded with Nightmarish Imagery". Dread Central. Archived from the original on May 20, 2020. Retrieved July 1, 2022.
  8. ^ a b CAFE CRITIX (September 10, 2021). "#10 - INTERVIEW D'EMMANUEL BONAMI - Bonus #2 - On commence MGS 2 avec la voix officielle de Snake !" (in French). YouTube. Retrieved August 22, 2022.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Eklecty-City (2023-04-03). "The Callisto Protocol : Interview avec Emmanuel Bonami - E-C". Eklecty-City (in French). Retrieved 2023-05-22.
  10. ^ a b Eklecty-City (2024-07-27). "Emmanuel Bonami rejoint la distribution de NCIS : Tony & Ziva". Eklecty-City (in French). Retrieved 2024-07-27.
  11. ^ G., Nicolas (June 28, 2022). "« Tandem » du 28 juin 2022 : le final de la saison 6 ce soir sur France 3" (in French). Stars Actu. Retrieved July 19, 2022.
  12. ^ a b Lautre, Florian (September 13, 2018). "Insoupçonnable (TF1) : qui sont les acteurs de la série événement ?" (in French). Télé-Loisir. Archived from the original on March 6, 2021. Retrieved July 1, 2022.
  13. ^ Tiraxa (October 12, 2020). "Fairymm, projet de jeu d'horreur sur les contes de fées avec un casting notable" (in French). JeuxVideo.fr. Retrieved July 19, 2022.
  14. ^ Chao, Maxime (August 16, 2020). "NO STRAIGHT ROADS : ON A ASSISTÉ AUX ENREGISTREMENTS DE LA VF (KELLY MAROT ET DONALD REIGNOUX) EN MALAISIE CHEZ METRONOMIK" (in French). JeuxActu. Retrieved July 19, 2022.
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