With such popular 2022 video game releases as The Quarry, Horizon Forbidden West, Elden Ring, and others, it's clear that hiring professional actors and celebrities to portray characters is a great way to create the most convincing narrative. As games continue to increase their immersive technology to become as cinematic as possible, chances are A-list actors and celebrities will continue to lend their talents to such projects.

To celebrate the tremendous acting in video games released in 2022 and beyond, it's time to look back at some of the most memorable female video game performances by some of the most famous actresses.

Mila Kunis - Saints Row

Tanya wears a white collar in Saints Row

A terrific live-action and voice actor, That '70s Show and Forgetting Sarah Marshall star Mila Kunis portrayed the character of Tanya Winters, a tough, gruff, take-no-BS brothel owner in the 2006 action-adventure game Saints Row. The corrupt Vice Kings lieutenant made history for being the first female gang leader in the series, with Kunis sinking her teeth into the villainous role with aplomb.

Playing against type as a ruthless, penny-pinching pimp, Kunis is no less convincing as she is on the big and small screen. Despite playing an unsavory antagonist, Mila Kunis steals the show in one of her best roles during cutscenes, especially when wielding her signature Tanya Pistol. While her time on Family Guy certainly helped with her vocalizations, the fact that Tanya dies fairly early in the game takes her down a peg.

Brenda Song - The Quarry

Kaitlyn wears a yellow hoodie in The Quarry

As cinematic as they come, The Quarry is a slasher-themed video game set at a summer camp in which several known actors voice and motion-capture the main characters. The clear standout among them is Brenda Song, the star of Dollface and Pure Genius, who plays Kaitlyn Ka, the mischievous wild card of the camp counselors running for their lives.

With 13 potential deaths for Kaitlyn in the interactive horror game, Song is tasked with going to grueling emotional depths as she faces countless werewolf onslaughts and remains convincing each time. Moreover, her affection for Dylan leads to one of the scariest and most emotionally fraught moments in the game during the junkyard, making her decisions as consequential as they come.

Rosario Dawson - Dishonored 2

Meagan examines a file in Dishonored 2

Sin City's Rosario Dawson lends a badass performance in Dishonored 2, in which she plays the bisexual one-armed Captain of the Dreadful Wale, Meagan Foster. The complicated ally of Corvo and Emily has a riveting story arc marked by Meagan's deep regrets and inability to leave her past as Billie Lurk behind. Dawson nails Meagan's rueful sense of dismay.

When Meagan isn't barking orders at her men with a wrathful bite, she's often softened by her time with Sokolov, her best friend, and father figure. Dawson gives a supremely balanced and credible turn whose potential death in the Death to Empress mission is genuinely suspenseful and unpredictable.

Kelly Hu - Mortal Kombat

D'Vorah looks menacing in Mortal Kombat X

The Scorpion King and X-Men United star Kelly Hu has portrayed multiple characters in the acclaimed fighting game series Mortal Kombat series, none more remarkable than D'Vorah, the main antagonist in Mortal Kombat X and Mortal Kombat 11. While fighting games aren't typically known for their rich characterizations and complex storylines, Hu pours her entire mind, body, and soul into the performance in a much larger and more substantial story arc than many who play a character in just one game.

Whereas many celebrities simply recreate their own likeness to increase a video game's profile, Hu fully immerses herself into a character that does not look or sound like her in real life and remains convincing from start to finish. With an even more significant arc in MK11 that questions her villainy, Hu does a great job of making D'Vorah feel three-dimensional.

Chloe Grace Moretz - Dishonored

Emily looks into the camera on Dishonored

With honorable mentions due for her cast members Susan Sarandon and Lena Headey, Kick-Ass's Chloe Grace Moretz flashed her precocious acting talents by playing the role of Emily Kaldwin in Dishonored, the popular 2012 action-adventure game. As Emily, the bereaved daughter of the murdered Empress Jessamine, Moretz radiates grace under fire indeed while never once indicating or hamming it up.

Intoned with the full gamut of heartfelt emotion far ahead of her years as a 15-year-old, the way Moretz portrays Tanya who becomes kidnapped after her mother's death, only to slowly learn Corvo was her father the entire time, proves she can hold her own with professional actors twice her age and carry the emotional crux of a story with the requisite pathos.

Kristen Bell - Assassin's Creed

Lucy talks to Desmond in Assassin's Creed II

Veronica Mars star Kristen Bell has portrayed the role of Lucy Stillman in three acclaimed Victorian-era Assassin's Creed games, with her likeness mapped on to the character via CGI and motion-capture technology as early as 2007. As a member of the Assassin Order who defects to the Templar cause, Bell never once hints at her duplicitous nature in her role as Lucy, which is a sign of good acting.

Beyond her betrayal of The Order following the Abstergo infiltration, it's Lucy's mysterious relationship with Desmond that really resonates as the character's most memorable storyline. Bell keeps her character's ultimate revelation close to the vest, proving she has the talented acting chops to play credible characters on any medium.

Carrie-Anne Moss - Mass Effect

Mass Effect's Aria and Carrie-Anne Moss stand side by side

Star of The Matrix, Carrie-Anne Moss gives one of the most badass and commanding performances in any video game as Aria T'Loak, the Omega ruler and Pirate Queen in the Mass Effect series. Reprising the role a whopping eight times, the sheer amount of storylines and dramatic arcs Aria is given is as thorough and satisfying as it gets for video game characters.

Armed with gravitas and smoldering intensity, Moss fits like a glove into the authoritarian role of Aria, be it through her monotonous "I couldn't care less" vocal tone and rigid body language that constantly makes the character her own. Aside from her spine-tingling comportment and mortifying one-liners, it's Moss' perfectly -timed moments of silence that really speak volumes about her character's high-powered perception.

Camilla Luddington - Tomb Raider

Camilla Luddington in motion capture for Tom Raider

Camilla Luddington, who appeared on Grey's Anatomy and Californication, has reinvigorated the Tomb Raider franchise with her electric voice and motion-capture performance as Lara Croft in three entries and counting. It's one thing to play a one-dimensional villain well, it's quite another to give a fully-rounded, physically exigent turn in multiple games as one of the most iconic video game leads.

Acquitting herself just as convincingly as movie stars Angelina Jolie and Alicia Vikander in their big-screen counterparts, Luddington brings her own unique interpretation to the role that feels fresh and exciting but also recognizable enough not to alienate fans, a delicate balancing act indeed. As such, Luddington won the Fan Favorite Female Voice Actor Gamers' Choice Award in 2019.

Ashley Tisdale - House Of Ashes

Rachel crosses her arms in House of Ashes

High School Musical alum Ashley Tisdale has been universally praised for her riveting performance in House of Ashes, the engaging interactive horror drama following a group of war survivors trapped underground with ferocious monsters.

Aside from the extremely lifelike depiction bearing her identical likeness as Rachel King, Tisdale is as real, relatable, and easy to root for in the game, especially when separated from her husband Alex for one year in the story. What really sets Tisdale's performance apart, however, is the fact she'd never acted in a horror movie or TV show before, proving she can till daring new territory just as adroitly as more family-friendly projects.

Ashley Johnson - The Last Of Us

Ellie holds a machete in The Last of Us

Often considered the most memorable female voice and mo-cap acting performance in a video game, Blindspot's Ashley Johnson breaks hearts, shatters souls, and kicks serious butt as Ellie Williams in The Last of Us series, especially given her complex relationship with Joel (Pedro Pascal).

The evolution of the character from an innocent yet brash 14-year-old apocalyptic survivor to a far more capable and self-actuating heroine has all the hallmarks of great writing, with Ashley doing a bang-up job of conveying Ellie's emotions along the way. As a talented singer to boot, Johnson transcends the role of an actor by actually performing the song "Through the Valley," giving even more emotional heft to Ellie as the subverted damsel in distress.

NEXT: 10 Best Story-Driven Games Of All Time, Ranked