Paul Mercier (actor)

Paul Mercer (born July 13, 1962) is an American actor, voice actor, director and screenwriter. He is best known for his work as Leon S. Kennedy in Resident Evil 4 and Specter in the SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs video game series.

Career
A third-generation stage actor, Mercier made his feature-film debut in Wrestling with God. When he was six years old he took his first bow on stage with his father's community theater group, The Kensington-Garrett Players in Maryland. It wasn't until his senior year in high school, though, while playing Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof that he concluded that acting was his true vocation.

Following professional engagements with a touring company and several other theaters in the Washington D.C. area, he was accepted into the acting program at Adelphi University in 1980. After winning the Alexander-Barnes Acting Competition he was awarded a full scholarship for each of his four years.

Even as a freshman Mercier performed on the Senior Mainstage in plays ranging from Rodgers and Hammerstein to Shakespeare. His repertoire included French mime, dramatic verse, musicals, contemporary comedy, straight plays and cabaret.

Mercier trained for three years at the Royal Shakespeare Company at The Guildhall School of Music and Drama in Central London under the tutelage of Cicely Berry, Patsy Rodenberg, Sue Lefton and other stellar lights of the British stage. A highlight was being selected to perform in the British premiere of Leonard Bernstein's Mass under Bernstein's direction.

Before leaving Great Britain, Mercier had performed professionally with the Royal Shakespeare Company, appeared as "Mercutio" at the Arundel Festival and throughout Europe on an Arts Council Tour, led an English cast through the premiere of Yuri Trifonov's The Exchange outside what was then the Iron Curtain, and directed Insignificance for the Edinburgh Festival.

Mercier returned to the United States and began teaching acting, improvisation, stage combat, and verse. Mercier's wife Paula Tiso is credited with bringing him to California where he quickly gained his Screen Actors Guild credentials. In addition to his classical and dramatic endeavors, Mercier is in great demand for voice-overs and is part of a comedy troupe that performs regularly at Los Angeles night spots.

Animation

 * The Legend of Prince Valiant
 * The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest – Diver #2 / Technician
 * What a Cartoon! – Talking Dog

Anime

 * .hack//SIGN – Bear
 * Burn Up Excess – Chiimama
 * Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex – Fake Laughing Man / additional voices
 * Vampire Princess Miyu – Genji / Old Man / Village Chief

Films

 * Call of Duty: Operation Kingfish – Sergeant Derek "Frost" Westbrook (uncredited)
 * Growing Up Tiny: Kenadie's Next Chapter – Narrator
 * Resident Evil: Degeneration – Leon S. Kennedy
 * Wrestling with God – Alexander Campbell

Live action television

 * FBI: The Untold Stories
 * Nazi Hunters – Narrator
 * Who's the Boss? – Announcer

Video games

 * .hack//Mutation – Bear
 * .hack//Outbreak – Bear
 * .hack//Quarantine – Bear
 * Ace Combat: Assault Horizon – Lieutenant Colonel William Bishop
 * Age of Conan: Rise of the Godslayer – General Sheng
 * Call of Duty: World at War – Private Miller
 * Call of Duty: Advance Warfare – Additional Voices
 * Command & Conquer: Generals
 * Command & Conquer: Generals – Zero Hour
 * Disaster Day of Crisis – Ray / Raymond
 * God of War II – Translator 2
 * Infamous 2 – Cops / Militia / Rebels
 * Infamous 2: Festival of Blood – Male Pedestrians
 * Onimusha 3: Demon Siege – Jacques Blanc
 * Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops – USSR Soldier A
 * Nox – Quartermaster / Aidan / Henrick / Necromancer 2 / Mineworker 5
 * Prince of Persia – Additional voices
 * Resident Evil 4 – Leon S. Kennedy / The Merchant
 * Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles – Leon S. Kennedy
 * Resistance: Fall of Man
 * Saints Row: The Third – Additional voices
 * Saints Row IV – The Voices of Virtual Steelport
 * Shadows of the Damned – Fleming / Demons
 * Shout About TV – Voice-over
 * SOCOM II: U.S. Navy SEALs – Specter
 * SOCOM 3: U.S. Navy SEALs – Specter
 * SOCOM U.S. Navy SEALs: Combined Assault – Specter
 * SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Confrontation – U.S. Navy SEAL 3
 * Star Trek: Starfleet Command III – Federation Officer #2
 * Skylanders: Swap Force
 * The Lord of the Rings: Conquest – Faramir / Evil Human Officer #3 / Gondorian Officer #3
 * The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-Earth – Uruk-hai
 * The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-Earth II – Uruk-hai
 * The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Ring
 * The Rise of the Argonauts
 * Transformers: Dark of the Moon – Additional voices