Jim Santangeli, the voice and motion-capture actor behind Red Dead Redemption 2’s camp cook Simon Pearson, has confirmed his involvement in Rockstar Games’ upcoming title, Grand Theft Auto 6. The announcement came directly from the actor during a recent livestream, marking another crossover of talent within Rockstar’s major franchises. While details regarding his character remain strictly confidential, the confirmation adds to the growing list of returning performers collaborating with the studio.
During the broadcast, Santangeli described his contribution to the project as a “little small bit,” indicating that his role will likely be a minor character or a specialized NPC within the game’s expanded universe. Given the notoriously strict non-disclosure agreements enforced by Rockstar and its parent company, Take-Two Interactive, the actor refrained from sharing specific dialogue or character names. Fans will likely have to search the streets of the game’s updated Vice City setting to pinpoint his performance.
This project marks Santangeli’s third collaboration with Rockstar Games. Long before portraying the memorable, history-rich cook of the Van der Linde gang in 2018, the actor provided background voices for various citizens of Liberty City in 2008’s Grand Theft Auto 4. His return for Grand Theft Auto 6 aligns with the developer’s historical trend of re-hiring reliable talent for background work, particularly for a project rumored to feature hundreds of thousands of individual lines of dialogue.
Santangeli joins a well-established tradition of actors pulling double duty across Rockstar’s primary intellectual properties. Notable examples include Shawn Fonteno, who voiced a minor gang member in San Andreas before playing Franklin Clinton in Grand Theft Auto 5, and Ned Luke, who made a cameo as an unnamed moonshiner in Red Dead Redemption 2 after starring as Michael De Santa. As marketing for the new title prepares to ramp up ahead of its scheduled release, more familiar voices are expected to be uncovered.
