Marin’s Heather Gordon Revels in Video Game Glory

Actress Heather Gordon has a lead role in one of the most highly anticipated releases in years. Only it’s not a movie. It’s a video game.

The Harvard-trained thespian, who grew up in Marin County's Novato, was already forging a traditional acting career. She garnered a few awards for stage productions and landed the lead in a quirky, sexy comedy film called Seducing Charlie Barker — leading to a few more awards at film festivals. She was cast in the animated movie, Sky Force 3-D.

The San Marin High grad (Class of 2002) seemed to have a burgeoning career, even meeting with prolific Hollywood producer Garry Marshall and shooting TV pilots.

Then, overnight, she is being adored by millions of avid video gamers. Cast in the role of Elizabeth Hammer in a game titled BioShock: Infinite, Gordon was swept up into one of the most successful franchises in the game industry’s history, having sold more than 10 million copies for producer Irrational Games.

It’s not the usual route to stardom, but Gordon will take it. Even playing the part was peculiar.

“It was pretty wild,” Gordon says. “My every movement was recorded by computers.”

The general assumption is that cartoon or game characters are purely the creation of computer animators, but in the case of BioShock, the actors were dressed in body suits with sensors attached. All of the action takes place in front of a green screen.

“You have to imagine a world that’s not there,” Gordon said, adding that she had to envision her character’s wardrobe, hair and expressions.

Making things even more challenging was the fact that the game’s script was an industry secret. “They would feed us little bits of the script,” Gordon said. “That’s challenging for an actress to make an informed choice.”

Things were so secretive that Gordon, herself not much of a gamer, didn’t realize she was part of one of the biggest video games.

The project was shot by 2K Games in Novato, which meant Gordon was able to jet north from Los Angeles and visit with family and friends while discretely embodying a character that is being hailed as “the next Lara Croft.”

In between stints as a video game heroine, Gordon found the time to tackle another stage role, that of Billie in Born Yesterday, earning her the BroadwayWorld Best Actor award. Yes, another award — and that was just during down time while being part of a huge video game.

While things were already exciting, it was during the game’ launch that Gordon fully felt the impact.

“People were lined up around the block on opening night,” Gordon said. “It was so cool; there were people of all ages.”

It’s been reported that the game almost didn’t get made and the main reason was the difficulty in bringing the Elizabeth Hammer to life. So, in a way, Gordon saved the BioShock franchise.

“The character is pretty incredible,” Gordon said. “She’s naïve — she’s intelligent, but not worldly. She has a lot of spunk, an amazing character to play.”

While many video games are all about the (dismembered) body count, Gordon said her character takes a serious and insightful journey. “It’s about learning to accept yourself,” she said.

It’s a similar journey Gordon herself is taking. For instance, she might not be a gamer, but she’d love to be in more games. She knows that the video game industry long ago surpassed the film industry in profits and she’s signed on for another game — but can’t reveal much about it yet.

Also, by tackling roles like Elizabeth Hammer, she gets an additional credit on her resume: To her two younger brothers, “I am the coolest big sister right now.”

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