Emmanuel Bonami

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]

Early life

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

Career

Voice actor and Metal Gear Solid (1997–2004)

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)

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 2026, he reprises the role of Solid Snake as part of the Operation Silent Hunt event in Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege.^[10]

In 2024, Emmanuel Bonami joins the cast of the NCIS spin-off, NCIS: Tony & Ziva, with Michael Weatherly and Cote de Pablo.^[11][12]

Roles

Movies

Short films

TV Series

Animation

Video games

Other roles

References

1. ^ "Metal Gear Solid : Framboise Gommendy, traductrice et doubleuse, livre une interview touchante" (in French). IGN France. September 9, 2011. Archived September 9, 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved July 1, 2022.
2. ^ "Interview de Emmanuel 'Snake' Bonami" (in French). metalgearsolid.be. November 3, 2011. Archived November 22, 2021 at the Wayback Machine. 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 November 22, 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved July 19, 2022.
4. ^ DEBKAZU (July 21, 2016). "Une voix #2 : Emmanuel Bonami" (in French). boiteagames. Retrieved July 1, 2022.
5. ^ EvilGost (January 20, 2008). "[INTERVIEW] Emmanuel Bonami, voix française de Solid Snake" (in French). gamergen. Archived November 23, 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved July 1, 2022.
6. ^ Magnien, Marine (August 2, 2019). "Prix de la Meilleure Photographie pour "Fornacis"" (in French). Linfo.re. Archived April 18, 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved July 1, 2022.
7. ^ Barton, Steve (April 28, 2014). "First Trailer for French Horror Film Fever Is Loaded with Nightmarish Imagery". Dread Central. Archived May 20, 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved July 1, 2022.
8. ^ 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. ^ Eklecty-City (2023-04-03). "The Callisto Protocol : Interview avec Emmanuel Bonami – E-C" (in fr-FR). Eklecty-City. Retrieved 2023-05-22.
10. ^ Eklecty-City (2026-03-14). "Emmanuel Bonami redevient Solid Snake dans Rainbow Six Siege, 27 ans après Metal Gear Solid" (in fr-FR). Eklecty-City. Retrieved 2026-03-14.
11. ^ Eklecty-City (2024-07-27). "Emmanuel Bonami rejoint la distribution de NCIS : Tony & Ziva" (in fr-FR). Eklecty-City. Retrieved 2024-07-27.
12. ^ Eklecty-City (2025-08-29). "Exclusif : Interview avec Emmanuel Bonami – Son expérience sur NCIS : Tony & Ziva" (in fr-FR). Eklecty-City. Retrieved 2025-10-06.
13. ^ 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.
14. ^ Lautre, Florian (September 13, 2018). "Insoupçonnable (TF1) : qui sont les acteurs de la série événement ?" (in French). Télé-Loisir. Archived March 6, 2021 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved July 1, 2022.
15. ^ 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.
16. ^ 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.

External links

• Emmanuel Bonami at IMDb
• Emmanuel Bonami profile at MobyGames