|
This article is written from a real world point of view. |
|---|
Joseph David Kucan (often called Joe) was the lead video director in most Command & Conquer games, best known for his role of Kane in Tiberium Universe games and the first Red Alert game. He has two brothers, Daniel and Michael. Daniel Kucan also appeared in some Command & Conquer games.
Joe Kucan holds the Guiness World Record as the Longest running actor in a video-game series, having played Kane for thirteen years (1995-2008) at the time of receiving the award, which was later lengthened to fifteen years with Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight, and later to twenty-four years with a taunt update for Command & Conquer: Rivals, though the World Record itself was never updated.
He is the co-founder and producer of A Public Fit, a theatre company in Las Vegas.
Early life[]
Kucan was born on 19 March 1965 in Henderson, Nevada to Kenn and Jenny, both public school teachers. Joe Kucan started acting at a very early age - at the age of 10, he began acting in a local community theatre in Las Vegas, Nevada. He finished Bonanza High School and later switched many companies, where he taught, directed, acted, designed, choreographed or was otherwise involved in numerous projects.
Working at Westwoood[]
By 1992, Kucan joined Westwood Studios, and received the role of the lead casting and video director. Since Westwood did not have a large budget at the time, they employed the game developers as actors in full motion videos. When making a placeholder video to test the compression methods, Westwood assigned Kucan to say a line in which he would imitate a villain character. That test video actually gave him the role of the charismatic leader of the Brotherhood of Nod, Kane.
During the years, many people asked Kucan how he got the role. He mostly answered with jokes (for example, that there was a special election in the United States of America, in which he mostly got votes from the western states). The only true version was elaborated at CommandCom 2009 in Cologne.
Kucan's first gaming-related job was the voiceover of Brandon in Westwood's 1992 game The Legend of Kyrandia: Fables and Fiends, and later reprised that role in the sequels, Hand of Fate and Malcolm's Revenge. He was later the Director of Dramatical Assets in the Lands of Lore and Dune series, as well as in the 2000 roleplaying game Nox and the 2002 Pirates: Legend of the Black Kat. He also voiced Crazylegs in the 1997 Blade Runner.
However, his most noted role is the full-motion video director in almost all Command & Conquer games and actor of Kane.
Working for Electronic Arts[]
Right before Westwood Studios dissolved, Kucan collaborated with Electronic Arts on two licensed 007 games in 2002.
In 2006, the revival of the award-winning Command & Conquer series was announced. As the setting was in the Tiberium universe, Kucan's return was expected, even though he admitted to have been hesitant on retaking the role at first. He both directed the sequences and played Kane in the 2007 Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars. In 2008, the expansion pack, Kane's Wrath, was released and Kucan reprised both his roles. He did not direct Red Alert 3, nor its Uprising expansion. His final act as Kane in the EALA game continuity was in Tiberian Twilight, and he reprised the role with voice acting only in a taunt update for Command & Conquer: Rivals.
Kucan co-hosted several episodes of Battlecast Primetime and was interviewed there on multiple occasions.
Personal life[]
Kucan is married and has three daughters. According to his own entry in the (now-defunct) Battlecast Primetime section on the old official Command & Conquer website, he is a member of several charities, including The American Red Cross, The American Cancer Society, and Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD).
He has been involved in the Las Vegas theatre community for over 40 years and was a founding member of the Rainbow Company, working for 10 years as its educational director. He has also created fight choreographies for several plays, including Macbeth, The Learned Ladies, Foxfinder, Moby Dick, West Side Story and Cinders. He co-founded the theatre company A Public Fit with artistic director Ann-Marie Pereth, where he is currently working as a producer.
Gameography[]
- The Legend of Kyrandia: Fables and Fiends (1992) (voiced Brandon)
- The Legend of Kyrandia: The Hand of Fate (1993)
- Lands of Lore: The Throne of Chaos (1993)
- The Legend of Kyrandia: Malcolm's Revenge (1994)
- Monopoly (1995)
- Command & Conquer (1995) (played Kane and directed cutscenes)
- Command & Conquer: Red Alert (1996) (played Kane and directed cutscenes)
- Lands of Lore II: Guardians of Destiny (1997)
- Blade Runner (1997)
- Dune 2000 (1998)
- Command & Conquer: Red Alert - Retaliation (1999) (directed cutscenes)
- Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun (1999) (played Kane and directed cutscenes)
- Nox (2000)
- Command & Conquer: Firestorm (2000) (played Kane and directed cutscenes)
- Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 (2000) (directed cutscenes)
- Command & Conquer: Yuri's Revenge (2001) (directed cutscenes)
- Emperor: Battle for Dune (2001) (directed cutscenes)
- Command & Conquer: Renegade (2002) (voiced Kane and directed cutscenes)
- Pirates: The Legend of Black Kat (2002)
- 007: Nightfire (2002)
- 007: Agent Under Fire (2002)
- Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars (2007) (played Kane and directed cutscenes)
- Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath (2008) (played Kane and directed cutscenes)
- Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight (2010) (played Kane and directed cutscenes)
- Command & Conquer: Rivals (April 2019 update) (voiced Kane)
External links[]
- IMDb profile
- "Official" Joe Kucan's MySpace profile by Jefbt
- Joseph D. Kucan on Wikipedia
- A Public Fit official website
- Profile on A Public Fit official website