Joseph David Kucan is an American

video game developer A video game developer is a software developer specializing in video game development – the process and related disciplines of creating video games. A game developer can range from one person who undertakes all tasks to a large business with em ...

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...

actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

, and

casting director In the performing arts industry such as theatre, film, or television, casting, or a casting call, is a pre-production process for selecting a certain type of actor, dancer, singer, or extra to land the role of a character in a script, screenp ...

for various gaming companies and films. He is a resident of

Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

. He is well known for his role as

Kane Kane or KANE may refer to: Art, entertainment and media Fictional entities *Kane (comics), the main character of the eponymous comic book series by Paul Grist * Kane (''Command & Conquer''), Tiberium universe character in the ''Command & Conquer'' ...

from the ''

Command & Conquer ''Command & Conquer'' (''C&C'') is a real-time strategy (RTS) video game franchise created and originally developed by Westwood Studios and currently owned by Electronic Arts. The first game was one of the earliest of the RTS genre, itself ba ...

'' series.

Career

Kucan started working with

Westwood Studios Westwood Studios, Inc. was an American video game developer based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was founded by Brett Sperry and Louis Castle in 1985 as Brelous Software, but got changed after 2 months into Westwood Associates and was renamed to Westw ...

in 1992. He was originally hired to direct the voice talent, but as CD-ROMs became more popular, he began to experiment with recording

full motion video Full-motion video (FMV) is a video game narration technique that relies upon pre-recorded video files (rather than Sprite (computer graphics), sprites, vector graphics, vectors, or 3D models) to display action in the game. While many games featur ...

. In the ''

'' saga, Kucan portrays the series' most iconic character,

, the messianic/prophetic leader of a pseudo-religious mass movement with

transhumanist Transhumanism is a philosophical and intellectual movement that advocates the human enhancement, enhancement of the human condition by developing and making widely available new and future technologies that can greatly enhance longevity, cogni ...

ambitions called The Brotherhood of Nod. He is also featured in '' Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars'' and the subsequent expansion pack '' Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath'' for both PC and Xbox 360, where he reprises his role as Kane. This was the first entry in the series he did not direct. In 2008, Kucan was inducted into the Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition 2008 as the longest recurring actor in any video game franchise to date for his portrayal of Kane. He reprised his role once again as Kane in '' Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight'' which marked the conclusion of the ''Tiberian'' series and thus the role of Kane. In 2020, the role of Kane was again taken up by Kucan for a trailer for remasters of the original ''Command & Conquer'' and ''Red Alert''. He also helped

Petroglyph Games Petroglyph Games, Inc. is an American video game developer based in Las Vegas. It was founded in 2003 by Joe Bostic, Michael Legg and Steve Tall, programmers formerly of Westwood Studios, after that company was closed down earlier that year. H ...

out by providing old assets for the remasters in the form of old beta max tapes and CDs. In 2013, Kucan, along with his partner, Ann-Marie Pereth, and brother, Daniel Kucan, founded A Public Fit Theatre Company based in

Las Vegas, NV Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-larg ...

Games

* '' The Legend of Kyrandia - Book One'' (1992),

Virgin Games Avalon Interactive Group, Ltd., formerly known as Virgin Interactive Entertainment, was a British video game distributor based within Europe that formerly traded as the video game publishing and distributing division of British conglomerate the V ...

(voiced Brandon) * '' The Legend of Kyrandia - Book Two: The Hand of Fate'' (1993),

(voiced the narrator, implied to be Brandon) * '' Lands of Lore: The Throne of Chaos'' (1993),

(voiced Nathaniel the Herbalist / Phillip) * '' The Legend of Kyrandia - Book Three: Malcolm's Revenge'' (1994),

Virgin Interactive Avalon Interactive Group, Ltd., formerly known as Virgin Interactive Entertainment, was a British video game distributor based within Europe that formerly traded as the video game publishing and distributing division of British conglomerate the V ...

(voiced Brandon) * ''

Monopoly A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek and ) is a market in which one person or company is the only supplier of a particular good or service. A monopoly is characterized by a lack of economic Competition (economics), competition to produce ...

'' (1995),

Hasbro Interactive Hasbro Interactive, Inc. (Currently named Atari Interactive, Inc.) is the former video game subsidiary of board game and toy manufacturer Hasbro. Originally formed in 1995 and headquartered in Beverly, Massachusetts, Hasbro Interactive initially ...

* ''

'' (1995),

(played

and directed cut-scenes) * '' Command & Conquer: Red Alert'' (1996), Westwood Studios (played Kane and directed cut-scenes) * '' Lands of Lore II: Guardians of Destiny'' (1997), Avalon Interactive (directed cut-scenes) * ''

Blade Runner ''Blade Runner'' is a 1982 science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott from a screenplay by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples. Starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, and Edward James Olmos, it is an adaptation of Philip K. Di ...

'' (1997), Virgin Interactive (voiced Crazylegs Larry, wrote the script and directed voice-over) * ''

Dune 2000 ''Dune 2000'' is a real-time strategy video game, developed by Intelligent Games and published by Westwood Studios in 1998 for Microsoft Windows. It was later ported to the PlayStation in 1999. It is a partial remake of ''Dune II'', which is lo ...

'' (1998), Westwood Studios (directed cut-scenes) * '' Command & Conquer: Red Alert - Retaliation'' (1999), Westwood Studios (directed cut-scenes) * '' Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun'' (1999), Westwood Studios -

EA Games Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by former Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted ...

(played Kane and directed cut-scenes) * ''

Nox In atmospheric chemistry, is shorthand for nitric oxide () and nitrogen dioxide (), the nitrogen oxides that are most relevant for air pollution. These gases contribute to the formation of smog and acid rain, as well as affecting tro ...

'' (2000), Westwood Pacific (directed voice-over) * '' Command & Conquer: Firestorm'' (2000), Westwood Studios - EA Games (played Kane and directed cut-scenes) * '' Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2'' (2000), Westwood Studios - EA Games (directed cut-scenes) * '' Command & Conquer: Yuri's Revenge'' (2001), Westwood Studios - EA Games (directed cut-scenes) * '' Emperor: Battle for Dune'' (2001), Westwood Studios - EA Games (directed cut-scenes) * '' Command & Conquer: Renegade'' (2002), Westwood Studios - EA Games (voiced Kane and directed cut-scenes) * '' Pirates: The Legend of Black Kat'' (2002), Westwood Studios * '' Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars'' (2007),

EA Los Angeles Danger Close Games (formerly DreamWorks Interactive LLC and EA Los Angeles) was an American video game developer based in Los Angeles. The company was founded in March 1995 as joint venture between DreamWorks SKG and Microsoft (later moved to Mi ...

(played Kane) * '' Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath'' (2008), EA Los Angeles (played Kane) * '' Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight'' (2010), EA Los Angeles (played Kane) * ''

Command & Conquer Remastered Collection ''Command & Conquer: Remastered Collection'' is a compilation of real-time strategy video games developed by Petroglyph Games and published by Electronic Arts. It is a remaster of the first two titles in the video game series ''Command & Conquer ...

'' (2020), Petroglyph Games

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kucan, Joseph D. Living people American male film actors American male video game actors Place of birth missing (living people) Year of birth missing (living people) American male voice actors American casting directors Westwood Studios