Ten celebrities who play World of Warcraft

First of all, I should come clean about something.

I’m not really a Warcraft player or fan. Over the past few weeks I’ve had to report on a number of World of Warcraft events (see here and here). This has allowed me to meet and befriend many hardcore players and given me a better understanding of the game. These days, I’d describe myself as more of a WoW sympathiser.

But this new-found interest led me to think, out of more than 11 million players worldwide, some of these people have got to be famous. So here, in no particular order, is a top ten list of Warcraft-playing celebrities:

10. Dave Chappelle

British audiences may not be too familiar with Dave Chappelle (maybe you caught him in The Nutty Professor telling your mama jokes with Eddie Murphy? No? You missed out). He’s actually one of the most popular comedians on the planet, with a hit show Stateside.

"You know what I've been playing a lot of?" the comedian reportedly asked a crowd a few years back. "World of Warcraft!" When a few cheers broke out, he responded, "I knew I had some geek brothers and sisters up in here!"

9. William Shatner

Celebrities that appeared in World of Warcraft adverts also play the game apparently. That advances this list quite a bit, so I won’t use them all. For example, I’ve deliberately missed out Steve Van Sant from The Sopranos (for not having a long enough spot) and John Claude van Damme (for talking in French).

First up is Denny Crane from Boston Legal Captain Kirk from Star Trek:

8. Mr T

A night-elf Mohawk (and don’t try to tell him otherwise…)

7. Verne Troyer

Mini-me is a Mage.

6. Kevin Werbach

Who? OK, so Mr Werbach isn’t strictly a celebrity. But he gets into this list because he is influential. He has the ear of President-elect Obama and is on the changemonger's transition team. More importantly, he’s part of not one, but two guilds.

5. Matt Stone and 4. Trey Parker

The South Park creators wrote an episode based on the game. It was so good it won an Emmy. There’s no way they could have done that episode which is filled with so many Warcraft in-jokes without having played the game first.

Watch the episode here.

3. Jay Mohr

You may have spotted this actor as the evil agent in Jerry McGuire, or on his guest appearances in shows like the West Wing and Scrubs. But he’s something of a World of Warcraft comedian, and hosted the proceedings at Blizzcon - the Warcraft convention in Anaheim, California - this year.

I was there. Jay was hilarious throughout. This is my favourite moment from the weekend – when he starts to ride the mount of the winner of the costume contest.

2. Mila Kunis

She plays Meg in Family Guy and was great in Forgetting Sarah Marshall. What are her gamer credentials? When she was quizzed about her WoW knowledge, she could name 8 of the 10 playable races. For goodness sake.

1. Macaulay Culkin

When Mila started to struggle with the questions, her boyfriend Macaulay “Home Alone” Culkin got involved.

He’s a level 70 Paladin apparently.

So there.

Comments

[fiona]

I wonder if any of these have created their Death Knights yet, be interesting to find out!! And only 1 level 70, I have three 70's and my DK is 64 now, be 65 by the end of today :)

[Jeff]

Jay Mohr doesn't play Warcraft. While he did indeed perform at the last two Blizzcon's, he repeatedly made remarks about how he never played the game and didn't really understand what was going on around him while he was hosting.

[Andrew Seely]

What about Felicia Day. While not the most "mainstream" celeb, she's a HUGE internet celeb and is a DIEHARD WoW player, her web-series The Guild is loosely based off of her time spend with WoW. Season 2 just launched today and is one of the most talked about web series.

[Raist]

you missed George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher from Cannibal Corpse

[NeoA]

I love seeing stuff like this, my mom can barely surf the internet but she plays wow like she was born there. Its common knowledge, but its always good to see some people you'd figure had no real reason to play it, playing it. :D

[Raist]

you missed George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher from Cannibal Corpse

[vinDiesel]

you totally left out Vin Diesel?!

according to wikipedia:

According to an interview with Curt Schilling, Vin Diesel has a huge interest in World of Warcraft, as evidenced by the installation of a computer game system on one of his cars.[15]

[innerlogic]

They all suck!

(except for Trey & Matt) <3 <3 <3

[Kat]

You forgot Brandon Routh, the most recent Superman.

[jim]

umm...dave chapelle should definetely be #1 instead of 10

[Wow_Addict]

Mila Kunis is very hot. i didn't know she played WoW. i wonder how often she plays or what class she plays

[Moondance]

Don't forget Vin Diesel. I have played with him in game and I have seen him talk about WOW on David Letterman. Getting on Teamspeak with him was... surreal to say the least.

[Joe]

Wow, I thought Mckully was dead, havent heard from him since home alone 2!!!!

[Lord Powerbang]

You forgot George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher from Cannibal Corpse.

Macaulay Culkins level 70 PLD link is broken, its linked to mila kunis'

[czechyoself]

I knew the South Park creators must have dabbled in it. That episode was hilarious!

[DJAx3L]

WOW really sucks. Get a life and stop playing videogames. Most of you aren-t children anymore.

[Angel Rainn]

I used to enjoy all kinds of computer games and tried a lot of them. Of course due to my talent to get bored very quickly I never finished them. So, after a while instead of playing them I started to keep myself informed on news, latest games publishings and all the stuff related to games. Now I can find all the games news and reviews on PC District.com.

[Darth Vader]

Quote:

"You forgot George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher from Cannibal Corpse."

I think they said celebrities.

[Vargar]

@DJAX3L
I guess I should do adult things, like go to the bar and get drunk. My wife would love that! Games aren't just for kids man. Come on out of the 80's.

[Zero]

So even some stars have no life?

[Trevor T]

I dunno if it's been mentioned yet, but you forgot George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher from Cannibal Corpse.

FYI

[Dan]

Curt Schilling and Vin Diesel also said they played.

Curt had a 70 Hunter on Whisperwind, he linked his character's armory on his blog.

Vin is a big D&D nerd, there is an interview with him where the interviewer challenges him with a D&D scenario, and he promptly responds, in a totally straight face, "What are my skill and abilities."

[SithLordMohawk]

You also forgot Masi Oka from HEROES. Hugh Laurie from HOUSE. Robin Williams, if you don't know who he is....well just shoot yourself now. Cameron Diaz, do I have to say what she has done? Kate Beckinsale from UNDERWORLD. Hell, even Tonya Harding plays WoW. Doesn't seem you put way too much effort to find out who plays if you forgot to add these people, but put Macaulay Culkin on the list. You just got an EPIC FAIL for shoddy research.

[Randomguy]

No mention of George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher from Cannibal Corpse??!? Buried...