Celebs Who Have Serious Gaming Skills
In years past, hardcore gamers were often stereotyped as losers, nerds, or overweight middle-aged men living in their parents' basement. With the advent of online video game streaming services like Twitch and the rising popularity of eSports, being known as a gamer doesn't hold the stigma it used to. These days, being great at video games is something to be proud of, and lots of people now make their living doing what they love as full-time professional gamer or Twitch streamer.
Even superstar athletes, actors, and musicians — like Snoop Dogg — have come out of the woodwork to profess their love of video games and proudly show off their gaming prowess. Some of them have even set up their own Twitch channels to interact with fans during their downtime. Obviously, being famous doesn't automatically make you a great gamer, but some celebs have serious gaming skills. Find out which of them could kick your butt in Overwatch by checking out our list of celebrities that have gone from fame to game.
T-Pain
He was born Faheem Rashad Najm, but you probably know him better as T-Pain. This Tallahassee native started his career as a rapper, but his 2005 debut album Rappa Ternt Sanga made him famous for his singing and his creative use of Auto-Tune vocal effects. Several albums and two Grammy Awards later, T-Pain is still dropping hot tracks as well as producing hit records for other artists.
Although his musical career is still going strong, T-Pain manages to find time for his love of video games. He even regularly streams on Twitch! You don't have to be a pro gamer to be a Twitch streamer, but T-Pain has gaming skills in spades. He regularly streams while playing FPS games like Doom and Overwatch, and his hilarious (and totally NSFW) clips prove that he's no slouch. T-Pain's gaming skills apparently run in the family; his daughter Lyriq sometimes joins her dad on his stream to show him up, like this awesome Play of the Game with McCree.
Sam Witwer
Science fiction and superhero drama fans are no doubt familiar with actor Sam Witwer for his roles as Lt. Crashdown in the Battlestar Galactica reboot and as Doomsday's paramedic alter-ego Davis Bloome in Smallville. Additionally, Witwer's voice-acting skills have made him something of a legend in the Star Wars fandom. He portrayed legendary Dark Jedi Galen Marek (Starkiller) in the 2008 video game Star Wars: The Force Unleashed and its sequel, The Force Unleashed II. Witwer also voiced Emperor Palpatine in those games and several others, and has played Darth Maul in the animated shows Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars: Rebels.
However, Witwer is just as skilled at gaming as he is at acting. He loves RPGs in particular, and you can often find him doing crazy impressions and playing his favorite video games on Twitch. These include games he's voiced characters in, like The Force Unleashed and Battlefront II, and other games like XCOM 2 and the classic 1997 PC adventure Blade Runner. Although he usually streams solo, keep an eye on Witwer's channel for special streams with some of his celebrity friends, like Freddie Prinze Jr. and Janina Gavinkar.
Deadmau5
For composer and record producer Deadmau5, his electronic music career and his gaming obsession go hand-in-hand. This six-time Grammy Award nominee grew up playing video games, and he says the soundtracks in games like Castlevania were among his earliest musical influences. That inspiration has come full-circle today, as Deadmau5's music and his likeness have appeared in dozens of video games, and you can even get a version of his iconic helmet as an in-game item in Rocket League.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Deadmau5 is a frequent Twitch streamer, too. His channel showcases his skills in games like Overwatch and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds: one of his most popular clips features Deadmau5 taking out well-known streamer Dr DisRespect in PUBG. Deadmau5's streams also give viewers an inside look into his creative music production process; fans were watching live when he discovered the vocalist for his popular track "The Veldt." Recently, Deadmau5 decided he doesn't want to just play video games: he wants to make them, too. In early 2018, he announced that he's currently developing a first-person shooter with the Unreal Engine, and he even streamed some alpha gameplay on his channel.
Ice-T
He became famous in the early 1990s for his rap albums O.G. Original Gangster and Body Count, but Ice-T isn't just a rapper: he's a modern-day Renaissance Man. After Original Gangster topped the charts, Ice-T turned his success into a versatile career as a rapper, musician, and record producer. He's also made a name for himself in Hollywood as a prolific actor, starring as Detective Odafin Tutuola in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit since 2000.
In addition to all these skills, Ice-T is also a prolific gamer. Like Deadmau5, Ice-T has had his fair share of video game appearances, including in UFC: Tapout, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (as Madd Dogg), and in Gears of War 3 as Aaron Griffin. Although he doesn't stream on Twitch, Ice-T loves to talk about gaming and isn't shy about handing out his Xbox gamertag: LORD 187X. He's beaten both BioShock and Fallout: New Vegas, but his gaming skills really shine in multiplayer first-person shooters like the Call of Duty series. Don't believe us? Just check out his Modern Warfare 2 accolades.
Hunter Pence
San Francisco Giants left-fielder Hunter Pence is what we'd call a "two-sport athlete": he's a professional baseball player AND a gamer. This two-time World Series Champion is an all-star when it comes to video games, too. Pence cut his teeth on games like Warcraft III, and remains a dedicated Blizzard fanatic to this day. Back during the Burning Crusade expansion of World of Warcraft, Pence spent hours in the PvP arena, playing some 250+ matches a month and even earning the "Gladiator" title (top 0.1%) with an enhancement shaman. What's more, this was back when the WoW arena rankings were still calculated with Elo ratings, which makes his Gladiator achievement even more impressive.
Pence still plays plenty of WoW today (and still gets invited to join pro arena teams), but recently, he has been gravitating towards online collectible card games like Hearthstone and Magic: The Gathering. When he isn't busy training for his day job at AT&T Park, Pence streams these games (and others) on his Twitch channel.
Demetrious Johnson
In 2012, Demetrious Johnson took home the championship belt and emerged as a dominant force in the UFC's newly created flyweight division. Since then, Johnson — also known as "Mighty Mouse" — has successfully defended his championship title eleven times in a row. Although his career as a mixed martial artist is still going strong, Johnson could always pay the bills as a professional gamer if he ever decides to retire from the UFC. For the last several years, Johnson has streamed several times a week on Twitch and built up an impressive following of more than 150,000 fans. You can usually find Johnson playing PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, although he's also been known to stream while playing Fortnite, H1Z1, and UFC 3 (as himself, of course).
Johnson definitely has the personality and the gaming skills to make it as a full-time Twitch streamer. His channel features the same high energy and hilarious antics he's known for in the UFC Octagon, like the time the USADA came knocking during his stream, or when he celebrated an impressive PUBG kill so hard that he actually hurt himself.
Trevor May
You probably know Trevor May best as an up-and-coming relief pitcher for the Minnesota Twins, but this professional baseball player has several surprising hidden talents. May is also a hobbyist DJ, spinning records at parties and dropping his own EDM house tracks under the aliases "DJ Hey Beef" and "DJ MAZR." If that weren't enough, May also is a dedicated gamer and streams regularly on his Twitch channel to over 17,000 followers. Although you'd imagine a Major League pitcher probably spent his childhood playing baseball at every opportunity, May admits that as a teen, his summers were mostly spent indoors playing World of Warcraft in his basement.
Since 2017, May has been streaming on Twitch nearly every day while on the disabled list and recovering from Tommy John surgery. He's been putting the time off to good use, honing his skills in games like Fortnite and Overwatch, and picking up legendaries in World of Warcraft. Check out this clip of him wrecking his opponents in Fortnite, or this Overwatch match where he kills five players in a matter of seconds.
Steve Aoki
Superstar DJ Steve Aoki is famous for his electro house tracks and massive world tours, but we doubt that many of the EDM fans who flock to his concerts know that he's also a massive video game enthusiast. This Grammy Award nominee certainly has enough on his plate as a musician, record producer, clothing designer, and restaurateur, but he still makes time to include gaming on the side and in his career. He's a major Call of Duty fanatic and a former co-owner of the successful eSports team, Rogue. Like Deadmau5, Aoki has even branched out from playing games to making them: check out his endless-runner gambling game Neon Dream. Aoki also has his own Twitch channel, and while he doesn't stream as often as some of the other celebrities on our list, he definitely has skills. If you don't believe us, just watch this clip of Aoki racking up three quick kills in a charity Overwatch match with Gerard May of My Chemical Romance, or this clip of him wrecking retired NBA player (and fellow eSports investor) Rick Fox in Injustice 2.
Post Malone
Rapper and songwriter Austin Post (a.k.a. Post Malone) made waves in the hip-hop world after the release of his hit 2010 single, "White Iverson." Since then, the Texas native has kept the hits coming, releasing the double-platinum album Stoney in 2016 and topping the charts with the song "Rockstar" off his 2018 album Beerbongs & Bentleys, which went platinum just four days after its release.
Along with his accomplishments in the music industry, Post is also an accomplished gamer and has his own Twitch channel with over 350,000 followers. Although he frequently pokes fun at himself with stream titles like "Post Malone Sucks," don't believe his self-deprecation: Post actually has some serious gaming skills, especially when it comes to first-person shooter games like Call of Duty and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds. His back catalog of Twitch clips are full of hilarious and awesome moments, but our favorite is this one, where Post takes out the entire opposing team in Call of Duty: WWII.
Karl Anthony Towns
Former NBA Rookie of the Year and Minnesota Timberwolves center Karl Anthony Towns has got game both on and off the basketball court. In his 2017-2018 season, Towns racked up an amazing 68 double-doubles — the most in the NBA — and made it onto the 2018 NBA All-Star team. Although you'd think all that running up and down the court would wear him out, Towns doesn't let his busy NBA schedule keep him from playing his favorite video games, or from gaming all night long when he's got a basketball game the next day.
On his Twitch channel, Towns has been known to play some "just for fun" titles, like the awesomely hilarious Duck Game, but Towns' gaming skills really shine in PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds and the sandbox survival game Fortnite. Although we doubt the Timberwolves' coach would be happy about Towns playing Fortnite until 6:00 AM on game day, we're glad he does when it means we get to watch him pull off clutch kills like this one.