Plenty of celebrities have lent their voices (or their likeness) to Black Ops Zombies in the past, so let’s take a look at some of the best cameos in the series’ history!
Longtime COD Zombies fans will no doubt have a favorite map that they keep coming back to, but we think more than a few fans will also have their favorite Crew.
Back before Black Ops Cold War, Zombie Crews were set casts of up to four characters, each with their own unique stories and dialogue to uncover.
And among these Crews were more than a few celebrity voice actors – here are our picks for the best cameos the series has to offer:
Michael Rooker – Call of the Dead
Game: Call of Duty: Black Ops
The first-ever celebrity map in COD Zombies history arrived as DLC for the original Black Ops.
In Call of the Dead, players control Robert Englund, Danny Trejo, Sarah Michelle Gellar, and Michael Rooker, a selection of incredible actors who each play themselves.
Each actor is a household name, but Michael Rooker had just recently been cast as Merle Dixon on The Walking Dead at the time of this map’s release.
Soon after his stint on the Zombies Crew, Rooker would go on to be cast as Yondu in Guardians of the Galaxy, which may be his most memorable role to date.
What’s more, this Zombie Crew of iconic actors are tasked with going up against legendary horror director George A. Romero, in a Zombies map that is still memorable to this day.
Now that round-based Zombies is back in Black Ops 6, we hope to see another celebrity cast appear in the not-so-distant future.
Ray Liotta – Mob of the Dead
Game: Call of Duty: Black Ops 2
Mob of the Dead is set on Alcatraz Island, featuring four mobsters who attempt to execute an escape plan during the night of a zombie outbreak.
These four mobsters are played by none other than Ray Liotta, Joe Pantoliano, Michael Madsen, and Chazz Palminteri, four legendary actors who feel right at home in their roles.
Liotta is best known for his roles in Field of Dreams and Goodfellas, but his portrayal of Billy Handsome in Mob of the Dead is often overlooked when recounting his hugely successful career.
Of course, this isn’t Liotta’s first video game role. The actor notably played Tommy Vercetti in GTA: Vice City, the first-ever voiced protagonist in Grand Theft Auto history.
However, this would be his second and final role in gaming before the actor passed away in 2022.
Jeff Goldblum – Shadows of Evil
Game: Call of Duty: Black Ops 3
Jeff Goldblum and Call of Duty Zombies is a match made in heaven, which is why it was so great to see the actor lending his voice to magician Nero Blackstone in Shadows of Evil.
The Black Ops 3 map features Goldblum starring alongside Ron Perlman, Heather Graham, and Neal McDonough, with Robert Picardo featured as the infamous Shadowman.
His character, who was crowned ‘Worst Magician of the Year’ in Magician’s Weekly, killed his wife in a staged accident in order to claim the insurance money and pay off his debts.
Goldblum is no stranger to voice acting for video games, but he’s usually tasked with portraying his Jurassic Park character: Dr. Ian Malcolm.
Getting to hear the actor play Nero Blackstone is, therefore, a refreshing change of pace and one that shouldn’t go forgotten.
We’ve got Shadows of Evil on our list of maps that need to return in Zombie Chronicles 2, and we’re certain few fans would disagree.
Helena Bonham Carter – Dead of the Night
Game: Call of Duty: Black Ops 4
In Black Ops 4’s Dead of the Night, players are once again forced to fight when the undead descend on a high-society party.
Among the party guests are celebrities such as Kiefer Sutherland, Brian Blessed, Charles Dance, and Helena Bonham Carter.
Carter, for her part, portrays Christina Fowler, also known by her stage persona: Madame Mirela. A phony psychic, Fowler makes her living as a master con artist.
Unfortunately, we’ve almost certainly seen the last of Helena Bonham Carter in Black Ops Zombies, given that she’s swiftly beheaded by Dark Godfrey at the conclusion of the map’s storyline.
Honorable Mention: John F. Kennedy & Richard Nixon – Five
Game: Call of Duty: Black Ops
When the original Black Ops storyline comes to an end, players immediately find themselves in a meeting set in The Pentagon.
There, they witness President John F. Kennedy having a sit down with former President Richard Nixon, as well as Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara and Prime Minister of Cuba, Fidel Castro.
But when zombie hordes begin to attack, the meeting participants must gear up to face the undead forces head-on —a task that they all seem more than ready to handle.
This is the first and last time we ever saw a former US President appear as a playable character in COD Zombies, and we remember it blowing our minds at the time.
But with Black Ops 6 already teasing the likes of George H. W. Bush alongside Saddam Hussein, Margaret Thatcher and more, could Treyarch be willing to revisit putting real historic leaders in its Zombies mode?