Ashly Burch on AI fears, iconic roles, and a new passion project

Ashly Burch is someone I’ve admired for a long time. That admiration originated simply out of the fact that she’s really at the heart of several of my favourite video games. From Life is Strange to Horizon Zero Dawn, Ashly’s voice has practically soundtracked and accompanied various eras of my life, but it’s in recent years that I’ve developed a deep appreciation for who Ashly is away from her impressively extensive list of iconic characters.

You see, Ashly is a shining light within this industry. For me, video games are escapism. They’re equal parts fun and relaxing - depending on what it is that you’re playing, of course. And then there’s the wonderful sense of community that accompanies that; something which manifests in many forms. Whether it’s the creatives I connect with, the players I encounter online, or the fellow journalists I reunite with at events, there’s something really special when a shared passion brings so many people together. But the video game industry isn’t all sunshine and rainbows.

There’s toxicity present too, as well concerns surrounding the use of AI or the rising cost of both hardware and software, but if you ask me, it’s people like Ashly that in those moments of concern, remind you of all that is good. She isn’t just a familiar voice. Ashly is a defender of this art form, standing up against the use of AI not for her own sake, but for the performers who may not otherwise be able to get a foot in the door. She’s a mental health advocate, championing productive conversations on the topic within communities that might otherwise be afraid to touch upon it. And she just thinks video games are cool and important, and I think the more people that shout that from the rooftops, the better.

You can imagine my delight then when I recently had the opportunity to sit down with Ashly, a person who is just as kind, intelligent, and inspiring as I’d hoped. Naturally, I was itching to ask about several of my favourite roles of hers - and I did eventually do exactly that - but first, it’s a new passion project of Ashly’s that I was keen to discuss.

Ashly is the leading creative force behind a new online series, I’m Happy You’re Here, an adult-aimed show that aims to encourage productive discussions of mental health. It approaches the topic though with a sense of accessibility; it’s both thorough and comedically light, hoping to dispel the taboo surrounding the topic. It’s an idea that Ashly explained has been brewing within her for the past decade. As for why now is the perfect time to bring it to life, Ashly told me this: “Now is the perfect time to make it, because now is the time that I actually got myself to do it.”

“It’s probably not a surprise to anyone that given that it’s a show about mental health and that I have an anxiety disorder, it’s something that’s meant a lot to me for a long time,” Ashly explained. “I think I was just scared of starting, of betting on myself and the project and just going for it. Ultimately, I was talking to my friend A.J. LoCascio - who is also a games actor and voices a few characters in the show - and he said, ‘We can just make this, you know. You don’t have to ask permission. We could just find a way to make it,’ and it just landed with me in a way that I knew he was right.”

“We needed to make this happen,” she continued. [Mental health] has, unfortunately, only become more relevant, I think, as a topic. People are, at least in my country right now, struggling a lot. There’s a lot of fear and uncertainty, and I think people need support. The impetus of this show was specifically that it should be for adults. We talk a lot about the mental health of kids, as we should, and there’s a lot of support and education and entertainment around that subject, but for adults? I have a lot of friends who are just recently getting diagnosed with things. They’re in their 30s or 40s, and they’re getting depression or ADHD diagnoses, or they have a loved one that's suffering from addiction, or they're going through a divorce.”

“There's just all sorts of stuff that's heavy and no one teaches you how to deal with it, and so that's really a big part of the show. It’s acknowledging that we all still need help. It's not like you hit 30 and all of a sudden you're good, and you don't need anyone to hold your hand and tell you that you're okay, you know? But also, because it's a show for adults, there are curses and sex jokes.”

“It’s affirming and cosy and educational, but also funny. That’s the thing for me. I’ve had my fair share of dark nights of the soul and so I want to talk about this stuff in a way that’s earnest and authentic. Let’s remove the stigma and make it a little easier to absorb,” Ashly explained.

It’s only when Ashly unpacked the concept of the show that I was hit with the realisation that it’s pretty shocking that little else has really emerged within those parameters. Certainly, mental health is something that in recent years has been far more widely discussed, but it’s still done so in a very taboo manner. Many feel scared to admit how they feel for fear of being seen as ‘damaged’ or ‘broken’ which, of course, isn’t true. Ashly’s project, I’m Happy You’re Here, feels like a wonderful way to normalise these types of discussions.

I was curious to discover whether I’m Happy You’re Here came about perhaps because of a lack of opportunity to explore the topic of mental health elsewhere in Ashly’s career.

“Yeah,” she pondered. “I've done talks before and presentations about anxiety, or made little projects here and there of how games have helped me but I don’t think I’ve worked on anything that so directly talks about mental health.”

“I’ve done things that I’m very grateful people have told me have helped them. Like when I’ve met fans and they tell me, ‘This game got me through a difficult time,’ or whatever it happens to be, which is amazing. The big thing about this project though is the discussion being really explicit.”

She continued, “This first episode is about anxiety because for me, growing up, I was really confused about what was happening to me. You know, you’re getting all these intrusive thoughts. I had no idea how to talk about them. I felt a lot of shame, and it wasn't until I found a forum online of people talking about the exact same thing that I was like, ‘Oh, there's a name for this. I've not completely lost my mind.’ I'm Happy You’re Here is very much inspired by Mister Rogers and Mister Rogers always used to say, ‘If it's mentionable, it's manageable’. That's a big part of discussing mental health for me, breaking it down into its component parts and really looking at it. When we do that, it’s not as scary and it’s not as heavy or hard to talk about.”

Viewers will undoubtedly feel challenged in some way if they’ve not opened up about their mental health before. Of course, though, it was also a daunting experience for Ashly herself to embark on, creating a project that is so deeply personal.

“There's definitely a feeling of, like, this is the most of me I've ever put into a project, probably,” she told me. “I'm the host of it. I wrote it, and I've been trying to make it for ages. And so there is this sort of anticipation of ‘Oh my god, it's coming out.’ It’s both excitement and also a feeling of ‘Oh no, people are going to see my guts.’ You know? But in a way, that kind of feels like the perfect feeling to have about the show, because that’s what it’s about - talking about what’s going on inside.”

“I will say that I've been open about having an anxiety disorder for a long time. Talking about it has sort of helped make it mundane. It has taken the charge out where, now, it’s just a thing about me. That is ultimately one of the goals of the show. How can we make talking about this fun and comforting, but ultimately mundane, and something that doesn’t have to be scary to look at?”

Examining things that scare us is a sentiment that aptly led us on to the next chapter of our conversation. AI is an inescapable topic, as much as it pains me to say so. You may have heard about AI on the news, or discussed within your workplace or place of study. You’ve likely seen AI slop muddying up your social media feed, or those online debating its pros and cons. Perhaps you’ve participated, although I’d urge you not to, in AI image-generation trends, or read Google’s AI search summary despite the fact that it’s so often wrong. It’s frightening, really, what the technology is capable of. And yes, of course, there are ways in which AI can be beneficial, but we’re living within what I’d call a concerning age of unregulated experimentation.

That’s something Ashly knows all too well. As a member of SAG-AFTRA, Ashly has recently been on strike; the Screen Actors Guild initiated a labour strike on 26 July 2024 after video game companies failed to comply with the union’s terms of contract regarding its voice actor and motion capture members. Essentially, the union was seeking protections regarding the use of AI. SAG-AFTRA argued that an actor’s voice or likeness should not be replicated without consent or compensation. Something, I’m sure you can agree, sounds more than reasonable. As of 11 June 2025, the strike has been suspended after a tentative agreement was finally reached.

“I really love games. I’ve always wanted to be a games actor,” Ashly said, several weeks before the strike was suspended. “I can’t speak for every actor involved with the union but, you know, what we’re asking for is not a moratorium on this tool. If using AI can help make devs' lives easier, then I would love for them to use it. The issue arises if using this tool either displaces people or it's going to be used to do something that the actor would find troubling.”

“I’ve looked at some stuff and, you know, the [Fortnite] Vader AI has said slurs and offensive remarks and I just know that for me, that would really bother me if a digital replica was made of me and players were allowed to interact with it and were getting it to say things that I don’t believe in or that I would find really offensive.”

Ashly continued, “The three big words that we're always using in terms of the strike is that we want consent, we want transparency, and we want compensation. Right now, without getting into contract weeds, there’s something called a mandatory subject of bargaining. No game company can create a digital replica of an actor and then just start using it, because we're bargaining about it right now, so there's basically a stoppage on that kind of thing. But if we don't get protections in place, then there's a world in which someone could just make a digital replica of me and do whatever they want with it.”

“It's really scary,” she said. “One of the main things that we're asking for is that you have to ask me if it’s okay for you to make a digital replica of me. You have to get my consent first and if you get my consent, then you need to be transparent about how you’re using my likeness. I need to know if you’re planning on making it say anything that I would not want to be saying or that I wouldn’t want to be doing. Then there’s compensation. If you’re going to be using a robot version of me in place of a session that I may have worked, I’m losing money so I need to be compensated for that.”

Ashly was keen to point out that it isn’t just her own rights she’s fighting for.

“For actors coming up, a lot of the roles that AI could potentially displace are the roles that I cut my teeth on, you know? The MOBA characters, or the NPCs that have a really short quest. These are things that when you are coming up are the difference between you making rent or not, and they are also the ways that you develop your craft and become an actor that can take on larger roles,” she told me.

“Really, what this is about is sustainability. We’re not saying, ‘Don’t use this tool.’ All I’ve ever wanted to do was be a games voice actor, and now there are more hopefuls than ever because of how ubiquitous games are. [...] It just breaks my heart, the idea that they could have that door slammed in their face before they even begin. I want this craft to be something that people can aspire to and to specialise in. It is, to me, extremely common sense, what we're asking for. It's extremely reasonable, and I'm really hoping that the bargaining group can finally see and agree to that.”

Common sense and reasonable are the exact thoughts that sprung into my own mind. Quite frankly, it astounds and upsets me that a satisfactory conclusion took this long to reach. You may recall that film and television actors previously went on strike in 2023, with that strike lasting for four months. The video game equivalent has just drawn to a close after 11. As we spoke several weeks before the strike’s suspension, I was keen to ask Ashly if she felt the video game community could do anything to help rally support.

“Yeah, I think that the big thing is understanding what we're asking for and dispelling misinformation,” she replied. “Every time that there is a strike or labour dispute, the employers have their talking points and we have our talking points. When you really look at the proposals, and you compare them, as you say, what we are asking for is so deeply reasonable. We're basically asking for ‘Can we keep it more or less the same?’ and what the employers are asking for is a sort of green light to exploit our work. And so really understanding the difference between what we're asking for and helping to dispel that misinformation when you see it.”

If you ask me, it’s pivotal that we support performers. After all, they really do bring heart and soul to the games we play. As I said, Ashly has been a key part of some of my personal favourites, not least of all Horizon Zero Dawn and Horizon Forbidden West. We may not all be tasked with saving the world and fighting giant machines, but Aloy’s plight is one packed with relatability. Horizon Zero Dawn is a story of discovering your own strength, while Forbidden West reminds you that that strength can be bolstered by your relationships with those around you. That, to me, is both relatable and comforting - and I told Ashly as much. Of course, I had to ask about her own personal attachments to Aloy.

“I appreciate that you mentioned that, because I do really love that about Forbidden West,” she began. “What moves me so much about Aloy is in the first game, it's sort of a tragic story in a way. Here's this person that's been outcast from her people; the only family she's ever had is Rost. That's her whole goal in the game, to find out who her mother is. From my perspective, or the way that I was playing it, is that when I find this out, everything will be okay and I will feel a part of something, like I belong to something.”

“And what she finds out is that she never had a mother and that she's a clone, and that she has this extremely huge responsibility. There’s that scene with Sylens when he’s basically asking ‘What’s the big deal? You’re the most important person on the planet,’ and she’s devastated. She didn’t want to be the most important person on the planet. She wanted to have a mother, and it’s such a human desire that feeling of wanting to belong. And the discovery she makes at the end of Zero Dawn only makes her feel even more distant from everyone she’s ever known.”

“What I love about Forbidden West is her journey becomes ‘If Elizabet is not my mom, I will emulate her and I will make her proud,’ and what she discovers is that Elizabet was an island, but she doesn’t need to be. By the end, it’s about trying to be her own person and discovering I do need to let these people in, I do love these people.”

Of course while Aloy is a widely beloved character, The Last of Us Part II’s Mel may not have quite so large of a fanbase. If you’re a regular around these parts then you may know The Last of Us Part II is my favourite story in existence - a bold claim, I know. I’ve always been fascinated by the tension between Mel and Abby as let’s face it, they don’t see eye to eye. Owen dating both characters certainly is a large part of that, but I was eager for Ashly to unpack the thought processes she had when bringing Mel to life.

“It’s two things,” Ashly said. “There is that sort of brutality that Abby had with Joel that I think did disturb her. There’s a sort of general feeling that Abby went too far. But then also the way I played her was with the feeling that whatever Abby and Owen had isn’t over. Mel has enough emotional awareness to know that.”

“I sort of pictured it in my head that she’s caught Owen looking in a meaningful way a couple of times, or she’s seen them talking at a party by themselves and wondered, you know? That kind of thing of this person you’re with not being over their ex. There’s a sort of tension of, ‘No, it’s okay. I can trust him. It’s fine,’ and, ‘No, I think he’s still in love with her,’ but also trying to push that feeling down.”

“It’s that sort of combination, or even maybe that Mel uses the Joel experience to justify her resentment. But it’s really that she is worried that what ends up happening is going to happen, which is that Owen is going to sleep with Abby again, or leave her for Abby. Because I think the connection that Owen and Abby have is one of those that just burns bright and hot. Whether you’ve been in it or had a friend in it, those instances where people are not good for each other, but they just keep getting drawn back together. Mel is the safe choice Owen made but he didn’t actually quite make the choice. Would they even still be together if she hadn’t gotten pregnant?”

It wouldn’t be a whistlestop tour through Ashly’s most iconic characters if I didn’t finish with Life is Strange’s Chloe. While it’s been quite a number of years since Ashly portrayed the character, Chloe hit the headlines last year after it was revealed in Life is Strange: Double Exposure that Chloe and Max had broken up offscreen if Chloe survived the events of the first game. I asked Ashly what the experience was like watching such a major (and controversial) development for Chloe unfold without directly being a part of the project herself.

“It’s a strange experience,” she told me - an apt phrasing.

“When you are hired for a job as an actor, there is a feeling of you taking ownership [of a character]. You try to embody and put all that you have into them but then at a certain point, you have to let them go because the project ends, or whatever.”

“This character [Chloe] doesn’t legally belong to me but I still have this very strong attachment to her. She’s one of my, I think, most important characters. I feel like I learned how to become an actor and how to embody a character and how to go to certain places emotionally by playing Chloe, so I have a lot of affection and a lot of attachment to her.”

She continued, “Yeah, it's bizarre. It's a bit like - it's such a trite comparison - but it sometimes feels like watching your kid go off to college or something. You're kind of like, ‘Look, you have to make your own choices now.’ It's an odd thing. And I guess it's also sort of part and parcel of the gig that at a certain point, you hand the keys over.”

And with that, our time drew to a close.

I’m Happy You’re Here’s first episode is available to view for free online from today via YouTube.