South of Midnight's Adriyan Rae nominated for Golden Joystick Award - Interview

Written by Joseph Moorer on 10/19/2025 for XSX  

 

Following her nomination for Lead Role in a Video Game at the Golden Joystick Awards, I got the chance to interview Adriyan Rae. She was absolutely delightful, and once the ice broke, 20 minutes seemed like there wasn't enough time. She is the only black female actor nominated for her role as Hazel Flood, the protagonist for South of Midnight, by Compulsion Games and Microsoft. 

You can go vote for her for best lead actor, and South of Midnight for best soundtrack, if you so choose. You can also vote as many times as you want, and all the way up to October 31st. The Awards take place on November 20, 2025, in London. There are 22 categories, you know, because it's been a pretty great year for video games. 

Below is the transcript for the interview. It has been edited heavily, by hand, because if I wrote like we talked, our editors would have an absolute fit. The video and the podcast variants are also peppered in below, in case you'd prefer that. And away we go. 

Joseph: There she is. You're looking at her! She's right here, in front of me, you know? I played her game, I listened to her voice throughout the whole game, and now, y'all, she's in front of me. That's her. Ladies and gentlemen, Adriyan Ray is here with Gaming Nexus. Thank you for being here.

Adriyan: Thank you. Thank you for having me.

Joseph: I got all kinds of questions, but first, can I give you your flowers?

Adriyan: I love flowers!

Joseph: Okay, great.  What y'all don't know about Adriyan Ray is she went to college in Philadelphia at the University of Sciences, double majoring in Physician Assistant Studies and Medical Laboratory Science. After completing both degrees, not one, both degrees, she became a certified medical laboratory scientist.

Adriyan: Yes. To this day.

Joseph: Then she started her acting career, probably before Burning Sands, (in) the independent feature, Burning Sands, yes? This is all on her IMDB. I'm not making this up. She was in Atlanta, and she is in “The Game” on Paramount+. However, the best part for me here is that she was mentored vocally as a recording artist by Mr. Michael Keith of 112!

Adriyan: Yes!

Joseph: You mean (singing) "I see you, looking at me. I can tell..." 112!?

Adriyan: Yes!!

Joseph: You have to tell me about that.

Adriyan: You're the only person who's ever asked about Michael. So, Michael is my rock star uncle. What's so funny is, 112 is all this smooth R&B, but Michael is really this edgy rock star as a personality. He's so cool! I met him because I was working with Carl Payne, at acting class, and he had an opening. Michael came. And someone was like, "Oh, you know, Adriyan likes to sing", and he was like, “Oh, for real? Let me hear you sing!”, and he was like, “Let me put you with this person. Let's work together. We can do this!”. He just took me under his wing, and to this day, he's Unc. When I tell you, I love Michael, he's just so fire, and he's just always been there for me, and he's super, super, super solid.

Joseph: You're just walking around calling the dude from 112 unc(le), and I'm sitting here with you. Does that make me a cousin? Are we cousins now?

Adriyan: Basically! So, you know 112, they got the choreo(graphy)? I know the choreo, because I've been there. I've met them all! They're great people!

Joseph: So, you, you actually have songs out in the wild that people can, find and…

Adriyan: (pause) We’re here for South of Midnight.

 

Joseph: We ARE here for South of Midnight! Sorry! I'm just…we’re going to find it. That's what we're gonna do. We are going to find it, alright? We are here to talk about South of Midnight. First of all, You were excellent. How does this come about? How did you get into video games?

Adriyan: So, I remember telling (my agent), because I do a lot of different voices. I have a great little baby voice, I have a great monster voice, I have a teenage voice, I could be a little boy. I could be a kid from Rugrats. I have so many different voices that I can do, and I'm very animated. I was telling my agent, my manager, that I want to do Disney. I wanna do voiceover, I wanna do Nickelodeon. And he said okay. So, at the time, I was with an agency called A3, who are no longer a TV film agency. They said, “Okay, we'll take her on for voice”. And I was just in my closet recording stuff on my phone.

Joseph: That's how it starts.

Adriyan: Right! And I booked a CBS drop for Star Trek. (Eric Hauter, Editor in Chief, lost his mind, and scolded me for not following up on this.) And then right after that, I booked a video game. So I do these auditions in the midst of the TV show. I'll go home from this, and I’ll have 4 auditions to record. Two for this Marvel project, two for Gabby's dollhouse, you know, whatever it is. I go, and I do my auditions, and I booked this video game on the last day of doing Chicago Fire. I go, do the game, and I learn a lot.

They tell me what it's like to suit up, put the stuff on me, and tee in, tee out, but I’ve never seen the game, because it never came out. So I never got to see the finished product, but I learned a lot. For this one, my agents just submitted it, and for me, it's really, really great, because most of them are just voice auditions, but I'm so accustomed to doing self-tapes for TV and film. When they have me do on-camera auditions for voiceovers, I'm like, yes! So, this one was an on-camera audition, and I went and did that, and I loved it. I loved it from the name, because my great aunt's name was Hazel, and she passed 2 weeks before I got the audition. So…Right?!

Joseph: Come on, man. 

Adriyan: And she’s from North Carolina! 

Joseph: Come on!

Adriyan: I KNOW! My mom was like “Look, Aunt Hazel is blessing you. I said, I know. So it resonated with me from the jump. Shout out to my agents. They work really, really hard, and they got me the opportunity. Vox. Go ‘head, Vox.

(Joseph and Adriyan do a celebratory dance while praising Vox)

Joseph:  So you step into Hazel Flood…did you play the game?

Adriyan: I don't know how to play!

Joseph: Oh, you gotta play the game. So, they did you right. I reviewed it. You should definitely play the game. It's not a hard game. The way they made Hazel Flood move is so fluid that once you get the controls, you could easily pick it up. You're literally just playing through a story. 

Adriyan: (motions) I can't do stuff with my arms and my eyes at the same time. 

Joseph: You just did. 

Adriyan: No, on the controller! (Laughs)

Joseph: Listen, if you got choreo(graphy) for 112, you could play Hazel Flood in South of Midnight. Stop playing, Adriyan! (Laughs) It's so immersive. You are playing through a story. You are literally just sitting there watching it, and then you control Hazel for a little bit, and then you're watching more of the story. I was gonna ask you how it feels to see your character on screen, but I'm sure you've seen it. How does that feel, to know that you're now on a video game? You're in a video game!

Adriyan: I remember when I first saw the trailer, I cried. I was in the booth, doing voiceovers, and I got a message saying “you wanna see the trailer?” And I was like, “yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, show me, show me!” And then I sat there, no lie, this was my face.

 

(Adriyan makes the face we would all make to see ourselves for the first time in a video game.)

Adriyan: Ooooohhhh man! It's beautiful! (laughs) It's so different, it's so unique, and they… they just… It's so beautiful. Down to the sounds of the crickets and all of it just hits you, and it just submerges you, and they just did it so right. I have to give props to everybody. Everybody who was a part of it. Everybody at Compulsion Games, Xbox, everybody that touched the game just touched it with intention and heart and care and really poured themselves into it. They're phenomenal. Phenomenal.

Joseph: How many people do you walk around and tell that you're in an Xbox game? “I'm Adriyan Rae, and I’m in an Xbox game.”

Adriyan: I don't tell anyone! You know, it's funny? My cousin is Diamond DeShields. WNBA player. If I go to games with her, it's about Diamond, right? Diamond is the one. But Diamond will be the one to tell people. I'll just be sitting there, and she'll be like “You know, she's an actor?” And they'll be like, oh, that's cool. And she'll be like, “No, like, she acts, like, you know?”

Joseph: She be actin'.

Adriyan: “She's the lead of South at Midnight. You should play South of Midnight. (Have) you ever played South of Midnight?” I don't really walk around telling people, but if I find out that they play games, I'll say “you should check out this game called South of Midnight. Just play it.” I won't tell them I'm the lead, I'll just tell them to check it out.

Joseph: You think I'm not telling everyone I interviewed you today? I'm telling everybody. I mean, like, you know that girl that was in South Midnight? Yeah. I sat down with her. We’re cousins now, it's all good, don't worry about it.

Adriyan: All good! (You're) my cousin!

Joseph: You are now nominated, Hazel Flood, for a Golden Joystick Award! You are in the company of Alex Jordan from “The Altars”. Troy Baker from “Indiana Jones and the Great Circle”. Erika Ishii of “Ghost of Yotei”. Jennifer English from “Claire Obscure: Expedition 33.” You're in good company. You are the only African American woman (nominated) for a lead.

Adriyan: I know!

Joseph: Talk to me! I'm freaking out for you!

Adriyan: They told me it was great and everything. I remember I was in the kitchen, I was doing the director's stuff, for Xbox, and I had never met this man before, but this man that everybody was like, you know, it seemed like they were giving him a certain energy, like, he was really important. He walks up to me and he's like, “you're doing a great job, just so you know. Yeah, yeah, people love it. Everyone loves it. I was like, “oh, thanks!” Then I was like, “who was that?” And they said “Oh, that's the owner of Xbox. ”He knows me? Oh, hi!”   

I knew that the game was phenomenal. I knew we poured our hearts into it. I knew that it was meticulous in the efforts and the nuances and the authenticity. I knew that Ahmed (Best) is a genius and led me… led everyone, with so much heart, and so much experience. I knew that Compulsion (Games), really wanted to make sure it was authentic. I knew that the writers were standing on business, and they uplifted every scene with beautiful writing that was balanced and made sense, and they were open to collaboration. I knew all these things.

However, I'm new to the gaming world, so I didn't really know the magnitude of what a game can get to. But not because I didn't think it was amazing. Just because I was naive to what it could possibly be. So when I got that nomination, because they asked me to present, and I was like, “oh man, they want me to present! I was like sure, yeah, I'll go to London and present, that's awesome!” And then, I want to say a week or so later, they were like, “Just kidding, you're nominated!” And I was like, shut the front door and the back one, are you serious?

Joseph: Shut em both!

Adriyan: Both of them! I was floored. I'm so, so incredibly honored, and appreciative to be nominated. I mean even if I didn't win, I would be just stoked for this moment right here. But because it IS nominated, I would love for us to win, so people should go vote. 

Joseph: Hey, y'all need to go vote.

Adriyan: Go vote! Voting is open until October 31st.

Joseph: October 31st, that's Halloween, so before you go trick-or-treating…

Adriyan: Go on and vote.

Joseph: Go vote for your girl!

Adriyan: Best Soundtrack and Best Lead Performer.

Joseph: So vote twice. You can do that!

Adriyan: You're allowed. You can vote every day if you'd like.

Joseph: That's what I'm doing. I'm not even biased, I'm just gonna do it. You know what I mean? Because we’re cousins. I gotta vote for my cousin.

Adriyan: (laughs) I'm happy to be nominated, because it shows progress. (In) this gaming space for me to be the only Black female lead that's nominated is both wonderful and alarming. It shows that there's progress, but also a lack of representation. So, the more that we spread the word, the more that we push forward, the more that we have progress, the more representation, inclusion, diversity, and community we build in the gaming space. It's wonderful that this progress is happening, but I think that it's very important that we continue to make said progress.

 

Joseph: Yeah, and it also shows that you think those opportunities aren't there for us. They are, right? They definitely are, you know? They may be few and far between, but they are out there.

Adriyan: That’s the thing. As creatives, I know that there are people who want to make more games that have Black female leads. I know that it's probably a bit more challenging for them, perhaps. I know that maybe they're getting told no, or it's not possible, or nobody wants to see that, or so on and so forth, but break the doors down, and pop the ceiling open. Continue to work, continue to try, because you can do it. Your art is so necessary and so needed, so please, don't stop.

Joseph: Y'all heard what she said. (pivots again, because I could’ve talked about this forever, and I only had 20 minutes) Your quips in the game. 

Adriyan: I remember recording them. I mean, I've recorded everything.

Joseph: Every single thing. No AI. 

Adriyan: “Getting on her nerve, the shit sprinkler, I like that pig. trifling-ass mud cat,” I did them. 

Joseph: I was dying the whole time. When are the awards?

Adriyan: November 20th.

Joseph:  Adriyan, tell us three quick, fun things that we don't know about you, besides you can do all the choreography for 112, and that she's cousins with an WNBA superstar. That's two. Give me one more…

Adriyan: I mean, quick, fun things?

Joseph: Just one more quick fun thing, because I think the 112 is gonna set everybody off. At least in my demographic.

Adriyan: Ok! My grandfather is the first Black sheriff of PG (Prince George) County, and he's the one who stopped the DC sniper.

Joseph: I'm putting it on your IMDB now. I'm putting that on your Wikipedia. You can edit Wikipedia.

Adriyan: My grandfather is in the African American Museum, History Museum in DC.

Joseph: Putting that on your Wikipedia, too. See? That's a good fun fact. 

Adriyan: I was between that and the fact that I could spin my arm all the way around, because I'm double-jointed.

Joseph: Do we need to see that? Grace (PR) probably doesn’t want to see that.

Joseph: Let's move on, because I don't…What does the future hold for Adrian Ray? What's next?

Adriyan: What's next? I have another game coming out.

Joseph: Is this exclusive? Am I getting an exclusive right now?

Adriyan: I can't tell you yet. I can't tell you yet. I'm not the lead, but man, this game's good.

At this point, Adriyan and I spoke as if we weren’t doing an interview at all. We sang 112 songs, mentioned she is in the Netflix series Forever, and how she lived in Strongsville, Ohio for 4-5 months, during the winter. She rooted for the Browns while she was here, but she bleeds green as a Philadelphia Eagles fan. We now resume the interview, already in progress.

Joseph: South of Midnight is obviously out, it's available on Game Pass, so it's been out for… for a while now. Go check her out.“The Game” on Paramount+, Forever on Netflix?

Adriyan: Netflix.

Joseph: And then look out for her other game, and then go vote for South of Midnight for Best Soundtrack, and for Best Lead Actor. Thank you so much. Pleasure. I don't want to take any more of your time, because we'll just be sitting here talking about 112.

Adriyan: I understand.

Joseph: I appreciate you, Adriyan. Thank you so much.

Adriyan: No problem at all, thank you.

South of Midnight is available on Xbox Series X|S and Xbox Game Pass.

Go here for more information on the Golden Joystick Awards.