Biography
Linsay Rousseau is an award-winning actor, voice-over artist, and performance capture specialist based in Los Angeles. She has French, Spanish, Romani, Scottish, and Irish heritage. Identifying as queer, she is an Army Iraq War combat veteran and self-proclaimed geeky badass. She is widely recognized for voicing Elita-1 in the Transformers: War for Cybertron Trilogy (2020) and has an extensive resume in video games, including roles as the Female Player, aka The Captain, in WWE 2K24 (2024), Lockpick in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III (2023), the female player in Fallout 76 (2018), and multiple characters in God of War: Ragnarök (2022), Rage 2 (2019), Starfield (2023), and Spider-Man 2 (2023). She won the Best Female Voice-Over in an Animated Series award at the 2021 One Voice Awards for her portrayal of Elita-1. On-screen, she has appeared in NCIS (2003), SEAL Team (2017), General Hospital (1963), and notably impressed the judges on To Tell the Truth (2016). Linsay holds a master’s degree in journalism from the University of California, Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism and a B.S. in sociology and cultural anthropology from The College of William & Mary. She is a member of The Television Academy, BAFTA, and Women in Film, serves as media affairs director for the National Association of Voice Actors, and is vice president of QueerVox.
Linsay spent many years performing on stage before transitioning to voice-over and on-camera work. She trained at Steppenwolf, Berkeley Repertory Theatre School, Studio A.C.T. at the American Conservatory Theater, The Groundlings, The Second City, Impro Studio, the Susan Angelo Shakespeare Studio, and the Rachael Adler Studio. Her training includes hand-to-hand combat, wushu, Muay Thai, Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA), firearms, and military tactics. She is also a skilled musician and classically trained singer, adept in various musical genres.
Raised by two National Park Rangers, Linsay had an unconventional childhood, moving across six states before high school. Her involvement in music, theatre, dance, and sports provided stability amid the frequent relocations. Both she and her brother, Bryant Burnett, pursued careers in entertainment—she as an actor and he as a stuntman and stunt rigger. Passionate about the environment, Linsay spends much of her free time underwater as a certified scuba instructor, collaborating with nonprofits focused on marine debris cleanup and coral restoration.
Though a lifelong performer, Linsay also pursued other paths. She is a former investigative reporter with a master's degree in journalism from UC Berkeley. She worked as an associate producer, reporter, and researcher for Frontline and was one of four Carnegie Fellows chosen to join the Brian Ross Investigative Reporting Unit at ABC News in New York. Her master’s thesis, Rape in the Fields (2013), was produced by PBS Frontline, the Center for Investigative Reporting, and Univision. The documentary earned the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Award, John F. Kennedy Journalism Award, Public Radio News Directors Award, and received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Investigative Journalism.
Before attending Berkeley, Linsay served as a combat photographer/videographer and public affairs sergeant with the U.S. Army’s 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division. She spent a year in Kirkuk, northern Iraq, documenting combat and humanitarian missions and was briefly attached to ODA 183 Special Forces to document their operations.
Prior to her military service, when not performing or playing music, Linsay focused on human rights and environmental activism. She worked with Amnesty International, primarily advocating for women’s and LGBTQIA rights. As student body president at William & Mary, she led efforts to reform the campus sexual assault policy, helped organize union drives for maintenance, cafeteria, and housekeeping staff, pushed for improved environmental standards, and urged the university to divest from organizations with human rights violations. Though her path to Hollywood was unconventional, she brings her passion and diverse experiences to every role and project she undertakes.
