Resident Evil Requiem: Moments that Prove Angela Sant'Albano Deserves Best Performance at TGA

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Resident Evil Requiem Reasons Angela Sant'Albano Deserves Best Performance for Game of the Year

Published Mar 28, 2026, 2:30 PM EDT

Elena Chapella (She/Her) is a current Writer for DualShockers, formerly an award-winning journalist for local news stations and newspapers in central Indiana.

Elena is passionate about writing, playing Dungeons & Dragons with her friends, and, of course, playing video games.

When she's not writing, Elena is actually a high school teacher by day. She teaches students essential life skills for adulthood, including job readiness, financial literacy, and college preparation.

Resident Evil Requiem went above and beyond in so many ways, but perhaps the most spectacular of all is the acting chops that everybody brought to the table. Of course, Nicholas Apostolides was fantastic again as Leon Kennedy, but other characters brought a ton of strength, such as Antony Byrne absolutely killing it as Victor Gideon.

Yet, without a shadow of a doubt, the shining performance of the whole game goes to Angela Sant'Albano, who plays Grace Ashcroft. Her acting was genuinely incredible from start to finish, and it made her one of the strongest contenders for Best Performance for this next The Game Awards.

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Seriously, other games that come out the rest of the year have very, very big shoes to fill when trying to compete for best performance. Not only did Sant'Albano give it her all, but Grace as a character simply would not be who she is (nor as relatable or as liked) if she wasn't the voice behind her.

Honestly, play through the whole game, and you'll see what I'm talking about. But, there are a few key points that come to mind when it comes to her acting ability.

This article will contain spoilers for Resident Evil Requiem.

10 Hanging Upside Down

Reasonable Panic

Resident Evil Requiem Grace Hanging Upside Down

Shortly after playing as Leon for the first time, we come back to Grace at Rhodes Hill Chronic Care Center, which will be our setting for the next while. However, she wakes up strapped to a table upside down, a needle in her arm drawing blood into a container.

Naturally, she panics, thrashing against her restraints and calling out for help. That is, before she takes a breath, tells herself to think, and then actually thinks her way out, slowly breaking herself free with whatever tactics she could improvise with. She thinks this quickly on her feet a lot, and it's genuinely refreshing to see a horror protagonist freak out, but not be an idiot at the same time. It's incredibly realistic.

If you watch the behind the scenes/motion capture of the game (which you can find from the menu), you'll see that Sant'Albano was actually upside down during shooting. Of course, it wasn't as steep of an angle, but she was still held and suspended, helping achieve this realism in a more authentic manner.

9 Having a Trauma-Induced Stutter

It Can be a Lot, But It's Realistic

I'm not going to lie, I have a love-hate relationship with Grace's stutter throughout Requiem. Nearly every single one of her lines begins with a stutter, ranging from minor to extreme — it doesn't matter who she's talking to, she's going to stutter and stammer through it. But, this is a very common and very real trauma response, so it makes sense for Sant'Albano to incorporate that.

At the same time, it can be a bit much, especially on repeat playthroughs when you already know what everyone is going to say. It definitely bothered some players more than others, and I can understand all sides.

Yet, it's a very tangible outcome for someone with PTSD from a traumatic event — and while Grace doesn't seem to have the same level of PTSD as Leon does, there is no denying that she's been through horrific trauma. Plus, the game continues to traumatize her in all the worst ways — I can't even be mad. She's going through it.

All good actors give unique quirks and traits to their character, and honestly, having lingering signs of trauma fits Grace nicely. However, I wonder how that will change if she returns in future entries.

8 Talking With Her Boss

Her Reaction Says it All

Resident Evil Requiem Grace FBI Boss Nathan

The very first scene where we see Grace, it's while she's working at the FBI office, with all her work piled on top of her desk, messily strewn about in typical journalistic fashion (while she's technically an analyst, that's a lot more in-line with her mother's work as an investigative journalist).

Just as quickly, her boss, Nathan Dempsey, calls her over to his office, then relays some information to her: the murders they're investigating are getting worse, with the most recent one taking place in the hotel where Grace's mother was murdered. He then asks her to go and investigate it, and immediately, Grace shrinks on herself.

At that instant, we don't know the memories that she's seeing flash through her eyes, but we see her relive those horrifying last moments with her mom, we see as she becomes quiet and deeply uncomfortable. After all, who even asks something like that?

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7 The Helicopter Crash

For Once, it Wasn't Leon Crashing Something

Resident Evil Requiem Grace Harry's Death

All Resident Evil fans know, as it's been a staple since the classics: when there is a helicopter, it will crash, and the helicopter pilot will die in a genuinely horrific matter. It's on every RE Bingo card; it's just going to happen.

So, when we meet Harry and learn he's a helicopter pilot, we already know that he's not making it to the end of the game. However, when we also see Grace get into a helicopter with Emily, there was a new panic that things were going to go south for everyone — and they do. Not only does the helicopter crash as expected, but it actually causes critical injuries to Emily, and it kills Harry outright.

We see the helicopter crash from both Grace and Leon's perspective, and both times, we're feeling the same anxiety and rash thinking that Grace has, trying to do anything to just get out of here. I don't know how Sant'Albano continues to make us stressed out with just her performance, but she does.

But hey, at least it's not Leon crashing something for once. He has the worst track record with any kind of vehicle.

6 Interacting with Victor

Bravery is Doing it Scared

The first time that Grace interacts with Victor, she's cautious, but trying to be understanding. However, after being kidnapped, every subsequent interaction with him involves hostility.

But there's one beautiful detail that really makes these scenes between the two of them all the more captivating: Grace is terrified the entire time. She's scared out of her mind, but she's still aiming her gun at him, demanding answers and trying to protect herself by any means necessary — and that's just pure bravery. Bravery, after all, isn't the absence of fear: it's being afraid, but doing it anyway.

There's a unique nuance to these interactions that Sant'Albano delivers beautifully. There's fear and tension, but there's also a tinge of righteous anger — at the injustice that happened to Grace — something that we don't often see out of her throughout the game. By the time we make it to the end of the game, she's not afraid to outright defy Victor, saying that he can't have Elpis.

It's always worth praising the high-energy performances that demand much from the actor, but subtle, nearly invisible performances deserve just as much love.

5 Seeing The Girl for the First Time

Yeah, Me Too, Girl

Resident Evil Requiem Grace face to face with the girl

After waking up at Rhodes Hill Chronic Care Center, specifically after getting the Lighter, we're finally able to go into the rooms that were too dark to see anything in. This includes the Nurse's Station — but as soon as we open the door, a body falls out ... that is promptly eaten by The Girl, a massive, lumbering monster that will bite your head off.

Grace's reaction is the one I would have: immediately turning on heel and running, shouting expletives in near hysterics the entire time. Even better, in 3rd person, she trips over herself.

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Grace isn't outright screaming in this one. In fact, the noises of fear she makes are hard to describe. They're a cross between a whine, cry, and a mewl. Basically, they're the kind of noises that you make when you're terrified and logic is completely thrown out the window, and it makes me wonder just how Sant'Albano managed to channel it.

What did they bring on set that invoked that kind of response? Likely nothing, and Sant'Albano is just continuing to flex her incredible acting skills.

4 Meeting Leon

A Fleeting Moment of Relief

After playing through Leon at the Rhodes Hill Chronic Care Center for a little bit, you'll run into Grace just as she's escaping from The Girl. Not only is her desperate attempt to flee and her talking about Victor well acted, but so is the scene when she finally realises that Leon is DSO, making her one of the safest women in the world — that is, until they're divided by a gate.

You could see the moment of relief rush across her face and body after Leon saves her, even more so once she realises that he's not just any ordinary field agent. But you also see that safety ripped away just as quickly.

I know that realistically, Sant'Albano had to redo scenes over and over again from all kinds of new perspectives and angles, but there's something about her delivery that makes us believe that this is the first time any of this is happening to her, and we're just as scared as she is.

3 Emily's "Death"

Absolutely Harrowing and Cruel

After the helicopter crash, Emily is badly hurt by the debris, which leads to Grace fleeing with her underneath the church. Grace leaves her somewhere safe while she goes to finally take out The Girl, so that way they can safely escape. Yet, to make things more tragic, when we returned, Emily had passed away, leading to a brutally realistic CPR sequence, followed by Emily turning into a monster that Leon has to take down.

When I got CPR certified to get my teaching license, one of my newest (and collosal) fears was having to actually use this training on one of my students. Watching the scene unfold was horrific in more ways than one — I'm particularly sensitive to child death, so the fact we had to endure the painful process of failing to resuscitate said child was just gut-wrenching.

Seriously, not only does Sant'Albano deserve incredible recognition for how real and well-acted this was, but Emma Rose Creaner (the voice and mo-cap for Emily) also deserves kudos. It's really tough finding good child actors, and she was just as fantastic as Sant'Albano.

2 The First Zombie Encounter

Who Wouldn't be Screaming Bloody Murder?

When we first get to the Wrenwood Hotel, a local police officer lets us in. However, what many players don't expect is to see him again ... and for him to immediately mutate into a ruthless zombie, charging at Grace and trying to bite her with everything in him. He's drastically different from any other zombie we had seen in the series so far, and it's absolutely horrifying.

Reasonably, Grace is in hysterics, begging and pleading for some sense to come back to the man, but screaming for her life at the same time. She even tries to kill him with a fire poker, only for him to lunge back and actually land a chomp on our arm. With that, we have to run from him while Grace is desperately trying to make sense of what's going on.

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There's one point while she has the fire poker that she's screaming at him to get away from her, actively screaming bloody murder when he bites the rod while trying to attack her anyway. Anyone with any survival instincts would be screaming like that if it was a life or death situation, and Sant'Albano certainly made the situation feel life or death.

It's one of the first instances where we actively feel the same fear that Grace is, and that's because she's actively displaying her fear — and, of course, because fear is contagious.

1 Alyssa's Death

Her Screams Alone Deserve an Award

Resident Evil Requiem Grace Alyssa's Death

Perhaps the most iconic scene that really showcased Sant'Albano's acting talent is not even a full half hour into the game, when we play as a young version of Grace while she's with her mom, Alyssa. However, Alyssa's brutally murdered right in front of her daughter, and it sends Grace into hysterics, collapsing to her knees and screaming for her mother.

And let me say, those screams are absolutely harrowing; I don't think I've ever had a more visceral reaction to someone's acting. There's a new joke going around in the fandom that Capcom just brought in Sant'Albano's real mother and killed her right there on set, because the reaction was just that real and gut-punching. When I first learned that Grace Ashcroft was Sant'Albano's first ever voice acting and motion capture role, I had to look it up and cross-check it with several different sources, because it was that hard to believe.

My heart tightened in my chest while watching her scream "MOM!" over and over again, shaking Alyssa's corpse while the fire nearly consumed them both. Immediately, the game's tone shifts, with this scene being one of the most uncomfortable and masterfully acted scenes in the entire franchise.

When I play games for reviews, I take notes as I play, and when I got to this scene in Requiem, I was stunned silent. My subsequent note afterwards was short, simple, but to the point: "Grace’s voice actress has CHOPS."

Needless to say, this scene alone is well worth her winning Best Performance.