Tango Alpha Lima welcomes ‘Call of Duty’ actress
This week's Tango Alpha Lima podcast welcomes Jamie Gray Hyder, known by many in the military gaming community for her role of Lt. Nora Salter in “Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare.”
Hyder, a classically trained, Lebanese-American actor, has also served as the voice of Roze in “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare” and officer Katriona 'Kat' Tamin on “Law & Order: SVU” from 2019-21.
In her free time, Hyder volunteers with organizations that support mental-health initiatives, veterans and the armed forces, the LGBTQ community, as well as international crisis programs. Hyder spoke at the annual Student Veterans of America national conference earlier this year.
In this week’s episode, she talks about how her involvement with veteran service organizations began when she worked on “Call of Duty.”
“The more I talked with (Navy advisers), the more I learned about how important my role was as a female in this video game for actual females serving on active duty and for veterans,” said Hyder, whose grandfather was a military veteran. “When they asked me if I was willing to do some outreach, I thought that was an amazing opportunity to have a positive impact.”
She also talks about some of the rare experiences she has had as a civilian, including flying an F16 with a fighter pilot. “I hit 9Gs, I got to pull my own maneuvers,” she said. “I was scared s-------. But I felt this has to be one-one millionth of the anxiety that our servicemembers feel before they go to do something like this when someone is trying to shoot you. It was an incredible experience.”
Hyder has visited and learned about the various military branches, which has helped her with her craft.
“It added a sense of urgency to get it right,” she explained. “You always hope you are doing it to the best of your ability. Those experiences influence how I will portray someone who is active duty or a veteran.”
This episode is among more than 110 Tango Alpha Lima podcast for veterans, servicemembers and others. All episodes are available in both audio and video formats here. You can also download episodes on iTunes, Stitcher or other major podcast-hosting sites. The video version is available for viewing at the Legion’s YouTube channel.