From Gamestation to PlayStation: Actor Rahul Kohli on his dream role

Going from selling video games to starring in one is a dream few people get to live out.

But Rahul Kohli's managed to pull it off.

The British actor's had a successful TV and film career, appearing alongside some of Hollywood's biggest names, but it wasn't his first obsession.

At primary school he was asked to give a presentation to classmates about his dream career.

He showed them a tape of video game trailers.

The obsession didn't end there - his first paid job was as a sales assistant at former UK High Street chain Gamestation.

Kohli tells BBC Newsbeat he still recalls the "burning smell" of the shrink wrap machine each store used to package up second-hand consoles for sale.

His earliest acting gigs were video game-related too. He appeared in adverts for Sony's handheld PlayStation Vita console and the company’s popular quiz show-themed party game, Buzz.

"I thought I'd made it," he says.

"'Wow, I'm doing a PlayStation commercial, look how far I've come'."

But he might have spoken too soon.

Fast forward to 2026 and he's playing the starring role in action game Saros - a PlayStation 5 exclusive and one of the year's biggest releases.

Kohli plays Arjun Devraj, an enforcer for the futuristic Soltari corporation sent on a rescue mission to the hostile planet of Carcosa.

Well-known film and TV actors appearing in video games is not new, but the lines between the two industries are increasingly blurred.

More actors recognised for their "traditional" work are popping up in critically acclaimed games.

Last year, Breaking Bad star Aaron Paul and Westworld actor Jeffrey Wright appeared in superhero adventure Dispatch, while Daredevil star Charlie Cox was in smash hit Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.

Cox - who confessed he's "not much of a gamer" - recently told the BBC the response to Expedition 33 had opened his eyes to the "enormity" of the games industry.

But that wasn't news to Kohli.

He got his big acting break in horror-comedy series iZombie before going on to appear in Netflix hits such as Midnight Mass, and posts openly about his passions on social media.

Films, Warhammer and his beloved Liverpool FC are often mentioned, but many fans connect with the actor's posts about video games.

Kohli's notched up multiple appearances on podcasts dedicated to the topic, and performed voiceover roles in series like Call of Duty and Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun.

He needed no introduction when Housemarque - a respected if not mainstream Finnish developer - approached him to play the starring role in their upcoming game.

Kohli said "yes" on the spot.

As well as being his biggest video game role to date, Saros was also Kohli's first experience of motion capture.

"It's the purest form of acting," he says. "It's the closest to being kids in the garden doing make-believe.

"There's no props, there's no costume."

Housemarque, based in Helsinki, is a studio with a long history of producing arcade-style shooters.

It was bought by Sony after the 2021 release of its last game Returnal - considered one of PS5's best games by many but notorious for its punishing difficulty.

While Saros follows a similar gameplay format, its developers have added features to let players tailor its challenges this time.

When Newsbeat speaks to Saros' director, Gregory Louden, he says Housemarque made a conscious decision to "make it more approachable for more people".

"For us, it was about taking this formula that we love and then expanding it, but making sure we kind of kept our edge so more players can love it as well," he says.

While Returnal was a critical hit, available sales figures suggest it didn't perform as well as more mainstream games from Sony's in-house studios.

Newsbeat asks Louden if having a lead actor who is well-known and respected among players championing Saros will carry over with audiences.

"I hope so," he says.

But he's also keen to stress Kohli's genuine enthusiasm for the project.

Louden says the actor insisted on doing as much as possible for the part, even recording incidental animations usually captured by a specialist performer.

"He really is this hyped," he says.

"He always wanted to be a big action hero and he gets to be it in this game."

Kohli, who's been excitedly sharing positive reviews of Saros in the run-up to its release, says the experience feels a long way away from his job as a teenager stocking shelves at Gamestation.

"You dream, of course you have aspirations," he says.

"But I didn't think I would end up becoming the lead of a PlayStation game and having that box art out there with my face slapped on it.

"The fact that's going to be sold in shops by people like me who did that same job.

"It's going to feel like the end of a journey."

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