Lara Croft

0:01 Lara Croft is the hero of Tomb Raider: a wealthy British archaeologist and adventurer, created by Toby Gard and the small Core Design team in Derby for Tomb Raider (1996), and the star of every game since. Crystal Dynamics describes her as a "fearless archaeologist and adventurer" and heiress who carries dual pistols. She has been rebuilt three times over 30 years: the classic Lara of Core Design's games (1996 to 2003), the Legend-era Lara of Crystal Dynamics (2006 to 2008), and the younger survivor of the 2013 reboot. Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis, out Feb 12, 2027, unites those eras in one Lara, voiced by Alix Wilton Regan, who also plays her in Tomb Raider: Catalyst.

Quick facts

Sources: Crystal Dynamics: Lara Croft; Crystal Dynamics: Happy Birthday, Lara Croft, Feb 14, 2026; Crystal Dynamics: Croft Manor Training Course, Jul 3, 2024; Guinness World Records, Oct 11, 2024; Amazon Game Studios, Dec 11, 2025.

Who created Lara Croft?

1:03 Toby Gard, a young designer at Core Design. Eurogamer, which interviewed the original team, says "everyone agrees" that Gard created Lara and came up with the idea of a third-person game about raiding tombs, though accounts of the details differ; some 2004 reports credit Gard together with Paul Douglas (Game Developer). She began as a South American adventurer called Laura Cruz before becoming the British aristocrat Lara Croft (PC Gamer; The Strong museum). Programmer Gavin Rummery remembered Gard wanting her to be "this kind of ice queen". Gard left Core soon after the first game, partly over how Eidos marketed Lara, and rejoined the series at Crystal Dynamics in 2004 (GameSpot). The clip shows the 1996 game.

The classic Lara (1996 to 2003)

In Core Design's six games Lara wore her "iconic blue tank top and cargo shorts", carried two pistols with unlimited ammunition, and lived in Croft Manor, where Lara's Home teaches the controls. The first model was built from about 300 polygons; her ponytail was cut from the 1996 game because it did not work with her acrobatics and arrived in Tomb Raider 2 (PC Gamer). She became a star outside games at once, on the cover of The Face and in Lucozade ads. The classic era runs through Tomb Raider 2, Tomb Raider 3, The Last Revelation (which ends with her apparently dead), Tomb Raider Chronicles (told at her memorial) and The Angel of Darkness, in which she is a fugitive accused of murdering her old mentor Werner Von Croy (Steam).

The Legend-era Lara (2006 to 2008)

22:08 When Eidos moved the series to Crystal Dynamics in 2003, Gard returned and, with character artist Kam Yu, played a major role in redesigning Lara for Tomb Raider: Legend. Eidos introduced her then as "Lady Lara Croft, the 11th-generation Countess". This trilogy gave her a family story: Legend and Tomb Raider: Underworld follow her search for the truth about her mother, which ends when she confronts Natla in Underworld, and Tomb Raider: Anniversary retells the 1996 adventure inside that story.

The survivor (2013 to 2018)

32:58 Tomb Raider (2013) restarted Lara as a young woman on her first expedition, shipwrecked on an island ruled by a cult tied to the Sun Queen Himiko (Crystal Dynamics). Crystal Dynamics calls it her origin, her development "from a young woman into a hardened survivor". Camilla Luddington played her in that game, Rise of the Tomb Raider and Shadow of the Tomb Raider, which together are called the Survivor trilogy. Her late mentor Conrad Roth passed his dual pistols down to her (Crystal Dynamics).

Lara in Legacy of Atlantis

1:45 The remake's Lara is meant to be all of them at once. Narrative Director John Stafford says the team "unified the mythic, grounded, and larger-than-life tones" of several eras into one Lara. In the story she is the Survivor trilogy's Lara "now with more adventures behind her" (Game Director Raul Siqueira), and the trilogy now comes before the 1996 story. Her look is a teal tank top, shorts, a braid, two holsters, classic bangs with stray wisps from the Survivor era, a jade necklace and an ice axe; the official site says returning players will feel echoes of the Legend-era Lara most of all. Kam Yu sculpted her, his third generation of Lara, and her clothes were scanned from real garments (PlayStation Blog). Alix Wilton Regan, who studied the earlier performances, puts it as "No Laras are left behind". The pistols still come from Roth: they are "the only weapons that are truly Lara's".

Who has voiced Lara Croft?

Six actresses in the main games: the first four as Square Enix listed them for the 25th anniversary (LevelUp), then the two cast since:

Sources: LevelUp, Oct 31, 2021; Square Enix, Jun 26, 2012; PC Gamer, Dec 13, 2025.

The full list, with the animated and live-action Laras, is on Lara Croft Voice Actors.

Models and stand-ins

Lara holds the Guinness record for the most official real-life stand-ins for a videogame character, 10 by 2012; Guinness names Rhona Mitra, Nell McAndrew and Alison Carroll among them, and notes that Katie Price, who dressed as Lara at the 1996 ECTS show, was never an official model. Karima Adebibe was the live-action Lara for Legend and Anniversary (GameSpot). A complete list with years exists only on fan sites that disagree, so it is not given here. On screen, Angelina Jolie, Alicia Vikander and, in Amazon's coming series, Sophie Turner have played her; see Tomb Raider Films and Tomb Raider TV Series.

Records

Guinness lists Lara as the best-selling videogame heroine, with 100 million units of the series confirmed by Crystal Dynamics on Oct 11, 2024, across 12 main games. She also holds the record for most magazine covers for a videogame character, 2,300 (Apr 22, 2025). See Tomb Raider Sales.

Frequently asked questions

How old is Lara Croft? Crystal Dynamics gives Lara Croft's birthday as Feb 14 but, as of Nov 2, 2026, no birth year in the current Tomb Raider canon, so her age in Legacy of Atlantis is not stated. She is a young woman on her first expedition in Tomb Raider (2013), and more experienced in Legacy of Atlantis and Catalyst.

Who voices Lara Croft in Legacy of Atlantis? Alix Wilton Regan voices Lara Croft in Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis and Tomb Raider: Catalyst. She replaces Camilla Luddington, who played Lara in the three Survivor games.

Who created Lara Croft? Toby Gard created Lara Croft at Core Design in Derby for the 1996 Tomb Raider; some accounts credit him together with programmer Paul Douglas.

Is Lara Croft a real person? No. Lara Croft is a fictional character created for Tomb Raider in 1996, though Eidos and Crystal Dynamics have hired real models to portray her at events.

What was Lara Croft's original name? Lara Croft began as Laura Cruz, a South American adventurer, before Tomb Raider's team made her a British aristocrat.

When is Lara Croft's birthday? Lara Croft's birthday is Feb 14, which Crystal Dynamics celebrates each year; both Tomb Raider Remastered collections launched on that date.

Sources

• Lara Croft, Crystal Dynamics, as of Nov 1, 2026
• Happy Birthday, Lara Croft, Crystal Dynamics, Feb 14, 2026
• Wisdom Wednesday - Croft Manor Training Course, Crystal Dynamics, Jul 3, 2024
• Tomb Raider: Legend Turns 20, Crystal Dynamics, Apr 7, 2026
• 20 years on, the Tomb Raider story told by the people who were there, Eurogamer, Oct 30, 2016
• The history of Tomb Raider, PC Gamer, Apr 13, 2018
• Tomb Raider, The Strong National Museum of Play, as of Nov 1, 2026
• Lara Croft creator rejoining Tomb Raider team, GameSpot, Aug 6, 2004
• Toby Gard Returns To Tomb Raider, Game Developer, Aug 6, 2004
• New Voice Of Lara Croft Revealed, Game Developer (Eidos press release), Feb 23, 2006
• Tomb Raider: Anniversary Q&A - Demo Details, General Game Updates, GameSpot, May 25, 2007
• Tomb Raider VI: The Angel of Darkness, Steam, as of Nov 1, 2026
• Camilla Luddington named as the new voice and character of Lara Croft, Square Enix, Jun 26, 2012
• Tomb Raider: actrices de voz originales de Lara se reuniran, LevelUp, Oct 31, 2021
• Tomb Raider at The Game Awards, Amazon Game Studios, Dec 11, 2025
• The new voice of Lara Croft is a veteran of Cyberpunk 2077, Lies of P, Dragon Age, Assassin's Creed, and a whole bunch more, PC Gamer, Dec 13, 2025
• Meet Lara Croft, Amazon Game Studios, Jun 8, 2026
• The Evolution of Lara Croft, Amazon Game Studios, Jun 15, 2026
• Combat Reimagined, Amazon Game Studios, Aug 17, 2026
• Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis, the evolution of Lara Croft's design, PlayStation Blog, Oct 22, 2026
• 30 Years Of Lara Croft: A Look At The Tomb Raider's Evolution, GameSpot, Feb 5, 2026
• Most official real-life stand-ins for a videogame character, Guinness World Records, as of Nov 1, 2026
• Best-selling videogame heroine, Guinness World Records, Oct 11, 2024
• Tomb Raider's Lara Croft claims two new world records as ultimate videogame heroine, Guinness World Records, Nov 26, 2025
• Most magazine covers for a videogame character, Guinness World Records, Apr 22, 2025
• Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis Official 'Meet Lara Croft' Behind-the-Scenes Clip - IGN Live 2026, IGN, Jun 7, 2026 (video)
• History of Tomb Raider (1996 - 2018), Nick930, Sep 7, 2018 (video)