Alison Carroll is a twenty-three year old gymnast from Croydon who beaten hundreds of models for the role of Lady Lara Croft. She has appeared in several newspapers and on hundreds of websites.
Life before Lara
Ms. Carroll’s résumé is as impressive as the character she is portraying. The new Lara has over 12 years experience of being an elite gymnast, she was chosen to represent Great Britain. She has also preformed in front of Prince Charles at Westminster Abbey. Alison teaches at the Bromley Valley Gymnastics Club, and the Shirley Gymnastics Club, who bringing home first place trophies in local and national competitions. Alison Carroll has participated in the Edinburgh Festival, Inverness Festival, , Birmingham Ministrada, Cardiff Festival, Liverpool British Championships, London Festival and Portugal World Ministrada (representing Great Britain).
An Healthy and Active Lifestyle
Alison Carroll had an active lifestyle before her training to be Lara Croft. As well as being professional gymnast, in her spare time she challenges herself with actives which span across a whole range, from swimming and horse riding and hiking.
The Challenge
In 2007, Eidos held a competition looking for the next Lara Croft model. The contest had hundreds of entries by women who wanted to become the video game heroine. The first challenge was proving what the contestants had to offer. In the stage Alison showed off her gymnastics skills showing the judges that she can pull of Lara’s movements, the judges who were impressed with her skills passed Alison to the next stage. In the second stage Ms. Carroll had the chance of putting on the Anniversary outfit, and performs her movements to the judges. She was contacted again at a later date, inviting her to come to a meeting. On the day of the meeting, she confessed to reporters that she had locked herself in her flat so she could escape “Lara style”:
“I am on the first floor and the only way out was over the balcony in true Lara style, I chucked my bags over the balcony, over I went, then jumped on to the fence and got down. I got to the meeting on time to find out I’d got the role!”
Pineapple Studios
For Alison’s first media appearance, Eidos chose the Pineapple studios located in London, UK. There Alison preformed her stunts in front of a white screen showing her moves to the cameras and the press. As well as posing and performing for the cameras, Ms. Carroll also agreed to be interviewed; these interviews appeared in Live TV. The BBC focused on the issue and gave two detailed videos about the switch over between Karima Adebibe and Alison Carroll.
Underwater Dive
In Tomb Raider Underworld Lara travels to the deep depths of the ocean in the Mediterranean, for a photo shoot Alison had to pose underwater in the Croft’s swimsuit. This was a very challenging task that is not for the faint hearted, which would turn out disastrous if anything when wrong. Alison had to hold her breath while posing underwater. Alison had admitted that she can swim, but she had never tried anything like it. For more information watch “Becoming Lara Croft” on the main Tomb Raider website.
Leipzig Games Convention 2008
Leipzig GC is an annual convention with almost 200,000 visitors descended on one of the biggest video game convention holding hundreds of exhibitors. With Tomb Raider Underworld release just around the corner. Eidos travelled to the Leipzig Games Convention supporting and promoting the latest game, along with Eidos, the newly appointed Lara model. Alison Carroll travelled to Germany performing her gymnastic skills. She also agreed to pose for a series of photographs and be interviewed for several magazines, fan sites and newspapers.
Festival du jeu video
Festival du jeu video is a games convention hosted in Paris, France. It focuses on the gaming issues and culture. With 50000 people attending it, it gave Eidos a great opportunity to attend and advertise the up coming game, Tomb Raider Underworld. The latest appointed official Tomb Raider Model also made an appearance as the official spokeswoman for the game. As well as signing posters and box sets of the previous Tomb Raider games, Alison preformed her gymnastics to the crowds.
Becoming Lara Croft
This video follows the latest Lara Croft model: Alison Carroll as she prepares and trains for her tour around the world. With interviews from Alison and Katherine Clements as well as many others
“The most important thing we thing that Alison can do, it definitely the way she can pull off the moves that Lara has, second to that is defiantly the way that Alison looks her body is amazing she has this amazing muscle definition and after that is defiantly her ability to reflect Lara's personality”
Said by Katherine Clements in “Becoming Lara Croft”
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