10 Video Game Characters You Didn't Know Were Based On Real People

Lara Croft is unquestionably the single most iconic video game heroine of all time - even back in the mid-90s when games were far from the pervasive enterprise they are today, Lara was a recognisable figure in mainstream culture.

Though the most obvious touchstone for Lara Croft's creation is Indiana Jones, her core design (sorry) was largely modelled off '90s Swedish pop star Neneh Cherry.

In both look and personality, Cherry was a fiercely defiant female artist of her time, and so the original game's lead graphic artist Toby Gard felt she would serve as a fitting template for Tomb Raider's kick-ass protagonist.

While there's little denying that Lara's status as a ground-breaking heroine has always been at odds with her sexualised presentation - though, in Gard's defence, he refused Core Design's request to include a nude code in the original game - there are far worse sources to draw inspiration from than one of the most fiercely feminist musical artists of that era.