Actor Max Burkholder discusses his long-standing relationship with video games in Polygon’s Shelf Quest series. He says gaming helped him manage the pressures of balancing acting work and school as a child, and it remains an important pastime alongside his current television career.

Burkholder first connected with games through Kingdom Hearts while appearing in productions including Daddy Day Care, The Purge and Parenthood. Now playing the teenage version of Mark Wahlberg’s character in Peacock’s Ted, he makes time for lengthy role-playing games such as Final Fantasy 16 and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, as well as Blue Prince, and recently bought Bravely Default for Nintendo Switch 2 at Videogamesnewyork.