Lara Croft Stars in SCI FI Channel’s I AM SCI FI Campaign

Lara Croft is going to be a TV pitchwoman. The SCI FI Channel has tapped Eidos Interactive’s Tomb Raider star for its new celebrity campaign, I AM SCI FI, and she is the only virtual character in the lineup. Her 20-second spot debuts June 18, running alongside spots featuring Traci Lords, Everclear, Venus and Serena Williams, and Busta Rhymes. Every spot closes on the campaign’s tagline: I AM SCI FI.

The scene itself is a small effects-driven bit of Lara unwinding with a video game. Her pick is not Tomb Raider. It’s Pong. Somebody at the channel has a sense of humor.

The casting makes sense for a character who outgrew her own games a while ago. Croft was the first female character to headline her own action series, and the Tomb Raider name now covers an action figure line, a comic book, trading cards, clothing, a coffee table anthology, and a Paramount movie due in 2000.