Legal Question in Intellectual Property in California

In the state of California, the California Constitution protects the right to privacy. Additionally, the California Civil Code Section 3344 has a right to publicity which provides the celebrity a right to damages and profits if there is no consent obtained prior to using their likeness for advertising, selling or soliciting a product.

You might argue that because you are only using the celebrities as characters and not to advertise a game, but that is arguable at best.

To be safe, you should obtain consent.

Or, you may want to make generic characters that have celebrity like qualities without identifying any particular celebrity.