PAX 2011: Speaking With Commander Shepard's Voice

[Pedro The Hutt]

Holy mother of ugly...
You guys picked like the worst pic of her. XD
Anyway I personally hope she pisses off. Am sick of having the same 3 VAs everywhere. And besides, she did a horrible job as Shepard.
Sounded exactly like it was, a little girl putting on a tough guy persona whereas the VA for male Shepard just sounded like he could kick your ass without having to even try so felt no need to make himself sound even more threatening.

ManShep sounds otherly boring to me. =p I always found FemShep to be the better sounding of the two, but hey, tastes differ, and clearly tone can be interpreted differently.

As to the omnipresence of miss Hale in the voice acting industry, that is ~hardly~ her fault. Voice actors get paid dreadfully little compared to TV actors and especially film actors. She likes to eat at the end of the week so she tries to get casted for as much as she can.

You can however blame casting directors all over the cartoon and video games industry for always casting her. But she's an obvious pick, amazingly versatile range, just point her at a part and odds are she'll nail it. Although it probably makes it harder for fresh actresses to break into the industry, heh.

That said, I am rather disappointed in Bioware, as I just said, she can portray many different kinds of characters, and yet they just let her voice the female Trooper in The Old Republic and just make her do the Shepard thing all over again. I'd have loved to hear her voice the more cheeky Smuggler (although Kath Soucie is doing admirably as that, currently). But yeah, I feel her talent is a bit wasted there. Or at least, that they took an easy path when casting her.


Edit addendum: And yes, there are much better looking picture of her, this is her with a bad hair day and a severe lack of sleep, from the looks of it.

 

[Ninjat_126]

Holy mother of ugly...
You guys picked like the worst pic of her. XD
Anyway I personally hope she pisses off. Am sick of having the same 3 VAs everywhere. And besides, she did a horrible job as Shepard.
Sounded exactly like it was, a little girl putting on a tough guy persona whereas the VA for male Shepard just sounded like he could kick your ass without having to even try so felt no need to make himself sound even more threatening.

Really? And I thought maleshep sounded like a prat. So little inflection it was almost monotone. But thank you for sharing your opinion.

I found that (Mshep's VA) wasn't too convincing as a Renegade. Then again, many of the Renegade voice options seemed cheesy to me. Jennifer Hale did (is doing) a great job on my mostly-Renegade playthrough, generally sounding a bit pissed off at people most of the time but still mostly in the "jerk with a heart of gold" category. (Mshep's VA) sounded a lot less serious and believable, although that may have been the contrast between my normal Paragon actions and my few insane Renegade actions.

 

[Rad Party God]

Glad to see an interview of one of my favorite voice actresses.

And how dare you not mention her as Alex Roivas from Eternal Darkness and Naomi from Metal Gear! [/nitpick].

 

[I-Protest-I]

But Ophelia was bang tidy, I was hoping for bang tidy voice actor. I am quite disappointed.

 

[Alluos]

I think Hale is one of those people that looks better in motion.

Will the war between Male and Fem shep fans ever cease? D:

 

[CleverCover]

'loves Jennifer Hale to death'

I loved her since hearing her on Totally Spies.
And I hated/respected Bastila at the same time. I love it when someone can sell me a character I don't like.

'is totally waiting for the day to get an autograph'

She made FemShep for me. So glad Bioware had her on board.

 

[duchaked]

wow she's done a LOT of work...
pretty good, altho I don't think I've come to recognize her instantly just yet

 

[Programmed_For_Damage]

If there is such thing as video game royalty, Jennifer Hale is fully fledged member. Her list of credentials is a mile long.

 

[fulano]

I remember playing Kotor and upon finding Bastila thinking "She's a fucking stuck-up asshole," but by the end of the game I was really fond of her. That's what commendable writing and commendable acting skills get you.

 

[Hoplon]

Jennifer hale has inded done some awesome work, and for those saying "sounds the same in everything" how do Bastila Shan and Fem shep sound anything alike?

 

[Psycho Cat Industries]

Huh,so either way,you are femshepard.

 

[Strife2GFAQs]

The first show I saw her was 90s Spider-Man as Felicia Hardy/Black Cat. It was probably my favorite show at the time, and her character was a major reason why. Later on, she obviously got more videogame roles. What I wonder is why she was in Metroid Prime, but they suddenly decided not to cast her (or Mary Elizabeth McGlynn) as Samus in Other M. Those are probably the only two qualified to make that character work.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

Well, someone on the Facebook comment section beat me to the observation, but I do have to say it anyway- that picture bears a striking resemblance to Linda Hamilton portraying Sarah Connor in Terminator 2.

Honestly, she and Stephen Russell could probably voice an entire game by themselves. And I would buy it.

 

[Programmed_For_Damage]

Well, someone on the Facebook comment section beat me to the observation, but I do have to say it anyway- that picture bears a striking resemblance to Linda Hamilton portraying Sarah Connor in Terminator 2.

Honestly, she and Stephen Russell could probably voice an entire game by themselves. And I would buy it.

*Tips hat* Not too many people recognise the fantastic vocal stylings of Stephen Russell. I'd buy that game too!

 

[GotMurf]

This woman's voice was my sexual awakening as a kid. XD

 

[Infernai]

The woman's a bloody legend.

Her and Steve Blum are my favourite voice actors.

I hear that. I also want to add Grey Delisle to that list. She's had so many great roles, but one in particular takes the cake:

Spoiler

[img=http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wb-wlXgq7pE/TI_Yi7HXE4I/AAAAAAAAAIg/9ZfV1YATeOg/s1600/Firelord_azula.png]

Oh, and also Mako, RIP. Come on, Aku AND Iroh? That alone is amazing.

No love For Crispin Freeman or Simon Templeman on this list!?

That's just SHAMEFUL!

 

[satsugaikaze]

I'm not a fan of all of the roles Jennifer Hale voices, but whenever I hear her work, I can believe it's a different character even though sometimes I can recognise her voice off the bat.

And when I watched a vid of one of her PAX interviews (the one where she slips in and out of a whole bunch of roles she's done in the past), it just reminded me how she truly is one of the best talents in the industry - and the most versatile too!

Truly a queen of video-game acting, like the New Yorker said.

 

[Awexsome]

Sheena from Tales of Symphonia is my defining game for her. Damn she's good.

 

[noobium]

Amazing, both Jennifer Hale and Steven Blum are in a lot of shows, anime and game that I played or watched over the years. I salute you Steven Blum and Jennifer Hale.

 

[templar1138a]

Jennifer Hale is my celebrity crush. Just putting that out there.