PAX 2011: Speaking With Commander Shepard's Voice

vansau

Mortician of Love
May 25, 2010
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PAX 2011: Speaking With Commander Shepard's Voice



For Jennifer Hale, providing the voice to a generation of iconic game characters is more challenging than most people might think.

Jennifer Hale's name may not sound immediately familiar to you, but I can guarantee that you'd recognize her voice. She was Bastila Shan in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Samus Aran in the various Metroid Prime titles, Ophelia in Brütal Legend, and Commander Shepard in all three Mass Effect games. At PAX Prime, Ms. Hale took a little time to chat with me about what it's like working as a voice actor who's particularly well-known in the videogame industry.

Hale's voice-over work began while she was still in high school, thanks in large part to her job.

"I used to work in a video production house, Leo Ticheli Productions, next to an audio studio; so I'd often run over there and do spots. I'd also gone to a fine arts high school and had an acting background, too. So, when I eventually moved out to Los Angeles, my first audition was for a cartoon called Where On Earth Is Carmen Sandiego? and I booked it. I didn't watch a lot of cartoons as a kid, so I kinda threw myself into learning as much as I could about it."

Hale's career has actually spans across movies, television, and games. While a large portion of these roles have only featured her voice, she's also appeared in person on shows like Charmed, Just Shoot Me, and E.R.. Contrary to what people might think, though, there's a significant difference between these two types of acting.

"You get to create the visual and go to further extremes with animated shows... you get to go a little outside the box; it's more comedic and more interesting. In that aspect you can push it. In videogames, you take what they tell you, but you have to have the whole environment set in your head. What's the ambient sound? What just happened?

"You're often not working in a continuous scene. You're often just working in pieces, so you need to consider what the other person is saying, what are they behaving like, and what are they seeing. It's all in your imagination, which is the biggest challenge with voice acting in videogames."

For Hale, creating her character's identity is a bit of a collaborative effort between herself and writers.

"I have so much respect for writers and what they do," she stated. "I owe service to the writer. It's all about bringing the writer's vision to life. That is my sole purpose for being there ... quite often they'll have pictures [of the character] or pictures from other parts of the game so you can get a sense of the artwork or a sense of the world you're inhabiting."

That said, Hale's first big role was in the 1988 TV movie A Father's Homecoming, and it initially seemed like she was destined for more traditional Hollywood roles. Obviously, her career didn't work out like initially expected, but she clearly doesn't have any regrets.

"Voice over work takes so much of my time that I don't have as much time for [live-action roles]. I never expected to end up quite where I am," she said, "but I love it."

However, in spite of the fact that she's become to a generation of iconic characters, Hale doesn't play that many games herself. According to her, this is because of her limited amounts of free time.

"I have so little free time because I am so fortunately busy with voice acting that when I do have it, I go outside," she explained. "<a href=http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/08/15/110815fa_fact_bissell>Tom Bissel wrote a piece on me for the New Yorker and he made me sit down and play Mass Effect 2; I'd never played a game before that... It was very interesting to actually play the game. Being at an event like PAX is fantastic because I get to see the people [games like Mass Effect] are meant for."

The actress's next big role is reprising Commander Shepard for Mass Effect 3. It's inarguably a dramatic character, one that has developed quite a bit over the course of three games. However, Hale pointed out Shepard's final starring role will feature some major developments for her.

"[Shepard] has such an incredible focus and a singular driving mission. Every character has high stakes or an imperative. With her, it's huge - I mean, the stakes are galactic, it doesn't get much bigger than that - but this is such an intense experience.

"In Mass Effect 3, they've loosened it up a little bit. There's a little more emotional life. Shepard doesn't operate from her emotions, she operates from her mission. Period. This time around you get to see a little more emotion."

Of course, Hale is also going to return to BioWare's Star Wars universe in Star Wars: The Old Republic, too. After that, we'll have to wait and see (and listen for) where she next pops up. It seems safe to assume that it won't be long before she provides the voice for yet another iconic character that gamers all fall in love with.


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Gilgamesh00

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Nov 22, 2008
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Personally I first knew her from Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy. I really like her voice.

Also slightly intrigued by that bit about Mass Effect 3.
 

Korten12

Now I want ma...!
Aug 26, 2009
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No offense to her, but am I the only one creeped out by her face in that pitcure? o_O
 

kurupt87

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Mar 17, 2010
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Look at her page on wikipedia, it's fucking mental how many big name games she's been in. Full on, eye poppingly mental.
 

Proverbial Jon

Not evil, just mildly malevolent
Nov 10, 2009
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vansau said:
She was Bastila Shan in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Samus Aran in the various Metroid Prime titles, Ophelia in Brütal Legend, and Commander Shepard in all three Mass Effect games.
And Trishka in Bulletstorm, don't forget Trishka!

Even if I didn't tend to play female characters in RPGs, I'd still pick FemShep simply to hear Hale's voice while I kick ass and save the universe. Damn I love you Jennifer Hale!

[small]But not in a creepy stalker way...[/small]
 

StarStruckStrumpets

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Daystar Clarion said:
The woman's a bloody legend.

Her and Steve Blum are my favourite voice actors.
Steve Blum is fantastic, not very versatile though, at least from what I can tell. The moment I hear his gravel-voice I shout "STEVE BLUM!".
 

cainx10a

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May 17, 2008
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Nolan North!!!!! Oh nevermind, that joke probably died a while back. But Hale is definitely my favorite female VA, her voice fits 'badass' characters perfectly.

Edit: lol, got his name wrong > . >
 

Zhukov

The Laughing Arsehole
Dec 29, 2009
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vansau said:
"In Mass Effect 3, they've loosened it up a little bit. There's a little more emotional life. Shepard doesn't operate from her emotions, she operates from her mission. Period. This time around you get to see a little more emotion."
That's interesting. I'm eager to see how it turns out.

...

As for Hale, yeah she knows her stuff and she's had a part in damn near everything. Saw a list of her roles once. It was a mighty long list. "Wait, she was in Planescape Torment?! And that... and that too? Holy crap, she was Trishka from Bulletstorm?!" Etc etc.

First heard of her through Mass Effect. It was her voiceover job that got me onto "team FemShep".
 

sleeky01

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Jan 27, 2011
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Cheshire the Cat said:
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.
 

Zhukov

The Laughing Arsehole
Dec 29, 2009
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Cheshire the Cat said:
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.
Huh. Let me guess... you played predominantly renegade, right?

See, I always thought female Shepard had a bit of range and the ability to actually emote every now and again, while male Shepard's utter lack of inflection made it sound like he was going to sleep at the mic.

However, credit where it's due, he did improve significantly for the second game. Still came off second best though.
 

Lono Shrugged

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May 7, 2009
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EverythingIncredible said:
Jennifer Hale is probably one of the best voice actors around.

She has incredible range. You really can't tell that some of her roles are done by the same person.
No offence, but I can spot her pretty much anytime I hear her. It kinda breaks immersion realising, "oh it's Naomi from MGS" I have the same thing with John Dimaggio. He always sounds like Bender to me even when he plays the Joker.

Not doing them down they are both great voice actors.
 

Avatar Roku

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Jul 9, 2008
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Daystar Clarion said:
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:
[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.
 

Soviet Heavy

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Jan 22, 2010
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Zhukov said:
Cheshire the Cat said:
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.
Huh. Let me guess... you played predominantly renegade, right?

See, I always thought female Shepard had a bit of range and the ability to actually emote every now and again, while male Shepard's utter lack of inflection made it sound like he was going to sleep at the mic.
The difference between MaleShep and FemShep when playing Renegade is how they approach it. Hale plays the Ice Queen, which doesn't work for some people. Mark Meer plays a goofball psychopath.
 

Avatar Roku

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Lono Shrugged said:
EverythingIncredible said:
Jennifer Hale is probably one of the best voice actors around.

She has incredible range. You really can't tell that some of her roles are done by the same person.
No offence, but I can spot her pretty much anytime I hear her. It kinda breaks immersion realising, "oh it's Naomi from MGS" I have the same thing with John Dimaggio. He always sounds like Bender to me even when he plays the Joker.

Not doing them down they are both great voice actors.
Huh, interesting. Whenever I hear Dimaggio, I hear Marcus Fenix, except in Futurama, in which I only hear Bender. Like I separate his best role from the others in my head.
 

MercurySteam

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Apr 11, 2008
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Daystar Clarion said:
The woman's a bloody legend.

Her and Steve Blum are my favourite voice actors.
They're two sides of the same coin, plus both Steve [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Blum] and Jennifer [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jennifer_Hale] have a long list of videogame roles to match.

Korten12 said:
No offense to her, but am I the only one creeped out by her face in that pitcure? o_O
She reminds me of Sarah Connor from Terminator 2.
 

LiquidGrape

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Sep 10, 2008
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Cheshire the Cat said:
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.


We don't take too kindly to that kind of thinkin' around these here parts, son.

OT: Glad to see Hale getting some recognition, but I do wonder why it is that she would barely be heard of in the media before the marketing stooges at BioWare decided to throw her a bone.