Jennifer Hale | |
|---|---|
 Hale in March 2024 | |
| Born | |
| Other names | Carren Learning[1] |
| Occupation | Voice actress |
| Years active | 1988–present |
| Children | 1 |
| Website | jenniferhale |
Jennifer Hale is a Canadian-American voice actress.[2] She is best known for her work in video game franchises such asBaldur's Gate,Mass Effect,Metal Gear Solid,BioShock Infinite,Metroid Prime,Halo,Overwatch, andStar Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.[3] In 2013, she was recognized byGuinness World Records as the most prolific video game voice actor, which she held until it was broken byLani Minella in 2024.[4][5]
Hale is featured in animation such asThe Real Adventures of Jonny Quest,The Powerpuff Girls,Codename: Kids Next Door,The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy,Brandy & Mr. Whiskers,Totally Spies!,Avatar: The Last Airbender and its continuationThe Legend of Korra,Where on Earth Is Carmen Sandiego? andStar Wars: The Clone Wars. She also voices Thorn of theHex Girls in variousScooby-Doo movies and TV episodes, as well asCinderella andPrincess Aurora in variousDisney Princess media of the 2000s and 2010s. She is also known for voicingJean Grey in a variety ofMarvel media, most recently inX-Men '97.[6][7]
For her role asCommander Shepard, Hale was nominated for "Best Performance by a Human Female" twice at the2010 and2012 Spike Video Game Awards, as well as "Outstanding Achievement in Character Performance" at the16th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards. In 2022, she has been nominated for "Performer in a Leading Role" at the18th British Academy Games Awards, as well as "Outstanding Achievement in Character" at the25th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards, for her performance as Rivet inRatchet & Clank: Rift Apart.[8][9]
Hale was born inHappy Valley-Goose Bay.[2][10][a] Her mother was what she called "a wandering master's degree pursuer" and her stepfather was a microbiologist. She later toldTom Bissell ofThe New Yorker that her biological father, James Learning, was an outdoorsman[2] who was also a prominentNunatuKavut elder and environmental activist.[12][13] Hale herself is a member of NunatuKavut,[14] and self-identifies as being of partial southern LabradorInuit descent.[15][16] She would later call for support to free her father, who had advanced cancer, after he was imprisoned for refusing to sign an injunction to stay away fromMuskrat Falls in 2017.[17] Hale has a paternal half-sister, Carren Dujela, who works at theUniversity of Victoria.[18][19] She moved to the U.S. as a child and grew up inAlabama, mainly inBirmingham andMontgomery.[20]
When Hale was a teenager, she got a voice-over spot at a local radio station, being paid $35 just to talk.[2] In 1982, she graduated fromAlabama School of Fine Arts,[11] where she was in the theater department and was interested in being in a rock band. She stated, "I started doing voice-over to pay for life and a PA system and everything else, and ended up that just sort of took over, acting took over."[20] While in high school, she did more voice-over work for commercials, and also worked as a production assistant at age 17.[10] She attendedBirmingham–Southern College, where she found the program's style was broader than what she wanted to do,[2] and realized that she was more interested in film acting than theater acting.[21] She graduated with a business degree.[2] She began working as an actress and continued doing voice-overs, commuting frequently between Birmingham andAtlanta,Georgia.[2][10][20][22]
Hale's first big break in acting was in 1988 for the made-for-television movieA Father's Homecoming,[10] which was an NBC movie of the week. She was also selected among a group of about six thousand girls in a nationwide search to be in several episodes of theSanta Barbara soap opera television series. After doing more regional work, she eventually moved to Los Angeles, where she took on sporadic guest roles typical for young actresses on shows such asMelrose Place,ER, andCharmed.[2] Her first major voice-over role in cartoons was the main characterIvy inWhere on Earth Is Carmen Sandiego? which was based on thecomputer game series. As it was her first cartoon, she sought extra classes and training.[2][21] The show spanned multiple seasons until its final broadcast in 1999. Hale enjoyed the project and noted that it was one of the first network TV cartoons that met the educational requirements. Hale's next animation project wasSkeleton Warriors where "there were ten cast members, [two] of whom were girls, and we blew stuff up and cartoon maimed each other every week."[21]
The development of a tie-in video game forCarmen Sandiego gave Hale the opportunity to do her first ever voice-over for a video game. She describes her time with the game as a "really confusing experience" as it required a lot more lines and time than the show did.[2][21] Her next major video game was withBioWare on theirBaldur's Gate series on various roles, which would eventually lead to large roles inMass Effect and other titles.[22][23] She has been involved in many other cartoons. In 1994, she was cast asFelicia Hardy/Black Cat inSpider-Man: The Animated Series, the first in a long line ofMarvel Comics characters she has voiced.[24] She playsCinderella andPrincess Aurora in variousDisney projects, as well as voicing Dory fromFinding Nemo throughout the Disney parks, filling in forEllen DeGeneres. In 2003, Hale voiced Mrs. Little in the short-livedStuart Little TV series.
Hale has provided the voice of lead characterSam and rival characterMandy in the French- and Canadian-produced animated television seriesTotally Spies!. In a 2004 interview, she said "I'm so happy that David (Michel, creator and producer),Jamie (Simone, voice director) and everyone gave me the opportunity to be part of the show, it's been one of my absolute favorite experiences." She describes Sam as "smart and adventurous, but now you see more of her wacky side and her girly side as well," and Mandy as a "total snot, which is fun too."[25] She voiced the two characters as well as others for the show's six seasons and its feature movie.[26]
Hale voicedBastila Shan inStar Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and returned for a brief appearance in the sequelStar Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II – The Sith Lords. She later voiced the female version ofJaden Korr inStar Wars: Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy.[27] In theBioWareMMOPRGStar Wars: The Old Republic, Hale voiced the Republic Trooper Female as well as the recurringNPC Jedi Grand Master Satele Shan. Hale interpreted the voices of Fall-From-Grace and Deionarra in the role-playing computer gamePlanescape: Torment. She is also known as the "voice" ofSamus Aran in all three games in theMetroid Prime trilogy, providing grunts and screams as the player moves and takes damage. Hale is also known for playing several voices in theMetal Gear Solid series (Naomi Hunter inMetal Gear Solid andMetal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, andEmma Emmerich inMetal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty).[3]
Hale was also the voice ofJean Grey inWolverine and the X-Men andMarvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds as well as a small role inSwat Kats. She also voiced British mercenary Jennifer Mui inMercenaries: Playground of Destruction andMercenaries 2: World in Flames. In 2011, she was the voice of Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers) onAvengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes. She provided the voice of Leah inDiablo III, and appeared asRosalind Lutece inBioShock Infinite. Hale also played the role ofKrem in BioWare'sDragon Age: Inquisition.[28] She also provided the voice forKronika, the final boss ofMortal Kombat 11.
Hale was selected to voiceCommander Shepard, the mainplayer character in theMass Effect series. She had said that she is very invested in helping to "create" the stories of video games, though she herself is not agamer.[21][29] Although Hale does object to certain lines if they seem out-of-character in other works, she prefers not to mess with the words for Shepard and BioWare.[29] Although reports showed that only 18% of players chose to play as a female Shepard inMass Effect 2,[30][31] (32% inMass Effect Legendary Edition)[32] vocal support for her character was high, leading to the fan-driven nickname "FemShep"[33] and an e-mail campaign to put her character on the cover ofMass Effect 3.[34] She was nominated for "Best Performance by a Human Female" at the2010 Spike Video Game Awards,[35] in 2012, she was nominated again forMass Effect 3.[36]
In February 2023, Hale guest voiced Riyo Chuchi, a Pantoran member of the Imperial Senate, inStar Wars: The Bad Batch.[37]
In 2021, Hale branched out from voice acting by founding two new businesses, Skills Hub and The Haven. Skills Hub is a coaching program for aspiring voice actors. Featuring 89 coaches including experienced voice actors and casting directors, Skills Hub teaches prospective voice actors skills on how to enter and navigate the VO/VA industry.[38]
The Haven was a self help group led by Hale, run through Patreon. It featured monthly zoom calls and advice from Hale herself. The group was indefinitely paused as of June 2024 due to other commitments making scheduling difficult.[39]
In an interview withThe Geek Forge regarding her influences, Hale cited voice actors such asDee Bradley Baker,Grey DeLisle,Phil LaMarr,Tress MacNeille,Kath Soucie,Frank Welker, andApril Winchell, with emphasis on LaMarr. She also admires the work of actorsJudi Dench,Edward James Olmos, andMary McDonnell.[20]
Hale's peers and critics have noted her versatility in her roles: Michael Abbott, a professor atWabash College who blogs about video games, said that she has made herself "untraceable" despite having voiced dozens of roles. JournalistTom Bissell noted that she has been referred as "a kind ofMeryl Streep of the form".[2] In an interview, she said, "I love the anonymity. I could walk throughComic Con, and no matter how many people who might be a fan of what I do, we're in proximity and no one knew. I'm invisible. If I'd have done as many on-camera roles as I've done voiceover, I couldn't go to the grocery store in peace." She stated in the same interview, "As cheesy as it sounds, the player is the star of the game. That's the beauty of games—that it's you that inhabits it. It's not about someone else, it's about that you get to be that person, and if I do my job right, I as a person disappear. Your experience is primary."[40]
Hale lived in theLos Angeles area, but since 2020, she has relocated back to Canada and now resides onVancouver Island where she continues to do voice recordings from her personal home studio.[41] She has a son.[2] She has several pets and enjoys the outdoors, stating that she might have become an architect because she likes to redo houses.[20] She has said that she was not allowed to watch cartoons as a child,[33] and had not played any video games until her 2011 interview withTom Bissell forThe New Yorker, in which she playedMass Effect for the first time.[21] She likes horses and has mentioned being part of the local evacuation response team that rescues horses from advancingwildfires.[25][42]
She's a proud descendant of the NunatuKavut, southern Labrador Inuit and is a passionate advocate, caring for the amazing planet we live on and for the financial and governmental empowerment of all peoples.
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