Ellen McLain
Ellen McLain |
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Ellen McLain is an opera singer and voice actress from Nashville, Tennessee, USA. McLain provides voices for many characters in several video games from Valve. Among them are GLaDOS, the artificial intelligence antagonist in Portal (for which she won an AIAS Interactive Achievement Award for Outstanding Achievement in Character Performance) and Portal 2, the announcer in Team Fortress 2, and the voice of the Combine overwatch for the Half-Life 2 series.[1]
McLain is the only person to have her voice in all the games in the Orange Box.
McLain sang the ending credits song to Portal, "Still Alive" and Portal 2, "Want You Gone", both written by Jonathan Coulton.[2] She also sang the opera-style turret song featured at the end of Portal 2, referred to by fans as the Turret Opera.[3]
McLain is married to John Patrick Lowrie, a fellow voice actor, who also worked on the video games Half-Life 2 and Team Fortress 2. In Half-Life 2, her husband voiced a citizen who assists the protagonist. In Team Fortress 2, Lowrie plays the Sniper.[4]
Filmography
Year | Game | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2004 | Half-Life 2 | Combine Overwatch Announcer | |
2006 | Half-Life 2: Episode One | Combine Overwatch Announcer | |
2007 | Half-Life 2: Episode Two | Combine Overwatch Announcer | |
Portal | GLaDOS/Turrets/Personality Cores/Relaxation Vault Toilet[5] | AIAS Interactive Achievement Award for Outstanding Achievement in Character Performance Sings "Still Alive" See also: Critical reception to Portal and reception to GLaDOS | |
Team Fortress 2 | Announcer | ||
2011 | Portal 2 | GLaDOS/Caroline/Turrets | Sings "Want You Gone" and "Cara Mia", referred to as "O Cara Mia, Addio" or, more simply, Turret Opera.[6] |
References
- ^ Hatfield, Dameon (2007-10-31). "GLaDOS Speaks". IGN. Retrieved 2010-01-24.
- ^ "Game Music Showdown: Mirror's Edge Vs. Portal". IGN. 2008-10-22. Retrieved 2009-08-25.
- ^ "Portal 2 Turret Opera (Spoiler Warning)". Valve. 2011-04-19. Retrieved 2011-06-15.
- ^ Plunkett, Luke (2010-07-29). "The men and women behind gaming's most iconic characters". Kotaku. Retrieved 2010-08-03.
- ^ Portal GCF archives
- ^ http://sebastianwolff.info/news/2011/04/turret-opera-cara-mia-a-cappella/
External links
- Ellen McLain at IMDb