Ellen McLain

Ellen McLain

McLain at a signing at Kitacon 2012, UK
Background information
Origin Nashville, Tennessee
Occupation(s) Singer, voice actor
Instruments Soprano voice
Website ellenmclain.net

Ellen McLain is an American opera singer and voice actress from Nashville, Tennessee. She is known for providing the voice of GLaDOS, the computer antagonist of the Portal video game series, the voice of the Jaeger A.I. in Pacific Rim, and the Administrator, the narrator of the video game Team Fortress 2.[1]

Career

McLain provides voices for many characters in several video games from Valve Corporation. 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.[2]

McLain sang "Still Alive" and "Want You Gone", the ending credits songs to Portal and Portal 2, respectively, both of which were written by Jonathan Coulton.[3] She also sang the soprano song featured at the end of Portal 2, named "Cara Mia", and officially called "Cara Mia Addio". It is sometimes called the "Turret Opera."[4]

In December 2011, she won the Spike Video Game Award in the category "Best Performance by a Human Female" for her voice acting as GLaDOS in Portal 2.

In 2013, McLain lent her public support to gathering donations for the Kickstarter-funded LGBT gaming convention GaymerX.[5] She later was a special guest at the convention in August 2013.

Personal life

McLain is married to John Patrick Lowrie,[6] a fellow voice actor, who also worked on the video games Half-Life 2, Dota 2 and Team Fortress 2. In Half-Life 2, her husband voiced the citizens who assist the protagonist. In Team Fortress 2, Lowrie voices the Sniper.[7]

Filmography

Year Games/Films Role Notes
2004 Half-Life 2 Combine Overwatch
2006 Half-Life 2: Episode One Combine Overwatch
2007 Half-Life 2: Episode Two Combine Overwatch
Portal GLaDOS / Turrets / Curiosity Sphere / Cake Sphere[8] 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 Administrator (also referred to as "The Announcer" and "Helen")
Godzilla: Unleashed Vorticia Features only in cutscenes.
2009 Left 4 Dead 2 Witch
2011 Portal 2 GLaDOS / Turrets / Caroline Sings "Want You Gone"

During the credits, Caroline is not credited, whereas both GLaDOS and the turrets are.

Defense Grid: The Awakening GLaDOS Appears in the DLC "You Monster".
2012 Dota 2 Broodmother, Death Prophet, GLaDOS Announcer
2013 Pacific Rim Jaeger A.I.[9]
Poker Night 2 GLaDOS Appears in a supporting role as the game's card dealer.
2015 Bee and PuppyCat Temp Bot Episode 5
2015 Lego Dimensions GLaDOS / Turrets Appears in a supporting role. Sings "You Wouldn't Know" (credits song).

References

  1. ↑ Hamilton, Kirk (2013-07-01). "How GLaDOS is GLaDOS in Pacific Rim?". Kotaku. Retrieved 2014-04-19.
  2. ↑ Hatfield, Dameon (2007-10-31). "GLaDOS Speaks". IGN. Retrieved 2010-01-24.
  3. ↑ "Game Music Showdown: Mirror's Edge Vs. Portal". IGN. 2008-10-22. Retrieved 2009-08-25.
  4. ↑ "Portal 2 Turret Opera". Valve. 2011-04-19. Retrieved 2011-06-15.
  5. ↑ Polansky, Lana. "Ellen McLain Summons GLaDOS to Voice Support for GaymerCon". Gameranx. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
  6. ↑ "Married to John Patrick Lowrie".
  7. ↑ Plunkett, Luke (2010-07-29). "The men and women behind gaming's most iconic characters". Kotaku. Retrieved 2010-08-03.
  8. ↑ Portal GCF archives
  9. ↑ Narcisse, Evan (2012-10-11). "Guillermo Del Toro’s Next Movie Has a Little GlaDOS in It". Retrieved 13 October 2012.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ellen McLain.


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