Ellen McLain
Encyclopedia
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.
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
. 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."
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 voices the Sniper.
Voice acting
Voice acting is the art of providing voices for animated characters and radio and audio dramas and comedy, as well as doing voice-overs in radio and television commercials, audio dramas, dubbed foreign language films, video games, puppet shows, and amusement rides.Performers are called...
from Nashville
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
, Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
, USA. McLain provides voices for many characters in several video games from Valve
Valve Corporation
Valve Corporation is an American video game development and digital distribution company based in Bellevue, Washington, United States...
. Among them are GLaDOS
GLaDOS
GLaDOS, short for Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System, is a fictional artificially intelligent computer system in Valve Software's Half-Life video game series and the main antagonist in the video games Portal and Portal 2. She was created by Erik Wolpaw and Kim Swift and is voiced by Ellen...
, the artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
antagonist
Antagonist
An antagonist is a character, group of characters, or institution, that represents the opposition against which the protagonist must contend...
in Portal (for which she won an AIAS
Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences
The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences , founded in 1996, is a non-profit organization that promotes computer and video game entertainment with the annual D.I.C.E. Summit event, where its Interactive Achievement Awards ceremony has been held annually since 1998...
Interactive Achievement Award for Outstanding Achievement in Character Performance) and Portal 2, the announcer in Team Fortress 2
Team Fortress 2
Team Fortress 2 is a free-to-play team-based first-person shooter multiplayer video game developed by Valve Corporation. A sequel to the original mod Team Fortress based on the Quake engine, it was first released as part of the video game compilation The Orange Box on October 10, 2007 for Windows...
, and the voice of the Combine Overwatch for the Half-Life 2
Half-Life 2
Half-Life 2 , the sequel to Half-Life, is a first-person shooter video game and a signature title in the Half-Life series. It is singleplayer, story-driven, science fiction, and linear...
series.
McLain is the only person to have her voice in all the games in the Orange Box
The Orange Box
The Orange Box is a video game compilation for Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, Mac OS X and PlayStation 3. The Windows and Xbox 360 versions were produced and published by Valve Corporation and released on October 10, 2007 as a boxed retail copy...
.
McLain sang the ending credits song to Portal, "Still Alive
Still Alive
Still Alive may refer to:* Still Alive , the closing credits song from the Portal video game* Still Alive – the Remixes, the theme song from the video game Mirror's Edge...
" and Portal 2, "Want You Gone", both written by Jonathan Coulton
Jonathan Coulton
Jonathan Coulton is an American singer-songwriter, known for his songs about geek culture and his use of the Internet to draw fans...
. 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."
McLain is married to John Patrick Lowrie
John Patrick Lowrie
John Patrick Lowrie is a voice actor who has notably performed roles in video games such as The Suffering and The Suffering: Ties That Bind, Total Annihilation, No One Lives Forever: The Operative and No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy In H.A.R.M.'s Way, and Valve games Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2:...
, a fellow voice actor, who also worked on the video games Half-Life 2
Half-Life 2
Half-Life 2 , the sequel to Half-Life, is a first-person shooter video game and a signature title in the Half-Life series. It is singleplayer, story-driven, science fiction, and linear...
and Team Fortress 2
Team Fortress 2
Team Fortress 2 is a free-to-play team-based first-person shooter multiplayer video game developed by Valve Corporation. A sequel to the original mod Team Fortress based on the Quake engine, it was first released as part of the video game compilation The Orange Box on October 10, 2007 for Windows...
. In Half-Life 2, her husband voiced a citizen who assists the protagonist
Protagonist
A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...
. In Team Fortress 2, Lowrie voices the Sniper.
Filmography
| Year | Game | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Half-Life 2 Half-Life 2 Half-Life 2 , the sequel to Half-Life, is a first-person shooter video game and a signature title in the Half-Life series. It is singleplayer, story-driven, science fiction, and linear... |
Combine Overwatch Announcer | |
| 2006 | Half-Life 2: Episode One Half-Life 2: Episode One Half-Life 2: Episode One is the first in a series of episodes that serve as the sequel for the 2004 first-person shooter video game Half-Life 2. It was developed by Valve Corporation and released on June 1, 2006. Originally called Half-Life 2: Aftermath, the game was later renamed to Episode One... |
Combine Overwatch Announcer | |
| 2007 | Half-Life 2: Episode Two Half-Life 2: Episode Two Half-Life 2: Episode Two is the second episode in a series of sequels to the 2004 first-person shooter video game Half-Life 2. It was developed by Valve Corporation in tandem with Episode One, the first game in the series, and released in Q4 2007 via Valve's Steam content distribution platform... |
Combine Overwatch Announcer | |
| Portal | GLaDOS GLaDOS GLaDOS, short for Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System, is a fictional artificially intelligent computer system in Valve Software's Half-Life video game series and the main antagonist in the video games Portal and Portal 2. She was created by Erik Wolpaw and Kim Swift and is voiced by Ellen... /Turrets/Personality Cores (With exception of the "Aggression Core") |
AIAS Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences , founded in 1996, is a non-profit organization that promotes computer and video game entertainment with the annual D.I.C.E. Summit event, where its Interactive Achievement Awards ceremony has been held annually since 1998... Interactive Achievement Award for Outstanding Achievement in Character Performance Sings "Still Alive Still Alive Still Alive may refer to:* Still Alive , the closing credits song from the Portal video game* Still Alive – the Remixes, the theme song from the video game Mirror's Edge... " See also: Critical reception to Portal and reception to GLaDOS |
|
| Team Fortress 2 Team Fortress 2 Team Fortress 2 is a free-to-play team-based first-person shooter multiplayer video game developed by Valve Corporation. A sequel to the original mod Team Fortress based on the Quake engine, it was first released as part of the video game compilation The Orange Box on October 10, 2007 for Windows... |
Administrator | ||
| 2011 | Portal 2 Portal 2 Portal 2 is a first-person puzzle-platform video game developed and published by Valve Corporation. The sequel to the 2007 video game Portal, it was announced on March 5, 2010, following a week-long alternate reality game based on new patches to the original game... |
GLaDOS GLaDOS GLaDOS, short for Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System, is a fictional artificially intelligent computer system in Valve Software's Half-Life video game series and the main antagonist in the video games Portal and Portal 2. She was created by Erik Wolpaw and Kim Swift and is voiced by Ellen... /Caroline/Turrets |
Sings "Want You Gone" and "Cara Mia", referred to as "O Cara Mia, Addio" or, more simply, Turret Opera. |