Jennifer Hale Interview

It’s time for another Codec Call, and this one features a very special guest joining us to talk about the role of the voice actor within the games industry, and how it is changing with advances and demands of technology.

Our guest this week is one of the most prolific voice actors working today, with credits on animated series including The Powerpuff Girls, Ben 10, Johnny Quest and Johnny Bravo, The Tick, The X-Men, Phineas and Ferb and Tamagotchi Video Adventures (if IMDB is to be believed); along with credits in games including Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Doom 3, SOCOM, Bulletstorm, Uncharted 3, Bioshock Infinite and The Last of Us to name a handful. Even if you don’t know her by name, you’ll know her by game as the voice of both Naomi Hunter in the Metal Gear Solid franchise and Commander Shepard from the Mass Effect series. It’s the supremely talented Jennifer Hale!

In this interview we cover:

• Jennifer’s acting history and her career to date.
• The amount of audio recording needed for some games, like Metal Gear Solid.
• Mass Effect: the freedom of relationships and how much the actors know at the recording stage, “Femshep”, and the controversial ending of the third installment.
• The process of voice recording for games and animation.
• Singing!
• What the fans are like and how they differ between videogames and the animated series.
• The skew of male protagonists in games and the effect on available work.
• ‘Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego?’
• Character preparation across film, animation and videogames, as well as actor input to the dialogue.
• Motion capture.
• Hollywood actors appearing in videogames, and replacing actors in established franchises.
• And a whole lot more!

Enjoy!

If you’d like to comment on the Codec Call then add something below or tweet us @CodecMoments. Alternatively, find us on Facebook and Google+. And don’t forget to review or rate it on iTunes, Stitcher or TuneIn!