| Ellen McLain | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Nashville, Tennessee |
| Occupations | Soprano/Voice Actor |
| Instruments | Voice |
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 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."[3]
McLain is married to John Patrick Lowrie,[4] 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 the citizens who assist the protagonist. In Team Fortress 2, Lowrie voices the Sniper.[5]
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, unhindered by the ironic fact that GLaDOS isn't actually a human female.
| 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 (With exception of the "Aggression Core")[6] | 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 | |||
| 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.[7] | |
| Defense Grid: The Awakening | GLaDOS | Appears in the DLC "You Monster" | ||
| Dota 2 | Broodmother, Death Prophet |