Jennifer Hale

Jennifer Hale is a Canadian-born American voice actress.

She is best known for her work in video game franchises such as Baldur's Gate, Mass Effect, Metal Gear Solid, BioShock Infinite, Metroid Prime, Overwatch, and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.

In 1982, she graduated from Alabama School of Fine Arts, where she was in the theater department and was interested in being in a rock band.

She stated, "I started doing voice-over to pay for life and a PA system and everything else, and ended up that just sort of took over, acting took over."

While in high school, she did more voice-over work for commercials, and also worked as a production assistant at age 17.

She attended Birmingham–Southern College, where she found the program's style was broader than what she wanted to do, and realized that she was more interested in film acting than theater acting.

She graduated with a business degree.

She began working as an actress and continued doing voice-overs, commuting frequently between Birmingham and Atlanta, Georgia.

Hale's first big break in acting was in 1988 for the made-for-television movie A Father's Homecoming, which was an NBC movie of the week.

She was also selected among a group of about six thousand girls in a nationwide search to be in several episodes of the Santa Barbara soap opera television series.

After doing more regional work, she eventually moved to Los Angeles, where she took on sporadic guest roles typical for young actresses on shows such as Melrose Place, ER, and Charmed.

Her first major voice-over role in cartoons was the main character Ivy in Where on Earth Is Carmen Sandiego? which was based on the computer game series.

As it was her first cartoon, she sought extra classes and training.

In 1994, she was cast as Felicia Hardy/Black Cat in Spider-Man, the first in a long line of Marvel Comics characters she has voiced.

She plays Cinderella and Princess Aurora in various Disney projects, as well as voicing Dory from Finding Nemo throughout the Disney parks, filling in for Ellen DeGeneres.

The show spanned multiple seasons until its final broadcast in 1999.

Hale enjoyed the project and noted that it was one of the first network TV cartoons that met the educational requirements.

Hale's next animation project was Skeleton Warriors where "there were ten cast members, [two] of whom were girls, and we blew stuff up and cartoon maimed each other every week."

The development of a tie-in video game for Carmen Sandiego gave Hale the opportunity to do her first ever voice-over for a video game.

She describes her time with the game as a "really confusing experience" as it required a lot more lines and time than the show did.

Her next major video game was with BioWare on their Baldur's Gate series on various roles, which would eventually lead to large roles in Mass Effect and other titles.

She has been involved in many other cartoons.

Hale is featured in animation such as The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest, The Powerpuff Girls, Codename: Kids Next Door, The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, Brandy & Mr. Whiskers, Totally Spies!, Avatar: The Last Airbender and its continuation The Legend of Korra, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and Where on Earth Is Carmen Sandiego? She also voices Thorn of the Hex Girls in various Scooby-Doo movies and TV episodes, as well as Cinderella and Princess Aurora in various Disney Princess media of the 2000s and 2010s.

In 2003, Hale voiced Mrs. Little in the short-lived Stuart Little TV series.

Hale has provided the voice of lead character Sam and rival character Mandy in the French- and Canadian-produced animated television series Totally Spies!.

In a 2004 interview, she said "I'm so happy that David (Michel, creator and producer), Jamie (Simone, voice director) and everyone gave me the opportunity to be part of the show, it's been one of my absolute favorite experiences."

She describes Sam as "smart and adventurous, but now you see more of her wacky side and her girly side as well," and Mandy as a "total snot, which is fun too."

She voiced the two characters as well as others for the show's six seasons and its feature movie.

Hale voiced Bastila Shan in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and returned for a brief appearance in the sequel Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II – The Sith Lords.

She later voiced the female version of Jaden Korr in Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy.

For her role as Commander Shepard, Hale was nominated for "Best Performance by a Human Female" twice at the 2010 and 2012 Spike Video Game Awards, as well as "Outstanding Achievement in Character Performance" at the 16th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards.

In 2022, she has been nominated for "Performer in a Leading Role" at the 18th British Academy Games Awards, as well as "Outstanding Achievement in Character" at the 25th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards for her performance as Rivet in Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart.

Hale was born in Happy Valley-Goose Bay.

Her mother was what she called "a wandering master's degree pursuer" and her stepfather was a microbiologist.

She later told Tom Bissell of The New Yorker that her biological father, James Learning, was an outdoorsman who was also a prominent NunatuKavut elder and environmental activist.

In 2013, she was recognized by Guinness World Records as the most prolific video game voice actor.

She would later call for support to free her father, who had advanced cancer, after he was imprisoned for refusing to sign an injunction to stay away from Muskrat Falls in 2017.

Hale has a paternal half-sister, Carren Dujela, who works at the University of Victoria.

She moved to the U.S. as a child and grew up in Alabama, mainly in Birmingham and Montgomery.

When Hale was a teenager, she got a voice-over spot at a local radio station, being paid $35 just to talk.