Susan Alice Bennett (née Cameron, born July 31, 1949) is an American voice actress and a former backup singer for

Roy Orbison Roy Kelton Orbison (April 23, 1936 – December 6, 1988) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician known for his impassioned singing style, complex song structures, and dark, emotional ballads. His music was described by critics as ...

and

Burt Bacharach Burt Freeman Bacharach ( ; born May 12, 1928) is an American composer, songwriter, record producer and pianist who composed hundreds of pop songs from the late 1950s through the 1980s, many in collaboration with lyricist Hal David. A six-time Gra ...

. She is best known as the female American voice of Apple's Siri personal assistant, since the service was introduced on the iPhone 4S on October 4, 2011. She was the voice of Siri until the iOS 7 update was released on September 18, 2013.

Early life and education

Bennett was born in

Burlington, Vermont Burlington is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Vermont and the seat of Chittenden County. It is located south of the Canada–United States border and south of Montreal. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the population was 44,743. It ...

, and attended high school at Clinton Central School in Clinton, New York. In 1967, she enrolled in Pembroke College and graduated in 1971 from

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

after the two schools merged. In college, Bennett focused on the

classics Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

, intending to be a teacher. She acted in Sock and Buskin theatrical productions, was a member of a jazz band, and was a singer with the Chattertocks, an

a cappella ''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Ren ...

group.

Career

Bennett's career began in 1974 when she was recorded as the voice of First National Bank of Atlanta's Tillie the All-Time Teller. She has recorded messages for the public address system in all Delta Air Lines terminals worldwide, for e-learning software and GPS navigation software, and for telephone systems. Her voice has also been used in numerous local and national television advertisements for companies including Ford, Coca-Cola,

Fisher-Price Fisher-Price is an American company that produces educational toys for infants, toddlers and preschoolers, headquartered in East Aurora, New York, East Aurora, New York (state), New York. The company was founded in 1930 during the Great Depressio ...

, McDonald's, The Home Depot, Goodyear, Visa, Macy's, Hot Pockets, Club Med, and

Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (often abbreviated as CN) is an American cable television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. It is a part of The Cartoon Network, Inc., a division that also has the broadcasting and production activities of Boomerang, Car ...

. In 2021, she provided the voice of EMMA, an artificial intelligence application, in ''

Persona 5 Strikers ''Persona 5 Strikers'' is an action role-playing game developed by Omega Force and P-Studio and published by Atlus. The game is a crossover between Koei Tecmo's ''Dynasty Warriors'' franchise and the ''Persona'' series developed by Atlus. The g ...

'' by

Atlus is a Japanese video game developer, publisher, arcade manufacturer and distribution company based in Tokyo. A subsidiary of Sega, the company is known for video game series such as ''Megami Tensei'', ''Persona'', ''Etrian Odyssey'' and ''Trau ...

Siri

In June 2005, the software company ScanSoft was looking for someone to be the voice for a database project involving speech construction. They inquired with GM Voices and selected Bennett, who happened to be present when the scheduled voice-over artist was absent. She worked in a home recording booth in July 2005, more than four hours each day, reading phrases and sentences. The recordings were then concatenated into the various words, sentences, and paragraphs used in the Siri voice. Bennett became aware she was the voice of Siri when a friend emailed her about it in October 2011. Apple has never acknowledged or confirmed its use of Bennett, but audio-forensics experts hired by CNN expressed 100% certainty that Bennett was the voice of Siri.

Personal life

At Brown University, Bennett met her first husband, professional ice hockey player Curt Bennett. She later married audio engineer and guitarist Rick Hinkle. She now lives in Atlanta, Georgia.

In popular culture

On October 4, 2011, she appeared on CNN " New Day" explaining how she was picked to play the part of Siri. In the March 13, 2015, episode of

Adult Swim Adult Swim (AS; stylized as dult swimand often abbreviated as s is an American adult-oriented night-time cable television Television channel, channel that shares channel space with the basic cable network Cartoon Network and is programme ...

's '' The Jack and Triumph Show'', titled "Siri", Bennett appeared as herself and was referred to as the "voice of Siri". In July 2016, Bennett appeared on comedian Anthony Anderson's ABC game show '' To Tell the Truth'', and was revealed as the voice of Siri.

References

External links

* * * (audio story featuring the voices of Siri and Susan Bennett)
Meet the Real Voice of Siri: Susan Bennett
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bennett, Susan 1949 births Living people American voice actresses Musicians from Atlanta Actresses from Atlanta Actresses from New York (state) Actresses from Vermont Pembroke College in Brown University alumni 21st-century American women