Ellen McLain (born 1952/1953) is an American voice actress. She is best known for providing the voice of GLaDOS, the primary antagonist of the ''

Portal Portal often refers to: *Portal (architecture), an opening in a wall of a building, gate or fortification, or the extremities (ends) of a tunnel Portal may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Gaming * ''Portal'' (series), two video games ...

'' video game series, the

Combine Overwatch The Combine ( ) is a fictional multiverse, multidimensional empire which serves as the primary antagonistic force in the 2004 video game ''Half-Life 2'', and the subsequent episodes developed by Valve Corporation, Valve. The Combine consist of or ...

in '' Half-Life 2'', and the Administrator, the announcer in ''

Team Fortress 2 ''Team Fortress 2'' is a 2007 multiplayer first-person shooter, first-person shooter game developed and published by Valve Corporation. It is the sequel to the 1996 ''Team Fortress'' Mod (video gaming), mod for ''Quake (video game), Quake'' and ...

''. Her voice roles also include the Jaeger

A.I. Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech rec ...

in ''

Pacific Rim The Pacific Rim comprises the lands around the rim of the Pacific Ocean. The '' Pacific Basin'' includes the Pacific Rim and the islands in the Pacific Ocean. The Pacific Rim roughly overlaps with the geologic Pacific Ring of Fire. List of ...

'' and The Witch in ''

Left 4 Dead ''Left 4 Dead'' is a 2008 first-person shooter game developed by Valve South and published by Valve. It was originally released for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360 in November 2008 and for Mac OS X in October 2010, and is the first title in the ...

'' and ''

Left 4 Dead 2 ''Left 4 Dead 2'' is a 2009 first-person shooter game developed and published by Valve. The sequel to Turtle Rock Studios's ''Left 4 Dead'' (2008) and the second game in the ''Left 4 Dead'' series, it was released for Microsoft Windows and Xbox ...

''.

Career

McLain provides voices for many characters in several video games from

Valve A valve is a device or natural object that regulates, directs or controls the flow of a fluid (gases, liquids, fluidized solids, or slurries) by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically fitting ...

. Among them are GLaDOS, the primary antagonist of the ''

'' video game series (for which she won an AIAS Interactive Achievement Award for Outstanding Achievement in Character Performance), the announcer in ''

''; and the voice of the

for the ''

Half-Life Half-life (symbol ) is the time required for a quantity (of substance) to reduce to half of its initial value. The term is commonly used in nuclear physics to describe how quickly unstable atoms undergo radioactive decay or how long stable ...

'' series. McLain sang "

Still Alive "Still Alive" is a song featured in the closing credits of the 2007 video game ''Portal''. It was composed and arranged by Jonathan Coulton and was performed by Ellen McLain, who voiced the ''Portal'' antagonist and subject of the song, GLaD ...

" and "

Want You Gone '' Portal 2'' is a physics-based puzzle-platform game created by Valve and released on Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Linux in April 2011, followed by a Nintendo Switch version in June 2022. The game, set in the desol ...

", the ending credits songs to ''Portal'' and ''Portal 2'', respectively, both of which were written by Jonathan Coulton. She sang " Cara Mia Addio" at the end of ''Portal 2''. It is sometimes called the "Turret Opera". In December 2011, McLain won the Spike Video Game Award in the category "Best Performance by a Human Female" for her voice acting as GLaDOS in ''Portal 2''. In 2013, she lent her public support to gathering donations for the

Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...

-funded LGBT gaming convention GaymerX. She later was a special guest at the convention in August 2013. In 2014, she portrayed Fairy Godmother in the online video series '' ish It Inc.'. In 2015, she portrayed Lisa Clarke in the gay independent film, ''Winning Dad''. This film was also promoted on McLain's YouTube channel. McLain has played roles in many radio dramas on the radio program ''

Imagination Theatre ''Imagination Theatre'' is an American syndicated radio drama program airing on FM and AM radio stations across the United States. It features modern radio dramas. The program first aired in 1996. Originally produced by Jim French Productions, ...

''. In 2021, McLain provided the voice of GLaDOS non-canonically, singing a verse in The Chalkeaters’ song "Count to Three" as a cameo. In 2022, McLain provided the voice of GLaDOS for the GEICO Insurance ad.Description: Commercial Cast: COMMERCIAL CAST: Jake Wood as the Gecko Ellen McLain as GLaDOS Andrew Anthony as AVO.
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Personal life

McLain has been married to fellow voice actor

John Patrick Lowrie John Patrick Lowrie (born June 28, 1952) is an American actor, musician and author best known for voicing the Sniper in '' Team Fortress 2'' and various characters in ''Dota 2''. He has played Sherlock Holmes in the radio series '' The Further ...

since 1986. McLain now spends her days as a voice instructor, teaching at local community and children's theaters.

Filmography

Film

Web series

Video games

References

External links

* * * ,

Anime Midwest Anime Midwest is an annual three-day anime convention held during July at the Hyatt Regency O'Hare and Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, Illinois. The convention is held in the same location as Anime Central. Programming The convention ty ...

2011 convention * {{DEFAULTSORT:McLain, Ellen American voice actresses American video game actresses Actresses from Nashville, Tennessee Living people Singers from Nashville, Tennessee 21st-century American actresses 21st-century American singers 21st-century American women singers Year of birth missing (living people) Spike Video Game Award winners Interactive Achievement Award winners