Jennifer Taylor is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Cortana in Halo games and the intelligent personal assistant, the voice of Zoey in the Left 4 Dead franchise and formerly as Princess Peach, Toad and other characters in the Mario franchise from 1999 to 2008.
Jen Taylor | |
---|---|
Born | Jennifer Taylor Seattle, Washington, U.S. |
Occupation | Actress |
Years active | 1993–present |
Career
editJen Taylor taught herself how to do voice work by recording the radio and imitating what she heard.[1] She graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in theater.[2] Before starting in voice work, she worked as a radio DJ for KNDD.[3]
Taylor has voiced characters in video games, Princess Peach, Toad, and Toadette in Mario games between 1999 and 2006.[4] She voiced the character Cortana in Halo games since the first game in the series, Halo: Combat Evolved (2001).[5] Two decades following the original game, Taylor reprised the role of Cortana by voice acting and performance capture in the Paramount+ TV series.[6] At GalaxyCon Columbus in December 2023, Taylor stated her favorite line as Cortana is "Welcome home, John" from Halo 4.[7]
Taylor has played Salem in the web series RWBY, since 2013.[8] She voiced an episode of the radio series The Classic Adventures of Sherlock Holmes[9][10]
Taylor has narrated nearly 30 audiobooks, and has received several AudioFile Earphones Awards.[11] Her narration of Tami Hoag's Mismatch was nominated for an Audie Award in 2009.[12]
As a stage actress, Taylor has played Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice[3] and Eliza Doolittle in a Seattle Shakespeare Company production of Pygmalion.[13]
Filmography
editLive-action
editYear | Title | Role | Notes | Source |
---|---|---|---|---|
2004 | Inheritance | Abbey | [14] | |
2018 | Everything Sucks! | Miss Stock | 2 episodes | [15] |
2022–2024 | Halo | Cortana | [16] |
Animation
editYear | Title | Role | Notes | Source |
---|---|---|---|---|
2013–present | RWBY | Mysterious Narrator / Salem | [8][17] | |
2015 | Halo: The Fall of Reach | Dr. Catherine Elizabeth Halsey | ||
2022 | RWBY: Ice Queendom | Mysterious Narrator / Salem | English dub |
Video games
editYear | Title | Role | Notes | Source |
---|---|---|---|---|
1997 | Backyard Baseball | Sunny Day | [18] | |
1998 | Thinkin' Things: Sky Island Mysteries | Glove | ||
Backyard Soccer | Sunny Day | [18] | ||
1999 | Backyard Football | [18] | ||
1999–2007 | Mario franchise | Princess Peach, Toad, Birdo, Princess Daisy, Toadette | ||
2000 | Backyard Baseball 2001 | Sunny Day | [18] | |
Backyard Soccer MLS Edition | [18] | |||
2001 | Backyard Football 2002 | [18] | ||
Aliens versus Predator 2 | Tomiko / Johnson | [19] | ||
Halo: Combat Evolved | Cortana / Life Pod Pilot | [18] | ||
Super Smash Bros. Melee | Princess Peach | [20] | ||
Luigi's Mansion | Toad | |||
Backyard Basketball | Sunny Day | [21] | ||
2002 | No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy in H.A.R.M.'s Way | Cate Archer / Isako / Ninja Girls | [15] | |
Kakuto Chojin: Back Alley Brutal | Roxy | [22] | ||
2004 | Halo 2 | Cortana | [18] | |
2006 | SiN Episodes | Jessica Cannon | ||
2007 | Halo 3 | Cortana | [18] | |
2008 | Left 4 Dead | Zoey | [18] | |
2009 | F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin | Lt. Keira Stokes | [18] | |
1 vs. 100 Live | Herself | |||
2010 | Left 4 Dead 2 | Zoey | [18] | |
Halo: Reach | Dr. Catherine Elizabeth Halsey, Cortana (Firefight) | [18] | ||
2012 | Guild Wars 2 | Demmi Beetlestone | [23] | |
Halo 4 | Cortana, Dr. Catherine Elizabeth Halsey | Also motion-capture performance for Halsey | [18] | |
2013 | Dota 2 | Lina, Puck, Windranger, Medusa | [24] | |
2014 | Destiny | City Civil Frame, Archive Security A.I., City P.A. | [25] | |
2015 | Infinite Crisis | Atomic Wonder Woman | [26][27] | |
Halo 5: Guardians | Cortana, Dr. Catherine Elizabeth Halsey | Also motion-capture performance for Dr. Halsey | [28] | |
2018 | Forza Horizon 4 | Cortana | [29] | |
2021 | Halo Infinite | Cortana, Dr. Catherine Elizabeth Halsey, "The Weapon" |
Other works
editYear | Title | Role | Notes | Source |
---|---|---|---|---|
2014–2017 | Windows Phone 8.1 | Cortana | [30][31] | |
2015–2023 | Windows 10 | Cortana | [32] | |
2021–2023 | Windows 11 | Cortana | [33] |
References
edit- ^ Kindel, Ryan (October 2015). "The Voice Behind Cortana, Halo's Dr. Halsey". Seattle Magazine. Tiger Oak Media. Retrieved January 15, 2017.
- ^ "Jennifer Taylor". Macmillan Publishers. Retrieved October 28, 2020.
- ^ a b Brodeur, Nicole (December 12, 2014). "The voice of Halo's Cortana is a Jane Austen type at heart". The Seattle Times. Retrieved January 15, 2017.
- ^ "Jen Taylor - South Texas Gamers Expo". South Texas Gamers Expo. August 19, 2016. Archived from the original on January 16, 2017. Retrieved January 15, 2017.
- ^ Benedetti, Winda (October 29, 2012). "The heart of Halo: Actress talks a decade spent playing Cortana". NBC News. Retrieved January 15, 2017.
- ^ Owen, Rob (April 12, 2022). "Seattle actor Jen Taylor reprises role of the AI Cortana on Paramount+ 'Halo' series". The Seattle Times. Retrieved April 19, 2022.
- ^ Master Chief and Cortana's Favorite Lines From Halo, retrieved December 5, 2023
- ^ a b RWBY. Season 1. Event occurs at Closing credits.
- ^ "Video Games and Audio Dramas Meet at Imagination Theater". Imagination Theatre. January 23, 2020. Retrieved October 26, 2020.
- ^ Wright, Stewart (April 30, 2019). "The Classic Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: Broadcast Log" (PDF). Old-Time Radio. Retrieved October 27, 2020.
- ^ "Jen Taylor". Cedar House Audio Productions. Retrieved January 15, 2017.
- ^ "2009 Audie Awards". Audio Publishers Association. Archived from the original on October 30, 2020. Retrieved January 15, 2017.
- ^ "Seattle Actor Profile – Jennifer Lee Taylor". Seattle Shakespeare Company. February 11, 2012. Retrieved January 15, 2017.
- ^ "Inheritance - Press: Interview with Jen Taylor". June 13, 2003. Archived from the original on June 13, 2003. Retrieved September 14, 2017.
- ^ a b "Hyper Chat: Jen Taylor". Archived from the original on August 29, 2018. Retrieved April 2, 2018.
- ^ Skrebels, Joe (November 11, 2020). "Halo TV Series Recasts Cortana With Original Voice Actress". IGN. Retrieved November 13, 2020.
- ^ RWBY. Season 3. Episode 12. Event occurs at Closing credits.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n "Jen Taylor (visual voices guide)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved September 14, 2017. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: postscript (link) - ^ Monolith Productions (October 22, 2001). Aliens Versus Predator 2 (Windows). Sierra Entertainment. Scene: Credits.
- ^ HAL Laboratory. Super Smash Bros. Melee. Nintendo. Scene: Ending credits, 0:26.
- ^ Humongous Entertainment. Backyard Basketball. Infogrames. Scene: Ending credits, 1:33 in, Featuring Voices of.
- ^ Dream Publishing. Kakuto Chojin: Back Alley Brutal. Microsoft Game Studios. Scene: Ending credits, 16:28 in, Voice Talent.
- ^ Jen Taylor - Guild Wars 2 Wiki (GW2W)
- ^ Voice actors – Dota 2 Wiki
- ^ Destiny – End Credits – IGN Video. IGN Video. September 11, 2014. Retrieved December 4, 2014.
- ^ Turbine, Inc. Infinite Crisis. Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. Scene: Credits, Voice Over Talent.
- ^ "Infinite Crisis Credits". Archived from the original on October 11, 2014.
- ^ 343 Industries. Halo 5: Guardians. Microsoft Studios. Scene: Closing credits, 7 minutes in, Main Voice and Performance Cast.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Skrebels, Joe (August 21, 2018). "Forza Horizon 4's Halo In-Game Event Is Real, Amazing - Gamescom 2018". IGN. Archived from the original on August 21, 2018. Retrieved September 6, 2018.
- ^ tomwarren (April 2, 2014). "The story of Cortana, Microsoft's Siri killer". The Verge. Vox Media. Retrieved April 4, 2014.
- ^ Blair, Nancy (April 3, 2014). "Who is Cortana? It's Halo's Jen Taylor". USA Today. Retrieved May 2, 2016.
- ^ Aparri, Judith (May 17, 2015). "Microsoft Corporation Lets Cortana Open Apps in Windows 10". Guardian Liberty Voice. Retrieved May 17, 2015.
- ^ Johnson, Peter (September 4, 2021). "How to Install Cortana in Windows 11". ITechBrand. Retrieved April 9, 2022.