Meet Jennifer Hale: 'Knights of the Old Republic' Voice Actor And Guinness World Record Holder

The news of a Knights of the Old Republic (or KOTOR if you’re nasty) came as a surprise to be sure, but a welcome one. Bioware’s remake to the 2003 classic Star Wars RPG is going to be a must play title when we eventually get our hands on it. A good action adventure RPG almost always owes much of the gravity and emotional impact of its story to the stellar (intergalactic pun intended) voice acting. Fans were delighted to hear that one of the best characters from KOTOR, Bastila, will be reprised by the actor who originally voiced her, none other than Jennifer Hale. 

Hale is one of the most talented people working in voice over today. You like Mass Effect? She’s the voice of female Shepard. You like Mortal Kombat? She voiced the villain, Kronika in MK11. How ‘bout a little game called World of Warcraft? She’s all over that bad boy. That’s not even scratching the surface of her epic, iconic career. Hale has also voiced hundreds of episodes of cartoons ranging from Looney Tunes to Rick and Morty. If you’ve seen a cartoon or played a video game since the early 90’s, you’ve probably heard her dulcet tones. 

She’s so prolific that the Guinness Book of World Records literally gave her an award. She’s the current title holder for The Most Prolific Video Game Voice Actor. That is until my agent actually gets me a voice over part and then, watch out Jen, I’m coming for you. 

She’s got a pretty mythical backstory to go along with her god-tier career. Her birth place is the extremely whimsical sounding town called Happy Valley-Goose Bay. Leave it to Canada to produce a badass industry titan from a place that sounds like a sequel to Goose Game. She moved to the southern U.S. as a child and a fraught, sometimes abusive relationship with her mother couldn’t have been easy. But perhaps tapping into that emotional pain, in addition to the years of study and practice of the craft, is what makes her voice acting so compelling. Hale is not slowing down and continues to be the best in the biz. And to that we say, keep talking Jen, we’re listening.