Portal Voice Actor Ellen McLain Gives Insight Into Her Role as GLaDOS
The voice behind the Portal antagonist GLaDOS, Ellen McLain, has been speaking about her experience as the ruthless yet still amusing robotic adversary. While the voice actor is known largely for her work on the puzzle games and other Valve titles, Ellen McLain has also starred in some live-action films, including Pacific Rim and a Twitch adaptation of Marsha Norman's play Night, Mother. Recently, she's been discussing her work as the omnipotent character, giving an account of her experience taking on the role of a non-human.
GLaDOS is, without a doubt, one of the most memorable video game villains in recent history. While the first Portal game had her down as a pure villain, it was the sequel that allowed the character to develop into something more complex. Her relationship with Chell, the anatagonist from both games, is more nuanced than simply being about good versus evil. GLaDOS is not without her flaws, as is evidenced in the key moments of the sequel, and it's through the talent of McClain that the story's main opponent really shines, becoming iconic in her own right.
Video Shows Portal Recreated in Unreal Engine
During an interview with the YouTube channel KIWI TALKZ, as spotted by PC Gamer, McClain discusses her role in Portal and what was expected of her from day one. She said that during the audition for the first game, Valve already had a computer-generated voice, which McClain was asked to imitate. She goes on to say that the reason they wanted a voice actor rather than using a computer was that the AI-generated lines were copyrighted and it was actually cheaper to get a human to do the lines. She also goes into some detail about how she was able to pull off the robotic voice, noting that she made the word
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