The voice behind Halo’s Cortana reflects on the character’s 21-year journey

digitaltrends.com:

No matter what sphere of gaming you frequent, it’s hard to escape Halo. This first-person shooter has successfully reinvented itself multiple times since its initial debut on the original Xbox in 2001. It’s a feat that wouldn’t be possible without it’s cast of characters like Master Chief and his sidekick, the artificial intelligence Cortana.

While Chief is the face of the series, some consider Cortana the true center of Halo’s universe. Like Chief, Cortana has gone through vast changes throughout Halo’s history. While these many arcs and versions all paint Cortana in different lights, they all share one variable: the voice actress behind the program, Jen Taylor.

Since the original Halo, Taylor has played multiple versions of everyone’s favorite AI. We’ve seen her as a brilliant, wisecracking Cortana in the original Halo trilogy, a fresh and goofier version of her in Halo Infinite, and this year she’s become her full self in the Halo television show. So how does she keep the character so familiar to us all while reinventing her along with the series? At MomoCon 2022, I spoke with Taylor about her years of playing Cortana and how she’s grown alongside the character over the years.

“So much of it has to do with timeline and knowing which arc I’m playing,” Taylor tells Digital Trends. “I feel like, especially with Cortana, I’ve become so familiar with her after playing her for 21 years that I feel very comfortable finding her. It feels more like different aspects of her personality that I’m focusing on. I’m just exploring and getting to know them. It also depends on my director and how they pushed me. I’m working with a lot of other people and I don’t want to take solo credit for this project because there’s so many people