Dream Jobs: Voice Actor Jennifer Hale

While people might not recognize Jennifer Hale’s name or picture, as soon as she starts talking it usually clicks. Most animation and video game aficionados who hear Hale’s voice quickly realize she has been involved in (what seems like) every meaningful video game in the last 15 years, as well as countless cartoons, movies, TV series and commercials.

Hale's IMDB resume is more than a dozen pages long, but she is known best for her role as the voice of the female Commander Shepard in the Mass Effect trilogy. She also plays two major roles in the much-anticipated video game Star Wars: The Old Republic, and voices a character in the recently released game Gears of War 3.

If you're not a video game buff, Hale was also the voice of Jean Grey in Wolverine and the X-Men and had a part in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Those who recall the Powerpuff Girls in the late 1990s might remember Hale as the voice of Princess Morbucks.

In this special celebrity podcast, Hale talks about everything from how she got her start to what she hopes to accomplish in the future. Eons away from her early days as a hat-maker and plant store employee, Hale is now a giant in her industry and has success tips for people interested in getting into voice acting. Even though Hale is renowned in her field, she stresses the importance of hard work, the constant need to learn and never forgetting what brought her success in the first place.

Hale also talks candidly about her feelings on Commander Shepard’s growth in the upcoming Mass Effect 3 (and why she’s becoming attached to the character), what it’s like to act in Simlish and what playing the X-Men’s Jean Grey meant to her.

Find out who Hale's favorite characters are, what it's like to battle dyslexia as a voice actor, what advice she has for aspiring voice actors and which Battlestar Galactica part she still wishes she had nabbed.