The Actress Who Plays Commander Shepard In Mass Effect Is Gorgeous In Real Life
Fans of "Mass Effect: Andromeda" may love Ryder, but it's fair to say that Commander Shepard, from the original "Mass Effect" trilogy, has their successor beat. Thanks to the series' top-quality writing and story, Shepard is easily one of the most iconic role-playing game protagonists around. Regardless of whether gamers chose to play as the male or female version of Shepard, their decisions in the story are brought to life by one of two amazing voice acting performances, one of which is Mark Meer.
Part of what makes "Mass Effect" especially unique in this respect is that there is no canon version of Shepard. Early promotional material in the series may have been preferential to Male Shepard (via SVG), but developer BioWare truly did justice to Female Shepard when the company promoted both Shepards in equal volume for the release of "Mass Effect 3" (via Kotaku). This surely came to the pleasant surprise of many of the "Mass Effect" fans who preferred FemShep to the male variant.
In truth, however, the real credit belongs to Jennifer Hale, whose voice performance as Female Shepard, aka "FemShep," was amazing enough that fans who might otherwise stick with the "default" Male Shepard found themselves playing as FemShep much more. Though, that's hardly a surprise when it comes to Hale. Aside from being gorgeous in real life, the actress who voices Commander Shepard stands as one of the most successful voice actors around.
Jennifer Hale is more than just FemShep
Though FemShep likely stands as Jennifer Hale's most iconic voice role to date, reducing this talented actress down to just the "Mass Effect" trilogy is a good way to undersell her accomplishments. As of 2015, she holds the Guinness World Record as the most prolific female video game voice actor, so there's honestly no wanting for roles in which Jennifer Hale shows off just how good she is. In addition to playing FemShep, some of her most iconic game roles include Ashe from "Overwatch," Sarah Palmer from "Halo," and Naomi in "Metal Gear Solid 4" (via IMDb).
Beyond that, Hale has also made her mark in animation. As her IMDb profile reminds us, she famously provided the voice for Sam in Cartoon Network's "Totally Spies," and she played Aayla Secura in "Star Wars: The Clone Wars." Beyond that, she's voiced smaller roles in just about every cartoon you could think of, from various "Scooby-Doo!" shows and films to series like "The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy," "Avatar: The Last Airbender" (where she voiced Avatar Kiyoshi), and "Batman: The Brave and the Bold."
More recently, Hale has entered the world of audiobook narration. In 2020, she narrated the novel "To Sleep In a Sea of Stars" by Christopher Paolini, the same author behind the popular "Eragon" series (via Audible). However, the "Mass Effect" actor hasn't abandoned her video game roots. You can still find her in the latest updates for MMO games like "Guild Wars 2" and "Star Wars: The Old Republic," much to the joy of gamers everywhere.