Skip to main content [aditude-amp id="stickyleaderboard" targeting='{"env":"staging","page_type":"article","post_id":692776,"post_type":"story","post_chan":"none","tags":null,"ai":false,"category":"none","all_categories":"games,","session":"B"}']

The voices of Mass Effect 3

The voices of Mass Effect 3

This article contains minor spoilers.

One of my favorite things to do during a movie, TV show, or video game, is to identify actors that I recognize  and try to remember what other things I have seen them in. I'm working on my second playthrough of Mass Effect 3 and thought it might be fun to put together a little piece featuring the (mostly) awesome voice work that this series has brought us. To avoid a 30 page blog, I'm just focusing on the two voices of Shepard and some more recognizable members of the cast. So without further ado, I bring you the voices and faces of Mass Effect 3:

[aditude-amp id="flyingcarpet" targeting='{"env":"staging","page_type":"article","post_id":692776,"post_type":"story","post_chan":"none","tags":null,"ai":false,"category":"none","all_categories":"games,","session":"B"}']

Commander Shepard (Male)

The male version of Commander Shepard is voiced by Actor/Writer Mark Meer. While his live-action credits are mostly new to me, he is no stranger to BioWare games. He has voiced characters from Dragon Age and Dragon Age 2, Jade Empire, Neverwinter Nights, and Baldur's Gate 2. I prefer to play as FemShep, so I haven't heard his voice as much, but I think he does a good angry voice.

 

Commander Shepherd (Female)

The female version of Commander Shepard is voiced by Jennifer Hale, also not widely recognized for live-action work, but a pretty big name in the voice acting community. Her work over the years includes Naomi Hunter in the Metal Gear Solid series, Samus Aran in Metroid Prime, Bastila Shan in Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic, and literally hundreds of assorted roles across other video games, animated movies, and TV shows.

Admiral Anderson

Admiral Anderson is probably the most easily recognizable voice in the series. He is voiced by Keith David, an actor known for his parts in Platoon, Crash, Pitch Black, and The Thing. I recognized his voice right off the bat, but I had to take to the Internet before I placed it perfectly.

Captain Bailey

Now this is a voice I would know anywhere. Captain Bailey is played by the prolific Michael Hogan, more familiar to sci-fi enthusiasts as Saul Tigh from the epic series Battlestar Galactica. He is, without question, my favorite character in BSG, and I always get excited when I see or hear him in another piece of media. He also voiced the leader of the Imperial Army in Skyrim.

EDI

Here we have another role furnished by talent from Battlestar Galactica, as EDI was voiced by Tricia Helfer. She is known for playing the iconic Cylon Number Six from BSG, and her voice is perfect for the Normandy’s virtual intelligence-based computer system.

Admiral Hackett

 
Here we have another sci-fi great. Admiral Steven Hackett was voiced by Lance Henriksen, who played Bishop in Aliens and Alien 3. He also appeared in Terminator and the TV show Millennium.

Illusive Man

 
Here we have possibly my favorite character in Mass Effect, the Illusive Man, and who better to voice him than acting legend Martin Sheen. Unless you've been living without electricity for years, you should be well aware of who Martin Sheen is. Although, I will say my favorite roles of his are in The Departed and The West Wing. He is also partially to blame for bringing Charlie Sheen into the world, which could be a good or bad thing depending on your opinion.

Miranda Lawson

 
The beautiful Miranda Lawson is voiced by the equally beautiful Yvonne Strahovski. I always like when video game characters are made to look like their real-life counterparts, which you can see is the case here. Strahovski is best known for playing Sarah Walker on the TV series Chuck.

Jeff "Joker" Moreau

 
Ah Joker, the Dolorous Edd of Mass Effect. Regardless of the severity of the mission you just finished, Joker always has a great pun or piece of dry humor to lighten the mood. Naturally, Seth Green was a great choice to play him. You would know him as the voice of Chris in Family Guy, Scott Evil in Austin Powers, or as the co-creator of TV’s Robot Chicken.

Aria T'Loak

The Citadel’s resident badass, Aria T'Loak, is voiced by The Matrix’s resident badass, Carrie-Anne Moss. Moss is most recognizable for playing Trinity in that series, but she was also great in Memento, Suspect Zero and Chocolat. I loved this character and thought it would have been awesome to have her as a party member, but alas, it just wasn't meant to be. Maybe in the DLC? C'mon BioWare.

James Vega

This one surprised me the most out of the whole cast, as the 'roided-out super-soldier James Vega was played by ‘90s heartthrob Freddie Prinze jr. I've never been a big fan of his work, but I enjoyed his character in this. You’d recognize him from She's All that, I Know What You Did Last Summer, and the award-winning murder-mystery classic, Scooby Doo.

[aditude-amp id="medium1" targeting='{"env":"staging","page_type":"article","post_id":692776,"post_type":"story","post_chan":"none","tags":null,"ai":false,"category":"none","all_categories":"games,","session":"B"}']

Stargazer

While decidedly not a big part, I thought this was a very cool bit of casting for BioWare to do. The bit part of Stargazer was voiced by Buzz Aldrin. If you don't know who that is, you should probably enroll in a couple general-knowledge classes, as he was the second man to walk on the moon in the Apollo 11 program. It was a great nod for the sci-fi epic to make, and I really liked it.

Explore

None Games