Ellen McLain - Television Tropes & Idioms

Killing you and giving you good advice aren't mutually exclusive.

—GLaDOS, her most popular character, delivering her personal favorite line.

is an operatic soprano, stage actress, and voice-over artist, who is most famous in the latter field for her work with Valve, and in particular for her portrayal of GLaDOS, the Breakout Character and Fountain of Memes from the Portal series.

She is married to John Patrick Lowrie, also a voice actor who has done extensive work with Valve, and it was he who encouraged her to get into voice-over work. Her training on the stage - and, most importantly, her skill in acting and singing - made her perfectly suited to play the character of GLaDOS, a role which has brought her great praise.

In addition to continuing to work in theatrical productions, she is now a permanent member of the Valve repertory, having appeared in all of their games since Half-Life 2. Surprisingly, and despite her popularity and critical acclaim, she's done little voice acting outside of her work with Valve - IMDb, for example, lists no other credits.

Her commentary track

for Portal is a great listen, and forever endeared her to the game's fanbase. Also, a very good full-length interview can be found here

. She performed her two Portal songs, "Want You Gone

" and "Still Alive

", live for the very first time at the Midwest Anime Convention on July 16, 2011, accompanied by Lowrie on banjo, with the two of them leading a sing-along

the following day.

She and Lowrie have been far more active in the convention circuit as of late, appearing all over the United States (and even in the UK) since the summer of 2011. McLain continues to appear in Video Games, and is gradually spreading her wings beyond Valve; it has been confirmed that she will appear in the new game by the creators of Space Quest (along with Lowrie) due to their sharing the same agent.

Roles performed by Ellen McLain:

GLaDOS, the Turrets, and Caroline from Portal and Portal 2.
The Administrator/Announcer from Team Fortress 2.
The Combine Overwatch from Half-Life 2.
Broodmother and Death Prophet from DOTA 2.
Jaeger AI from Pacific Rim.

Tropes for Ellen McLain:

Actor Allusion: She's clearly doing the GLaDOS voice as the AI in Pacific Rim. This is intentional, as director Guillermo Del Toro is a huge Valve fan (as are his kids), and asked special permission to use her in his film.
The Cast Showoff: Yes, she really can sing.
Cool Old Lady: No matter what she says, she's too young to qualify for this trope. She's definitely a Cool Middle-Aged Lady, though.
The Danza: The Administrator's real name is Helen, which sounds nearly identical to Ellen in most dialects of English.
Deadpan Snarker: She has claimed to share GLaDOS' love for sarcasm, which helps explain the character's aptitude for it.
Evil Laugh: She herself has one, as heard on her commentary for Portal. Many commenters on YouTube have claimed that it makes her sound creepier than GLaDOS.
Evil Lawyer Joke: As far as she's concerned, everybody working at Valve is an artist. Except maybe the lawyers. But hey, some of her best friends are lawyers!
Happily Married
Large Ham: As the Administrator.
Mean Character, Nice Actor: By all accounts she is a genuinely sweet person.
Money, Dear Boy: She's made no bones about the fact that she's in voice acting for the money. That doesn't stop her from feeling creatively fulfilled when she hits upon the right role, of course.
Shout Out: Unfailingly sings the praises of the following people working on Portal 2, in every interview she gives: Bill van Buren (producer); Erik Wolpaw, Chet Faliszek, and Jay Pinkerton (writers); and Mike Morasky (composer). She apparently did this so much in her Portal 2 commentary that it was shelved for fear of seeming too self-congratulatory on the part of Valve.
Tough Act to Follow: invoked She and everyone at Valve very much felt this way about the original Portal while they were making the sequel.
Wacky Marriage Proposal: As noted above, she provided her voice as GLaDOS, free of charge, for the Gary Hudston Project.
Word Of God: Because she was made privy to the story of Portal 2 throughout its development, she's been able to confirm or deny fan theories. For example, she's the one who officially revealed that Caroline is the woman in the picture with Cave Johnson.