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Jen Taylor

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This article is about the voice actress. For others, see Jennifer Taylor.

Jen Taylor
Taylor at GalaxyCon Raleigh in 2022
Born
Seattle, Washington, U.S.[1]
OccupationActress
Years active1993–present

Jen Taylor is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Cortana in Halo games and the intelligent personal assistant, the voice of Zoey in the Left 4 Dead franchise and formerly as Princess Peach, Toad and other characters in the Mario franchise from 1999 to 2008.

Career

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Jen Taylor taught herself how to do voice work by recording the radio and imitating what she heard.[2] She graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in theater.[3] Before starting in voice work, she worked as a radio DJ for KNDD.[4]

Taylor has voiced characters in video games, including Princess Peach and Toad in Mario games between 1999 and 2008.[5] She voiced the character Cortana in Halo games since the first game in the series, Halo: Combat Evolved (2001).[6] Two decades following the original game, Taylor reprised the role of Cortana by voice acting and performance capture in the Paramount+ TV series.[1] At GalaxyCon Columbus in December 2023, Taylor stated her favorite line as Cortana is "Welcome home, John" from Halo 4.[7]

Taylor has played Salem in the web series RWBY, since 2013.[8] She voiced an episode of the radio series The Classic Adventures of Sherlock Holmes[9][10]

Taylor has narrated nearly 30 audiobooks, and has received several AudioFile Earphones Awards.[11] Her narration of Tami Hoag's Mismatch was nominated for an Audie Award in 2009.[12]

As a stage actress, Taylor has played Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice[4] and Eliza Doolittle in a Seattle Shakespeare Company production of Pygmalion.[13]

Filmography

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Live-action

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List of acting performances in television and film
Year Title Role Notes Source
2004 Inheritance Abbey [14]
2018 Everything Sucks! Miss Stock 2 episodes [15]
2022–2024 Halo Cortana [16]

Animation

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List of voice performances in animation
Year Title Role Notes Source
2013–present RWBY Mysterious Narrator / Salem [8][17]
2015 Halo: The Fall of Reach Dr. Catherine Elizabeth Halsey
2022 RWBY: Ice Queendom Mysterious Narrator / Salem English dub

Video games

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List of voice performances in video games
Year Title Role Notes Source
1997 Backyard Baseball Sunny Day [18]
1998 Thinkin' Things: Sky Island Mysteries Glove
Backyard Soccer Sunny Day [18]
1999 Backyard Football [18]
1999–2007 Mario franchise Princess Peach, Toad, Toadette
Princess Daisy (2000-2003,) Birdo (2001)
2000 Backyard Baseball 2001 Sunny Day [18]
Backyard Soccer MLS Edition [18]
2001 Backyard Football 2002 [18]
Aliens versus Predator 2 Tomiko / Johnson [19]
Halo: Combat Evolved Cortana / Life Pod Pilot [18]
Super Smash Bros. Melee Princess Peach [20]
Backyard Basketball Sunny Day [21]
2002 No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy in H.A.R.M.'s Way Cate Archer / Isako / Ninja Girls [15]
Kakuto Chojin: Back Alley Brutal Roxy [22]
2004 Halo 2 Cortana [18]
2006 SiN Episodes Jessica Cannon
2007 Halo 3 Cortana [18]
2008 Left 4 Dead Zoey [18]
2009 F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin Lt. Keira Stokes [18]
1 vs. 100 Live Herself
2010 Left 4 Dead 2 Zoey [18]
Halo: Reach Dr. Catherine Elizabeth Halsey, Cortana (Firefight) [18]
2012 Guild Wars 2 Demmi Beetlestone [23]
Halo 4 Cortana, Dr. Catherine Elizabeth Halsey Also motion-capture performance for Halsey [18]
2013 Dota 2 Lina, Puck, Windranger, Medusa
2014 Destiny City Civil Frame, Archive Security A.I., City P.A. [24]
2015 Infinite Crisis Atomic Wonder Woman [25][26]
Halo 5: Guardians Cortana, Dr. Catherine Elizabeth Halsey Also motion-capture performance for Dr. Halsey [27]
2018 Forza Horizon 4 Cortana [28]
2021 Halo Infinite Cortana, Dr. Catherine Elizabeth Halsey, "The Weapon"
2026 Halo: Campaign Evolved Cortana, Life Pod Pilot [29]

Other works

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Year Title Role Notes Source
2014–2017 Windows Phone 8.1 Cortana [30][31]
2015–2023 Windows 10 [32]
2021–2023 Windows 11 [33]

References

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  1. ^ a b Owen, Rob (April 12, 2022). "Seattle actor Jen Taylor reprises role of the AI Cortana on Paramount+ 'Halo' series". The Seattle Times. Retrieved April 19, 2022.
  2. ^ Kindel, Ryan (October 2015). "The Voice Behind Cortana, Halo's Dr. Halsey". Seattle Magazine. Tiger Oak Media. Retrieved January 15, 2017.
  3. ^ "Jennifer Taylor". Macmillan Publishers. Retrieved October 28, 2020.
  4. ^ a b Brodeur, Nicole (December 12, 2014). "The voice of Halo's Cortana is a Jane Austen type at heart". The Seattle Times. Retrieved January 15, 2017.
  5. ^ "Jen Taylor - South Texas Gamers Expo". South Texas Gamers Expo. August 19, 2016. Archived from the original on January 16, 2017. Retrieved January 15, 2017.
  6. ^ Benedetti, Winda (October 29, 2012). "The heart of Halo: Actress talks a decade spent playing Cortana". NBC News. Retrieved January 15, 2017.
  7. ^ Master Chief and Cortana's Favorite Lines From Halo, retrieved December 5, 2023
  8. ^ a b RWBY. Season 1. Event occurs at Closing credits.
  9. ^ "Video Games and Audio Dramas Meet at Imagination Theater". Imagination Theatre. January 23, 2020. Retrieved October 26, 2020.
  10. ^ Wright, Stewart (April 30, 2019). "The Classic Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: Broadcast Log" (PDF). Old-Time Radio. Retrieved October 27, 2020.
  11. ^ "Jen Taylor". Cedar House Audio Productions. Retrieved January 15, 2017.
  12. ^ "2009 Audie Awards". Audio Publishers Association. Archived from the original on October 30, 2020. Retrieved January 15, 2017.
  13. ^ "Seattle Actor Profile – Jennifer Lee Taylor". Seattle Shakespeare Company. February 11, 2012. Retrieved January 15, 2017.
  14. ^ "Inheritance - Press: Interview with Jen Taylor". June 13, 2003. Archived from the original on June 13, 2003. Retrieved September 14, 2017.
  15. ^ a b "Hyper Chat: Jen Taylor". Archived from the original on August 29, 2018. Retrieved April 2, 2018.
  16. ^ Skrebels, Joe (November 11, 2020). "Halo TV Series Recasts Cortana With Original Voice Actress". IGN. Retrieved November 13, 2020.
  17. ^ RWBY. Season 3. Episode 12. Event occurs at Closing credits.
  18. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n "Jen Taylor (visual voices guide)". Behind The Voice Actors (A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information). Retrieved September 14, 2017.
  19. ^ Monolith Productions (October 22, 2001). Aliens Versus Predator 2 (Windows). Sierra Entertainment. Scene: Credits.
  20. ^ HAL Laboratory. Super Smash Bros. Melee. Nintendo. Scene: Ending credits, 0:26.
  21. ^ Humongous Entertainment. Backyard Basketball. Infogrames. Scene: Ending credits, 1:33 in, Featuring Voices of.
  22. ^ Dream Publishing. Kakuto Chojin: Back Alley Brutal. Microsoft Game Studios. Scene: Ending credits, 16:28 in, Voice Talent.
  23. ^ "Jen Taylor - Guild Wars 2 Wiki (GW2W)". wiki.guildwars2.com. Retrieved March 5, 2025.
  24. ^ Destiny – End Credits – IGN Video. IGN Video. September 11, 2014. Retrieved December 4, 2014.
  25. ^ Turbine, Inc. Infinite Crisis. Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. Scene: Credits, Voice Over Talent.
  26. ^ "Infinite Crisis Credits". Archived from the original on October 11, 2014.
  27. ^ 343 Industries. Halo 5: Guardians. Microsoft Studios. Scene: Closing credits, 7 minutes in, Main Voice and Performance Cast.
  28. ^ Skrebels, Joe (August 21, 2018). "Forza Horizon 4's Halo In-Game Event Is Real, Amazing - Gamescom 2018". IGN. Archived from the original on August 21, 2018. Retrieved September 6, 2018.
  29. ^ McCaffrey, Ryan (October 24, 2025). "Halo: Campaign Evolved Is a Pretty Remake Coming to PS5, but Not an Exact One". IGN. Retrieved October 26, 2025.
  30. ^ tomwarren (April 2, 2014). "The story of Cortana, Microsoft's Siri killer". The Verge. Vox Media. Retrieved April 4, 2014.
  31. ^ Blair, Nancy (April 3, 2014). "Who is Cortana? It's Halo's Jen Taylor". USA Today. Retrieved May 2, 2016.
  32. ^ Aparri, Judith (May 17, 2015). "Microsoft Corporation Lets Cortana Open Apps in Windows 10". Guardian Liberty Voice. Retrieved May 17, 2015.
  33. ^ Johnson, Peter (September 4, 2021). "How to Install Cortana in Windows 11". ITechBrand. Retrieved April 9, 2022.
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