Recently, Final Weapon had the chance to interview one of the most prolific voice actresses of all time: Jennifer Hale. She has over 500 acting credits and has contributed her voice to countless games, such as Mortal Kombat (Kronika), Metal Gear Solid (Naomi Hunter), Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (Bastila Shan), Halo (Sarah Palmer), and more.
Our interview dives into her acting history, goals for the future, support of SAG-AFTRA and the ongoing video game strike, how AI has affected the industry, and her latest venture, Skillhub for Actors. We hope you enjoy this exclusive interview, and we’d like to thank Jennifer Hale and her team for making this possible! Enjoy!
It’s very nice to meet you! Your career transcends different boundaries and different industries. You’ve been in everything and it’s hard to think of a franchise you haven’t been in. From video games to TV, you’ve been everywhere. What’s a memorable experience you’ve had working in different industries?
Jennifer Hale: The whole ride is a memorable experience! I’m blown away at the pace it continues at. One of the things I love the most about this career is the brilliance of the community. The voice acting community has some of the most brilliant actors you’ll ever meet and the most fun people you’ll ever meet. These teams, both in anime and games, they are filled with incredibly bright and fantastic people on a mission to do something very cool.
You’ve had a very long career. You have upwards of 500 acting credits at this point, so is there a dream role or achievement you haven’t done that’s still on your to-do list?
Jennifer Hale: Yes, at some point I’m gonna roll back into on-camera acting. I’m about three or four years away from it, but anything where I can sing, ride horses, and work with my friends on something cool, I’m in! I love performance capture too, anything related to it, I’m there. It’s got that wild west feeling that games have, yet it also has that on-camera element, but it’s still got the collaborative “we’re all in this together” almost indie feel.
Nowadays, it’s harder than ever to break into the industry because of AI-
Jennifer Hale: I’m actually gonna push back on that statement! It’s funny, because I created a platform (Skillshub) for people new to the industry and people like myself. It was originally for people at my level because I got sick and tired of recycling my own perspective for auditions, and I just wanted ten minutes with someone I trust. My sister had a barbecue and invited our friend Bill, and he was like “this is a cool idea!”
We ran with it, and in that process, we found all these people who are new who’ve taken classes but don’t know what to do next. There was no place that would guide you through the whole process, from “I just started” to “Wow I’m making money now.” That’s what we stick with people for and we’ve made it really affordable. I didn’t want to just recycle my perspective, I wanted all kinds of different experiences.
I broke it into a formula, stuck it on a site, and that’s free for members. Then I went, “you know what? We need people who do this today.” When I broke in, it was a long time ago. Breaking in now is very different, so I wanted people who broke in recently and dominated in areas I did not. We have 90 different coaches, who are working actors or voice directors or casting directors or producers or content creators in their fields. Their requirement on the site is they have to be successful at what they do.
Most people are chasing that “amazing AAA career” and they’re leaving so much money on the table. I never set out to be a teacher, but since I started, I’m that person who if I hear someone that wants to do this, I’m like “Okay sit down, I’ll tell you how, I’ll tell you who to call, here’s what you do.” The site is a platform for anybody to access if we’re not standing in the same room.
There are twenty different ways to make money with your voice. We want people to have a great life doing what they love, and we recognize that it takes a lot of different approaches. We have so many members who are now making money. We have five members, one is in Malaysia, who now has Los Angeles representation. You can do this from anywhere, and now more than ever, the doors are open. You just have to be smart about it.
Absolutely! Even if nowadays, there are ways for people to get into the industry, that AI topic hangs like a dark cloud. What would you say to someone who is about to make that step into deciding “I want to be a voice actor or voice actress,” but they are intimidated by the pervasiveness of AI these days?
Jennifer Hale: You cannot replace the human soul. Full stop. Those fears are valid in some places. I’ve experienced death around me many times, and what is always so remarkable to me is that you can feel that a person is not there anymore. That’s the invisible magic we all carry within is, and it’s our job and our joy to steward that magic.
Our brain is designed to designed to look for threats, but right behind that and in larger font, what you focus on grows. We have influence over where our attention goes, but we often are undisciplined in it. I’ve done a lot of digging in this lately, and producers, even at the very high level, do not want to replace actors with AI. Some companies are saying that they want to do all this stuff with AI, but there’s a lot between here and there.
Not the least of which is their own legal team, because arbitration is coming down on the side of humans. I’ve talked to a number of people at large corporations who aren’t even allowed to access ChatGPT. You can’t leave out of the equation the self-interest of governments. If everything goes to AI, their tax base is gonna shrink. They have a self-interest to protect us and our abilities to make a living.
Now whether that’s gonna happen at a pace that actually works, that remains to be seen. I have faith and I’m gonna keep my attention on what I do want, which is that it will work out. Most companies don’t want AI and want to work with humans. Do they want some of the efficiencies on some of the large-scale stuff? Yes. Are they protecting themselves because some of them come from global multi-national corporations with battalions of lawyers whose job it is to keep the doors open for future technological innovations that they want to profit from? Yes they are, because that is their job.
I think the trick is to turn from staring and pointing at each other, and instead stand shoulder-to-shoulder and pointing those same fingers out there at the actual issue and solving it creatively together while respecting the other side’s needs in the process.
You talked about that pace which people are hoping for. That brings me to my next question: you’ve been an avid supporter of SAG-AFTRA, which is currently holding a strike due to Generative AI. I know that a lot of companies have started signing interim agreements, but what would you say to fans or other interested parties who really want to support fighting against that use of AI?
Jennifer Hale: AI is a tool, bottom line. My hammer cannot get up and harm anyone. I have to pick it up to do it. I can take this hammer and build your house, or I can break your kneecaps. I never jumped on the AI art bandwagon because I was uncomfortable with displacing artists. That was just exercising personal choice. We all have the ability to exercise personal choice. You can vote with your dollars, you can vote with your attention, you can vote by sending emails to companies going “Hey, I love humans, I love these humans especially, get them in some of your stuff.”
You can not buy certain games, do it or don’t and live with your choice. We have to adult this, we don’t get to make a choice one way and pretend like it doesn’t have an impact. It does. It’s not always easy, but its very important. Like with the current strike, I actually think there are no bad guys. The interim agreements have been very effective up to a point, but I do know that a significant number of them have to have certain tweaks and alterations. That’s not necessarily scalable.
The solution is finding that common ground. A great negotiation is where everyone is a little unhappy. I don’t think the purpose of the strike is to regulate the internet. I think the purpose of the strike is to make meaningful progress. I think that is very possible if everyone looks at the big picture, recognizing that these negotiations are something we can revisit every three years.
Personally one of my favorite roles of yours was Naomi Hunter from Metal Gear Solid. With the imminent release of Hideo Kojima’s next project, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, I want to ask: What was it like getting the chance to work with him very early in that sphere with Metal Gear Solid and very late in that sphere with Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.
Jennifer Hale: The whole Metal Gear experience has been phenomenal. I would honestly say in large part because of the people I got to work with directly. I didn’t have as much time to interact directly with Kojima. David Hayter did, whose one of my best friends, we stumbled into that together. What he’s done for us actors along the way in that project is unbelievably generous. People don’t realize what an incredible person he is, his talent aside (which is a lot to set aside).
Doing that game was such a blast, and the fanbase, the stories, and the outrageousness of the whole thing, what a universe to live in! It’s fantastic!
Not trying to ask any questions you can’t answer, but I imagine that if you were approached by Kojima and his team to work on another Kojima Productions project, could we maybe see you someday if that conversation happens?
Jennifer Hale: I would be in the studio before they finished their sentence! As long as Dave is there too, and the rest of the cast.
Looking back at your history as a voice actress, with the hundreds of credits you have, what is a line of dialogue that you’ve delivered that you still think about to this day.
Jennifer Hale: There are two. One of them is “Tell your friends we’re coming for them.” One of my absolute favorites, that would be Shepard [Mass Effect]. The other is “I WANTED TO BE A POWERPUFF GIRL BUT THEY SAID I COULDN’T, THEY SAID I COULDN’T!” That was Princess Morbucks, Powerpuff Girls!
That makes sense! I could guess it was Powerpuff Girls, based off of that cadence and-
Jennifer Hale: That unholy shriek? [Laughter]
I actually have one last question for you. Did you ever think you would come this far after your first ever performance in A Father’s Homecoming on NBC?
Jennifer Hale: Oh my god! No! I didn’t even know this was possible! I just wanted to be able to pay my bills. That’s what has motivated me all these years: to pay my bills and come somewhere close to realizing the writer’s vision. I hope someday that a writer is happy with what I could bring to life with their beautiful words.
What a crazy journey! From that to today!
Jennifer Hale: And I’m not done yet! I’ve got Unicorn Academy right now, I’ve got that NDA, that NDA, and that other NDA!
Thank you so much for your time! It has been an honor! Is there anything else you’d like to say!
Jennifer Hale: Thank you! You’ll find me a lot at Skillshub, giving a hand to whoever we can.
