Ellen McLain is an opera singer and voice actress from Nashville,
Tennessee, USA. She provides the voices of many characters in several
video games from Valve. Among them are GLaDOS, the
artificial-intelligence antagonist in
Portal (2007) (for which she won
an AIAS Interactive Achievement Award for Outstanding Achievement in
Character Performance) ,
Portal 2 (2011), and
Lego Dimensions (2015), the announcer
in
Team Fortress 2 (2007),
and the voice of the Combine over-watch of the
Half-Life 2 (2004) series, and recently, the voice of one of Delamain's cabs in
Cyberpunk 2077 (2020).
McLain is the only person whose voice is in all of the Orange Box
games.
McLain sang "Still Alive," the ending-credits song of Portal, and "Want
You Gone," the ending-credits song of Portal 2. Both were written by
Jonathan Coulton. She also sang the
opera-style turret song featured at the end of Portal 2, which is
referred to by fans as the Turret Opera.
McLain is married to
John Patrick Lowrie, a fellow voice
actor, who also worked on the video games Half-Life 2 and Team Fortress
2. In the former, her husband voiced a citizen who assists the
protagonist. In the latter, he voiced the Sniper.
Goos'd(2024)as Anti-Goosinator AI
Search for Sandvich(2022)as Administrator
The Chalkeaters feat. Ellen McLain, the Stupendium & Gabe Newell: Count to Three(2021)as GLaDOS
Left 4 Dead 2(2009)
Portal Stories: Mel(2015)
Aperture: A Triumph of Science(2011)
Lego Dimensions(2015)
Christian Weston Chandler Documentary(2015)
Portal 2(2011)
Portal(2007)
The VOC Podcast(2020)as Self
Night, Mother(2021)as Mama, Thelma
Level Up VG Archive(2014)as GLaDOS singing Want You Gone
Level Up VG(2011)as GlaDOS in Portal 2
Portal: Origins(2013)as GLaDOS
The 2nd Annual Canadian Videogame Awards(2011)as GlaDOS
Half-Life: Through the City(2025)as Overwatch
Glados(2022)as Turrets, GLaDOS
Inkura's Inkventure(2018)as Administrator
Spy's Disguise(2018)as Administrator
