John Patrick Lowrie (born June 28, 1952) is an American voice actor best known for voicing the Sniper in Team Fortress 2 and various characters in Dota 2. He has played Sherlock Holmes in the radio series The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes since 2001.
Career Lowrie was a musician in his 20s, touring the United States as a part of The Keith-Lowrie Duet, which opened for acts like Buddy Rich. At the age of 31, he played the banjo in the pit orchestra on the European tour of the musical Show Boat. After noticing the actors made more money than him, Lowrie auditioned to understudy for the role of Captain Andy, and debuted on stage in Palermo, Italy, which became his first paid acting gig. After returning to the United States and moving in with his wife, Ellen McLain, in New York City, he turned down a role in a European tour of West Side Story to stay with McLain. He then studied for a Ph.D. in Music Composition at the Indiana University School of Music for two years before dropping out to pursue acting in Seattle with McLain.
Lowrie began voice acting for video games in the early 1990s, and has performed roles in games such as The Suffering and The Suffering: Ties That Bind, Total Annihilation and its expansions, The Operative: No One Lives Forever and No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy in H.A.R.M.'s Way. Lowrie is mostly recognized for his voice acting in Valve Corporation games such as Team Fortress 2, Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2: Episode One, Half-Life 2: Episode Two, Left 4 Dead, Dota 2, Artifact and Deadlock.
He is noted for playing the roles of the Sniper in the online first-person shooter game Team Fortress 2, Agent Gray in the MMORPG The Matrix Online, as well as Odessa Cubbage and the male citizens in Half-Life 2.
Lowrie has played Sherlock Holmes in the radio drama series The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes on the program Imagination Theatre since 2001. He also voiced Holmes in the program's related radio series The Classic Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. He and Lawrence Albert, who voices Dr. Watson on the program, are the longest-running audio Holmes and Watson team in American radio history. See also the list of radio portrayals of Sherlock Holmes.
In 2011, he published a science fiction novel titled Dancing with Eternity. An audiobook version narrated by Lowrie and McLain was released in April 2014.
In 2021, Lowrie directed a livestreamed version of the play 'night, Mother starring his wife Ellen McLain and Sheila Houlahan on the online platform Twitch with the story adapted by McLain within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The filmed online play is performed through an online face-to-face chat with the screen split between McLain's and Houlahan's screens, occasionally interrupted by cuts to pre-filmed footage relevant to the story.
Lowrie has also had small roles in several live-action films, most notable of which being the 2025 critically acclaimed period drama Train Dreams as a foreman overlooking the construction of a railroad for the Spokane International Railway (credited as Mr. Sears).
Personal life Lowrie’s adolescence was spent in Boulder, Colorado, where he attended various high schools briefly before joining the United States Navy.
He first met his wife Ellen McLain in 1984 in Arnhem, Netherlands, during the European tour of Show Boat, which McLain starred in. They returned to the United States, where they married and moved in together, initially in New York City. They then spent two years in Indiana, before they finally settled in Seattle to pursue acting. Lowrie has since voiced characters alongside McLain in Team Fortress 2, Half-Life 2, and Dota 2.
Works Video games Year Title Role Notes 1997 Betrayal in Antara Tyre, Enkudi, Mackey Spy Fox in "Dry Cereal" Artimice J. BigpigFirst video game role Total AnnihilationNarrator 1998 Total Annihilation: The Core Contingency Total Annihilation: Battle Tactics Police Quest: SWAT 2 Tammany, Officer, Security Guard, Hostage 2000 The Operative: No One Lives ForeverBruno Lawrie 2002 No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy in H.A.R.M.'s Way2004The Suffering Guard Half-Life 2 Odessa Cubbage, Male citizens2005 The Matrix Online Agent GrayFATENarratorThe Suffering: Ties That BindThe Man 2006 Half-Life 2: Episode One Male citizens 2007 Half-Life 2: Episode Two Griggs / Male citizens Team Fortress 2 Sniper 2008 Left 4 Dead John Slater 2009 F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin Harold Keegan inFamous Warden Harms Halo 3: ODST Kinsler / SWAT Commander 2010 Halo: Reach Sword Control 2011 The Lord of the Rings: War in the North Beleram2013 Dota 2 Ancient Apparition, Dark Seer, Doom, Earthshaker, Pudge, Shadow Fiend, Storm Spirit, Voice of the International Announcer Planetary Annihilation Narrator 2018 Artifact Dark Seer, Earthshaker, Storm Spirit, Shadow Fiend 2019 The Church in the Darkness Isaac Walker 2022 SpaceVenture Holotube, Nurb, HabaneroTBADeadlock Dynamo
Animation Year Title Role Notes 2008 Meet the Sniper Sniper Animated Team Fortress 2 short
Live-action film +YearTitleRoleNotes2003A Relative ThingThe Lawyer2005The UnknownMayor Potts2020Language ArtsBike Shopper2025Train DreamsMr. SearsAdaptation of the 2011 novella of the same name
Web Year Title Role Notes 2021 Night, Mother Director Livestreamed adaptation of the play 'night, Mother on Twitch.
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