Jennifer Lee Taylor is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Cortana in the Halo games and the Cortana 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 Jen Taylor taught herself how to do voice work by recording the radio and imitating what she heard. She graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in theater. Before starting in voice work, she worked as a radio DJ for KNDD.
Taylor has voiced characters in video games, including Princess Peach and Toad in Mario games between 1999 and 2008. She voiced the character Cortana in Halo games since the first game in the series, Halo: Combat Evolved (2001). Two decades following the original game, Taylor reprised the role of Cortana by voice acting and performance capture in the Paramount+ TV series. At GalaxyCon Columbus in December 2023, Taylor stated her favorite line as Cortana is "Welcome home, John" from Halo 4.
Taylor has played Salem in the web series RWBY, since 2013. She voiced an episode of the radio series The Classic Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Taylor has narrated nearly 30 audiobooks, and has received several AudioFile Earphones Awards. Her narration of Tami Hoag's Mismatch was nominated for an Audie Award in 2009.
As a stage actress, Taylor has played Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice and Eliza Doolittle in a Seattle Shakespeare Company production of Pygmalion.
Filmography
Live-action + List of acting performances in television and film Year Title Role Notes Source 2004 Inheritance Abbey 2018 Everything Sucks! Miss Stock 2 episodes 2022–2024 Halo Cortana
Animation + List of voice performances in animation Year Title Role Notes Source 2013–present RWBY Mysterious Narrator / Salem 2015 Halo: The Fall of Reach Dr. Catherine Elizabeth Halsey 2022 RWBY: Ice Queendom Mysterious Narrator / Salem English dub
Video games + List of voice performances in video games Year Title Role Notes Source 1997 Backyard Baseball Sunny Day 1998 Thinkin' Things: Sky Island Mysteries Glove Backyard Soccer Sunny Day 1999 Backyard Football 1999–2007 Mario franchise Princess Peach, Toad, ToadettePrincess Daisy (2000–2003), Birdo (2001) 2000 Backyard Baseball 2001 Sunny Day Backyard Soccer MLS Edition 2001 Backyard Football 2002 Aliens versus Predator 2 Tomiko / Johnson Halo: Combat Evolved Cortana / Life Pod Pilot Super Smash Bros. Melee Princess Peach Backyard Basketball Sunny Day 2002 No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy in H.A.R.M.'s Way Cate Archer / Isako / Ninja Girls Kakuto Chojin: Back Alley Brutal Roxy 2004 Halo 2 Cortana 2006 Sin Episodes: Emergence Jessica Cannon 2007 Halo 3 Cortana 2008 Left 4 Dead Zoey 2009 F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin Lt. Keira Stokes 1 vs. 100 Live Herself 2010 Left 4 Dead 2 Zoey Halo: Reach Dr. Catherine Elizabeth Halsey, Cortana (Firefight) 2012 Guild Wars 2 Demmi Beetlestone Halo 4 Cortana, Dr. Catherine Elizabeth Halsey Also motion-capture performance for Halsey 2013 Dota 2 Lina, Puck, Windranger, Medusa 2014 Destiny City Civil Frame, Archive Security A.I., City P.A. 2015 Infinite Crisis Atomic Wonder Woman Halo 5: Guardians Cortana, Dr. Catherine Elizabeth Halsey Also motion-capture performance for Dr. Halsey 2018 Forza Horizon 4 Cortana 2021 Halo Infinite Cortana, Dr. Catherine Elizabeth Halsey, "The Weapon" 2026Halo: Campaign EvolvedCortana, Lt. Taylor
Other works Year Title Role Notes Source 2014–2017 Windows Phone 8.1 Cortana 2015–2023 Windows 10 2021–2023 Windows 11
References
External links
Bungie's 2002 interview with Jen Taylor