Jen Taylor

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

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 2007.

Jen Taylor
Taylor at GalaxyCon Raleigh in 2022
Born	Seattle, Washington, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1993–present

Career

Jen Taylor taught herself how to do voice work by recording the radio and imitating what she heard.^[1] She graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in theater.^[2] Before starting in voice work, she worked as a radio DJ for KNDD.^[3]

Taylor has voiced characters in video games, Princess Peach, Toad, and Toadette in Mario games between 1999 and 2006.^[4] She voiced the character Cortana in Halo games since the first game in the series, Halo: Combat Evolved (2001).^[5] Two decades following the original game, Taylor reprised the role of Cortana by voice acting and performance capture in the Paramount+ TV series.^[6] 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^[3] and Eliza Doolittle in a Seattle Shakespeare Company production of Pygmalion.^[13]

Filmography

Live-action

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

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

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, Birdo, Princess Daisy, Toadette
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]
	Luigi's Mansion	Toad
	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"

Other works

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Source
2014–2017	Windows Phone 8.1	Cortana		[29][30]
2015–2023	Windows 10	Cortana		[31]
2021–2023	Windows 11	Cortana		[32]