Mark Meer never planned on saving the universe, but the universe had other plans. You know Meer from a lengthy association with BioWare’s most popular RPGs. He’s lent his voice to several of the studio’s games, from Neverwinter Nights to Jade Empire.
Most famously, he voiced the male version of Mass Effect’s Commander Shepard, but his work with BioWare dates back to one of the studio’s earliest breakout hits. In the wake of EA shutting down BioWare, laying off its remaining staff, and canceling Mass Effect: Universe, Polygon spoke with Jennifer Hale and Meer, the voices of Mass Effect’s Commander Shepard. They talked about their hopes for the future of Mass Effect, but also looked backward.
Both actors recorded for the studio’s Baldur’s Gate games. Meer would play “monsters and antagonists and that sort of thing.” They also both had roles in BioWare’s Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Hale notably played Bastila Shan, while Meer voiced Carth Onasi, but only in KOTOR’s demo.
The role in the full game eventually went to Raphael Sbarge, who, as it happens, ended up playing Kaidan Alenko in Mass Effect. (“Because he replaced me, that's why I killed Kaiden on Virmire,” Meer likes to joke.) While Mass Effect was still in its concept art stage, he was brought in to aid in a presentation for the developers about how the aliens they were creating might sound. What does a typical krogan sound like? That kind of thing,” Meer said.
The first salarian he did was essentially a Buscemi impression for a demo, and it stuck. While recording all those aliens, BioWare asked Meer if he’d audition for Shepard. He still did record “a bunch of aliens” for Mass Effect, like the vorcha, but that work was secondary to his role as Shepard.
He was thrilled, but also somewhat shocked — and that shock doubled when he learned he’d be doing the same role as Hale, a titan of the industry. He was in Edmonton with BioWare while Hale recorded her lines in Los Angeles. In the early going, Hale’s LA team would play for her whatever Meer had recorded before she’d tackle her lines.
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