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Master Chief voice actor Steve Downes jokes bourbon and cigars got him in character for his iconic role in Halo as the Spartan super-soldier. But he took his preparation far more seriously than that. He envisioned a rugged western archetype while getting in the mind of the character.

"I had a voice coach years ago who had a piece of advice: use whatever you can to connect to the character you're trying to develop or be or whatever. Whatever that is, down to the clothing you wear. If it helps you get there, use it," he says at Fan Expo Chicago. "With me, with Master Chief, it was part that advice and part superstition. What I did with sessions of Combat Evolved was wear a pair of cowboy boots."

Perhaps as superstition, he would continue to wear the boots while voicing Master Chief over the next quarter century.

"They helped me," he continues. "It was a physical manifestation of putting on the character. It works for me. It's the only time I wear them. They're really gross now. After 25 years, they got a little rank. Sorry engineers, that's the way it goes."

Cortana actress Jen Taylor said it took more time in the beginning to get in the character's head while recording lines for Halo games.

"It did become a little more familiar at a certain point," she says. "A lot of what I do now if we have another game is I go back and watch the game or cutscenes to remember where we were when we last saw these people. I wish I could say calisthenics or lots of milk. It's all about finding the story. The story drives it."

343 Guilty Spark voice actor Tim Dadabo asks himself who, what, how, where, when.

"I ask myself who am I, what I am doing, how I am doing, what is my scene, who I am talking to, where am I, all these sorts of questions," he says. "Then what happened before and what do I want to happen. What do I want the outcome to be."

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