Stephen Arthur Downes (born June 28, 1950) is an American DJ and

voice actor Voice acting is the art of Acting, performing a character or providing information to an audience with one's voice. Performers are often called voice actors/actresses in addition to other names. Examples of voice work include animation, animated, ...

. He is best known for his work as the voice of the Master Chief in the ''

Halo HALO, halo, halos or haloes may refer to: Most common meanings * Halo (optical phenomenon) * Halo (religious iconography), a ring of light around the image of a head * ''Halo'' (franchise), a sci-fi video game series (2001–2021) Arts and en ...

'' video game series. He worked as a

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at nightclubs or music fes ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

Album-oriented Rock Album-oriented rock (AOR, originally called album-oriented radio) is an FM radio format created in the United States in the late 1960s that focuses on the full repertoire of rock albums and is currently associated with classic rock. US rad ...

radio stations KWST (1978-1981), KEZY-AM (1981-1982) and KLSX (1994), but is best remembered working evening drive at

KLOS KLOS (95.5 FM broadcasting, FM, "95-5 KLOS") is a commercial radio station City of license, licensed to Los Angeles, California, and serves the Greater Los Angeles area. The station is owned by Meruelo Group, Meruelo Media. KLOS airs a mainst ...

from 1982 to 1991. He frequently hosted the live call-in talk show,

Rockline ''Rockline'' was a nationally syndicated radio interview program hosted by Bob Coburn that was broadcast live via satellite every Monday and Wednesday night from 8:30pm-10pm PT to radio stations in the United States and Canada. Founded in 1981, ...

in the early 1990s. Most recently, he worked as the morning show host for 97.1 WDRV "The Drive" in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

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. Downes also hosts the nationally syndicated radio show "The Classics". He is married to fellow voice actress Liz Zweifler. On February 6, 2015, Downes announced that after 44 years in radio he would retire to spend more time with his family; his final show on

WDRV WDRV (97.1 FM, "The Drive") is a commercial radio station licensed to serve Chicago, Illinois. The station is owned by Hubbard Broadcasting and airs a classic rock format. Its studios were originally located in the John Hancock Center. On May ...

was March 9, 2015. He was succeeded by veteran sports/talk radio hosts Dan McNeil and Pete McMurray.

Voice acting

Downes started in commercial voice acting in 1990. He has provided voices for several video games. His first experience in voice acting for video games came in 1999 when he played the role of Gunnar in the video game '' Septerra Core: Legacy of the Creator'' by Valkyrie Studios. Despite the relatively minor role, his performance caught the attention of the voice acting director and music composer of the game,

Martin O'Donnell Martin O'Donnell (born May 1, 1955) is an American composer, audio director, and sound designer best known for his work on video game developer Bungie's titles, such as the ''Myth'' series, ''Oni'', the ''Halo'' series, and ''Destiny''. O'Don ...

. When O'Donnell began working on the video game '' Halo: Combat Evolved'' at

Bungie Bungie, Inc. is an American video game company based in Bellevue, Washington, and a subsidiary of Sony Interactive Entertainment. The company was established in May 1991 by Alex Seropian, who later brought in programmer Jason Jones (programme ...

, he invited Downes to voice the game's main protagonist, Master Chief, a role he has voiced ever since. At GalaxyCon Columbus in December 2023, Downes stated his favorite line as Master Chief is "She said that to me once... about being a machine" from Halo 4.

Filmography

Television

Video games

References

External links

* * https://m.imdb.com/name/nm1091994
Interview with Steve Downes by 4 Guys with QuartersInterview with Steve Downes on the Mentally Obsessed Podcast
{{DEFAULTSORT:Downes, Steve Living people People from Columbus, Ohio American male video game actors American male voice actors American radio DJs Male actors from Los Angeles 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American male actors 1950 births Halo (franchise)