Amazon Alexa's voice actor reportedly revealed
Journalist and author Brad Stone says Nina Rolle provided the basis for the voice of Amazon's digital assistant.
The newest model of the Amazon Echo.
Smart speakers and digital assistants have become increasingly ubiquitous, thanks to the popularity of the Amazon Echo and its built-in digital assistant, Alexa . While Alexa's voice is clearly synthetic, it had to start somewhere. We might finally know the name of the person who's voice helped create Alexa: Nina Rolle.
The info comes from journalist Brad Stone in his upcoming book, Amazon Unbound. He published an excerpt of his book on Wired's website on Tuesday and tweeted the reveal about Nina Rolle as the voice of Alexa.
Meet Nina Rolle. She is the voice actress behind Alexa. This is one of several secrets Amazon has tried to keep relating to the arduous development of Alexa, as I write about on https://t.co/dI5uehN6Zj on publication day for my new book #AmazonUnbound! https://t.co/RdLWHH0nlA pic.twitter.com/ROJ8riQe6I
— Brad Stone (@BradStone) May 11, 2021
Neither Amazon nor Rolle's representation immediately responded to CNET's request for comment, and neither side has confirmed Rolle's involvement to any publication yet.
While Amazon has kept the source of Alexa's voice a secret, Stone's info comes from conversations with others in the voiceover community. On Rolle's website, her voice certainly sounds familiar.