Voice actor Jennifer English thanked her “beautiful girlfriend” on stage at The Game Awards, as she collected the award for Best Performance for voicing Maelle in the smash-hit game Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.
The game absolutely cleaned up at this year’s event, winning nine awards in total. As well as Best Performance, it also won Game of the Year, Best RPG, Best Narrative, Best Art Direction, Best Score & Music, Best Game Direction, Best Debut Indie Game and Best Independent Game.
The glitzy award ceremony was held on Thursday (11 December) and streamed live. A clip of Jennifer English’s acceptance speech has since gone viral on X.com, racking up almost 700,000 views.
In her speech, English thanks her “beautiful girlfriend”, with the camera then cutting back to the audience to show her partner Aliona Baranova, a performance director and actor who worked with her on Baldur’s Gate 3
English also gave a shout out to the neurodivergent community in her speech, saying: “to every neurodivergent person… to all of you who feel like life is stuck on hard mode, this one is for you.”
This isn’t the first award she’s won for the game. Last month, Jennifer English dedicated her win at the Golden Joystick Awards to “queer joy” in an emotional acceptance speech.
“Oh my god!” she exclaimed after accepting her award. “I didn’t think of a speech because I didn’t think I was going to win … Thank you so much everyone, every single one of you for voting.”
She went on to say: ““I fell in love with a beautiful woman who’s crying her eyes out right now – it’s really funny. And I chose queer joy. As a result of that queer joy, I felt safe enough to pour my grief, and pain, and all that nonsense – and joy, and love – into this incredibly beautifully written character. And I am so proud of that, and I just want to thank queer joy for that.””
What is Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 about?
The out lesbian voice actor plays Clair Obscur: Expedition 33‘s lead protagonist, Maelle. The youngest member of the Expedition team sent to stop the catastrophic annual “Gommage” in which an entity, known as the Paintress, kidnaps humans of a certain age, who are never seen again.
Descroned as a “shy loner, eager to fly,” 16-year-old Maelle is selected to embark on a suicide-mission to slay the Paintress before she can kidnap more people. Unlike her companions, she views the expedition as her chance to explore the world and “forge her own destiny.”
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