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Jill Valentine is a fictional character in Resident Evil (Biohazard in Japan), a survival horror video game series created by Japanese company Capcom. She was introduced as one of two player characters in the original Resident Evil (1996). Valentine is a former member of the Raccoon City Police Department's S.T.A.R.S team, and initially worked alongside her partner Chris Redfield to fight the Umbrella Corporation, a pharmaceutical company whose bioterrorism creates zombies and other bio-organic weapons. Jill and Chris Redfield later became founding members of the United Nations' Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance (B.S.A.A).
Valentine is the protagonist of several Resident Evil games, novelizations, movies, and other media. In later games, such as the 2002 Resident Evil remake, Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles, and Resident Evil 5, her features were based on Canadian model and actress Julia Voth. Valentine also appears in the Resident Evil film series, portrayed by actress Sienna Guillory. She has featured in several other game franchises, including Street Fighter, Marvel vs. Capcom and Project X Zone.
Video game publications listed Valentine among the most popular and iconic video game characters, and praised her as the most likable and consistent Resident Evil character. She has received both acclaim and criticism with regard to gender representation in video games. Several publications praised the series for its portrayal of women and considered Valentine significantly less sexualized than other female game characters; she was also cited as an example of a female character who was as competent and skilled as her male counterparts. Others argued she was weakened as a protagonist by attributes that undermined her role as a heroine, specifically an unrealistic body shape that did not reflect her military background; some of her overtly sexualized costumes have also been criticized.