Yes it might seem a bit strange to include a character that's as ever-changing as Shepard being that you can remix everything about them from gender to hair colour and every little facial feature, but regardless of which background options you then picked for your version of the Commander, Keith David's monologue over the top as your newly-minted creation stared out at the vastness of space is something all Mass Effect players remember very fondly. Back in 2007 Bioware undertook the unenviable task of introducing all of us to a sci-fi world so detailed it rivals that of the greats, but in Commander Shepard we had our conduit with which to poke and prod at every aspect of the wider universe. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cU9NLuMell4 Those first few moments, seeing your custom-Shep come to life accompanied by fantastic gender-specific performances from voice actors Mark Meer or Jennifer Hale - as well as the revolutionary circular dialogue-wheel that let us say exactly what needed to be said - introduced everyone to the Mass Effect canon in a pretty revolutionary way.
