I've been dubbing for a long time, and it's so much more than just voice work
Starting back in 2010 Miami, with my first gig at Centauro Productions, dubbing for a Colombian series called Los Caballeros Las Prefieren Brutas. I dubbed the main character, played by the actress Valerie Dominguez, and discovered it was more than just overlaying her voice. I quickly learned to adjust to her facial expressions, the way she inhaled and exhaled - mimicking her vocal quirks. I realized I'd have to learn the character as well as the actress.
Over the years, I've dubbed shows for studios like the Kitchen, Universal Cinergia, and VOA in Miami and VSI, Dubbing Brothers and Pixelogic Media in Los Angeles. I've become a quick study of how an actor speaks, and a fast mimic of emulating others' movements onscreen. If a character 'Susie' was running, I would run in place; if 'Valentina' was holding a cellphone, I'd mimic talking on the phone so the performance could come off as accurately as possible. I've played ingenues, detectives, assassins, busybodies, introverts. You name it, I've dubbed it. I've been hired to dub productions into English from many countries: Colombia, Peru, Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Spain, Italy, France, Turkey, Germany, China, Korea, Japan, and Australia. I've also dubbed from English to Spanish and once into French (which I'm pretty good at!). I've dubbed many documentaries and infomercials, but usually I dub dramas and telenovelas - my favorite!
So what's it like to dub my own voice?
In Amazon Prime's reboot of the popular Colombian show, I reprise my role as Maria Beatriz in Betty La Fea: The Story Continues - in Spanish, of course. Then, they asked me to dub my own voice into the English version - what a fun assignment!
I spent an hour at Pixel Logic with an incredible Dubbing Director, Anjela Vega, and realized that when the character is me, there's not much to learn. Turns out, I know me pretty well... no mimicry needed. No study. Just voice, after all.