Voice actors in demand as Netflix series like Lupin and Money Heist put dubbed content front and centre
- Netflix is at the forefront of a surge in demand for voice talent as it has expanded its service from the US to more than 190 countries over the past few years
- Dubbing isn’t as simple as just repeating the words in the local tongue – the challenge is combining an effective translation with local flavour
Wendel Bezerra, a voice-over artist in Sao Paulo, Brazil, won modest fame when he became the Portuguese-language voice of SpongeBob SquarePants a couple of decades ago. Then came jobs dubbing over well-known actors Robert Pattinson and Edward Norton.
But the big breakthrough, he says, came a few years ago – when Netflix stepped up its efforts to woo viewers around the globe with dubbed films and television series. Jobs started pouring in for Bezerra and his fellow performers.
The number of inbound projects in the local market increased 30-fold, he says. “Dubbers are getting visibility,” he says through an interpreter. “I might be the most famous voice talent in Brazil.”
Voice artists around the globe are experiencing a surging demand as global streaming services including Amazon.com’s Prime Video, Walt Disney’s Disney+ and AT&T’s HBO Max offer a broad range of programming from around the world in local languages.
At the forefront is Netflix. As it builds the world’s first truly global paid-TV network, the company has expanded its streaming service from the US to more than 190 countries over the last few years. To satisfy viewers everywhere from Seoul to Buenos Aires, it has to create localised versions of hundreds of different shows annually.