The Mexican Voices of Popular US TV Stars Are Speaking Up - About Their Low Wages Russ Finkelstein - PRI's The World
go to original January 25, 2014

Dubbing is a whole sub-category of work and training in Mexico, but the pay isn't competitive considering that millions of Latin Americans hear voice actors' work through television programs like "Los Simpsons." (PRI)

If you’ve seen recent episodes of "The Simpsons" in Spanish, chances are you've heard Eduardo Ramírez. He's the voice behind Nelson, Otto the Bus Driver, Bumblebee Man and Lenny.

Ramírez is a theater actor by training. A few years ago, a fellow actor suggested he learn dubbing — being a voiceover artist for Spanish-language soundtracks — to earn extra cash. Ramírez quickly learned that performing voices for TV audiences was a different craft than stage acting.

“They see a face and hear a voice,” Ramírez explained, “and the trick in dubbing is that they match, you know? That the people doesn’t think, 'Wait a minute, that voice doesn’t belong to that face.' That’s the tricky part.”

... Ramírez is part of a growing group of trained actors who feel that their work is undervalued, especially as the dubbing industry gets more competitive and as companies outsource the work to other Latin American countries. The actors claim that fans are complaining about having longtime voices suddenly replaced.

Read the rest at PRI's The World

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