We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Hermes Baroli. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Hermes below.

Hi Hermes, thanks for joining us today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

I was born in Brazil where I grew up as a dubbing actor. My parents used to work as actors and dubbing actors. One day, while I was following my mom during a dubbing session, the director asked me if I’d like to try recording my voice to dub a boy in the movie “Superman IV”. I was 10 years old at that time. I accepted and never stopped dubbing anymore.

Many other characters have my voice during over 30 years of career. I became one of the most famous voice actors in Brazil. In 1994 I was voicing a character named Seiya in a show named “Saint Seiya”. This anime was a fever in Brazil and it started the fond from Brazilian audience to voice actors. Although we were aging and the characters not, it was unthinkable replace the voices of Saint Seiya. I recorded this guy during 28 years.

I recorded many other important characters along my career, Iron Man, Raphael the teenage turtle, Miss Pig, Top cat, invisible man, Action man, Power rangers…
I was the voice of many American actors like Ashton Kutcher, Edward Norton, Matt Damon, Brad Pitt, James Franco, Sam Rockwell, Owen Wilson…

In 2005 I opened a Dubbing studio and School with my mom. Dubrasil – central de dublagem has specialized more than 2.000 actors in dubbing market since then. Is one of the most important dubbing studios in Brazil being responsible to dub into Brazilian Portuguese many important shows Like Game of Thrones, Veep, Attack on Titan, Walking dead, Spy x Family, Saint Seiya…

When everything seemed easy and smooth, I moved to LA. It was a great risk. Because I knew I’d be replaced in all of my characters, losing everything I built during 30 years. Also, I wasn’t so familiar with the language, I was still with my visa as tourist and I didn’t know anything about dubbing market in US. I moved to LA with my wife and our dog in 2017. In 2018 I got my green card while studying English every day, reading books, newspapers, hearing radio, etc.

in 2019 I had my first experience as English dubbing director. It was a Brazilian show named “The mechanism” for Netflix. And my world flipped. Everything I learned to do from English into Portuguese, now was the opposite. At this point my English wasn’t that good yet, but the language I was speaking was “dubbing”. I knew if I was humble enough to keep learning something I passed my life doing, soon I’d master to direct in English as I used to do in Portuguese. Many shows after my first one, I’m still learning and enjoying. And I believe it’s the only way it makes sense, because in the moment I’m no longer learning and/or enjoying, it’s time to retire or to look for something that allow me to enjoy the bless of being alive..

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

As a dubbing director my work is create an illusion and make the audience believe that they’re watching something created in their own language. To achieve this goal I need to select the right voices, the same timber and the same energy with approximate age. And bring the actors to the same acting delivered by the original casting. On top of that I have to choose the right words to make the best lip-sync possible.

Dubbing isn’t a creative job. The acting was already created by the original actor. So our mission as dubbing actors is to understand how it was created and do the same acting, without judgment, into this new language. The same pace, the same projection, the same breath, the same subtext.

Actors like to improvise, to create, to apply their own acting into the lines. What’s perfect for on camera or on stage actors. But when you try dubbing without following the choices made by the original actor, you’ll be off. Your lines don’t fit the actors mouth flaps, your energy doesn’t fit the actors eyes. The audience won’t believe it and go to watch something else or try subtitles. When our goal is achieved, the audience won’t say anything about it, because they didn’t notice the dubbing. We must be invisible.

But actors are moved by ego, they want to be seen. A good director must understand it and doesn’t fight against it, on the contrary, use it on their favor. At the end of a good session everybody feels that all of them helped to achieve that result. A good director knows that the best result comes from a teamwork.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

Being an artist is a bless. All human beings are creatives, but just artists are allowed to exercise it. Our creations are our soul manifesting their self’s. When we don’t allow our souls creations, it becomes frustrated . That’s why artists in general sing, dance, talk to their self and enjoy the moment. In general they don’t judge others. They accept better the difference. Actually they love the difference, because it makes much more sense. When you free your soul and your mind, you also become more empathic, what’s not easy but it’s very necessary. This empathy will allow you to understand people, without judging them. This skill is very important when an actor is creating a character. And it’s very important for understand life. It also helps you to improvise, the thing we do more in our life.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

I think that if you are “Non-creative” (If it exists), you’re misunderstanding your journey here. We’re not here to work, pay bills, build a family and die. We’re here to learn, to improve our souls, to trade experiences, to enjoy live. Our soul came in this trip to have experiences that can make it better and stronger. If you avoid new experiences, or if you avoid to meet people, or if you try to change people to make them fit in your little world, I’d tell you to allow people to change the size of your bubble. Don’t accept your limitation, because you don’t have any. Don’t compare yourself with anyone because you’re incomparable. You’re a unique expression of love. There’s nothing similar to you. You’re special and blessed. You’re a miracle. So free your mind and your spirit and accept your creation. You can change this world, or your world or somebody else’s world. So do it.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.centraldubrasil.com.br
• Instagram: @hermesbaroli
• Facebook: Hermes Baroli
• Linkedin: @hermesbaroli
• Twitter: @hermesbaroli

Image Credits
Hermes Baroli