'Trese' director says how Fil-Am voice actors felt about keeping their accents for dubbing

Jay Oliva, the director of the latest anime series on Netflix, Trese, recently shared in an interview how the actors of Filipino descent felt about keeping their accent for the English dubbing of the show. Based on a Filipino comic of the same name by Budjette Tan, Trese had its worldwide premiere on Netflix on June 11. Read on to know what director Jay Oliva shared about the Trese cast and their dubbing experience for its English version.

Jay Oliva on the Filipino-American cast of Trese (English)

The anime series Trese on Netflix is released in three original languages, Filipino, English, and Japanese. For the English version, mainly Filipino-American voice actors have been cast to dub for the prominent characters of Trese. Director Jay Oliva, who is also one of the executive producers of the anime series Trese on Netflix, was recently in an interview on the TV show New Day of CNN Philippines. Ahead of Trese's release, he talked about how those voice actors appreciated keeping their accents while dubbing for Trese in English. Jay Oliva, in the interview, said, “We had actors driving in from San Francisco, from different areas just to be in it and they kept telling us how wonderful it is for them to be able to do this in their accent and not ever having to hide it, and also to be Filipino as opposed to being...of some other ethnicity that's Asian.”

When Jay Oliva was asked about how those actors were prepared for their voice roles and the dubbing requirements for Trese, he said, “Tanya Yuson was there to make sure the expressions were right, and that the spells were right. When we did go heavy on the accents it wasn't too much but it was just right because I told people, 'I don't want you to sound like my mom,' because my mom has a very thick [Filipino] accent and I'd say, 'don't do that, just pull that back a bit.'”

Shay Mitchell, the Filipino-Canadian actor, is voicing for the lead character, Trese. Other actors in the Trese cast of the English version, who are of Filipino descent, include Nicole Scherzinger, Jon Jon Briones, Manny Jacinto, Eric Bauza, Griffin Puatu, Darren Criss, and Lou Diamond Phillips.

 Image: Stills from the Trese trailer