Dominican actress Jane Santos has lent her Spanish voice to two “women with well-placed ovaries while being compassionate and warm to others,” as she describes former first lady Michelle Obama and Vice President of the United States Kamala Harris. , in an interview with Efe.
Santos is the sole narrator of the audiobook published Tuesday “Las verdades que sustenemos”, the Spanish version of “The Thruths We Hold: An American Journey,” the memoir of the first woman to be vice president of this country in his story. became.
Before he did the same with “My story”, by Michelle Obama; with “There is no return back”, by philanthropist Melinda Gates, and with novels by Isabel Allende, Stephen King, Danielle Steel or Margatet Artwood, among other works of “voice acting” or voice acting.
Born in Santo Domingo, Santos came to the United States 10 years ago and has appeared in Hollywood movies and TV shows such as “Criminal Minds” or “General Hospital”.
A “CHALLENGING” ASSIGNMENT
In response to questions from Efe, he affirms that diversity is a rising value in the movie Mecca and while acknowledging that there is still no equality between white and Spanish actors, he claims the industry is “trying” to close the gap.
As an audiobook narrator, Santos has to use her acting skills as it is not a matter of just reading the book, but interpreting characters and sometimes a lot in the same job.
Before recording and agreeing with the director and producer of the audiobook on how to approach it, read the work thoroughly and research the author of the book and his style.
As he tells Efe, his ‘seal’, with which he has made a name for himself in ‘voice acting’, is to form ‘the voice and attitude’ of the character based on his character and his main qualities and seek that. his words sound real and true to the text.
“If the version was already made in English, I would listen to it carefully, to be as immersed as possible in the story and to be as reliable as possible, albeit with my own style,” he adds.
Telling an audiobook is always a ‘challenging’ task and in the case of flesh-and-blood people who are also public figures, it means carrying a ‘big responsibility on their shoulders’.
Santos says she doesn’t know if Kamala Harris, who recorded one of the versions of the audiobook ‘The Thruths We Hold’ in her own voice, listened to the Spanish version, but she would like it to be so and she would have it. had approved her work.
Kamala has stolen our hearts
In this regard, he emphasizes that he never lets his admiration for a person to whom he should lend the voice interfere with the outcome of the story.
“Kamala Harris has stolen the hearts of so many women, so many people, because of those beautiful qualities she has,” said Santos, who emphasizes the vice president’s solidity and warmth, qualities she believes in her former president’s wife. Barak Obama when he recorded “My Story”.
In the books of both African Americans, he found women with interesting life stories and great responsibilities, who at the same time have closeness and compassion for people and are not afraid to talk about aspects of their private life, such as the marriage crisis in Michelle Obama’s case.
The “The Truths We Hold” audiobook is available on Megustaleer.com and Audible.com, according to a release released to mark the launch.
“It has been an honor to tell the story of such a successful, strong and intelligent woman and to present the Vice President of our country in a transparent manner. The book contains many interesting anecdotes and offers many lessons, it is an inspiration for everyone, ”Santos emphasizes in that statement.
One of Santos ‘last works in this area before Harris’ book was the audiobook “The Queen’s Gambit,” which coincided with the Netflix premiere of the popular series based on this book by Walter Tevi.
The actress and narrator says she really enjoyed making the audiobooks ‘The Japanese Lover’ and ‘An Island Under the Sea’ by Chilean writer Isabel Allende.
But if there is one thing he would like to do, it is to voice a novel by Julia Álvarez, the American writer of Dominican descent who wrote, among other things, ‘In the times of the butterflies’ or’ How the García girls lost their accent. “
Regarding her work as an actress and how to generally take more account of Latino actors in the movie Mecca, she says the most important thing here is that screenwriters, producers and filmmakers are willing to make good “Latino stories”.