A manifested dream: Inka Magnaye shares joy as the first Philippine-based voice actress in a DC film
Whether you believe it or not, there is no right way to manifest. For content creator Inka Magnaye, the manifestation of your dreams can happen if you also work hard for it.
Inka recently made history as the first Philippine-based voice actress in a DC film via Blue Beetle. The Philippines is also the only country in Asia that will have a local artist dubbing the movie.
Speaking to the media during the press conference for Blue Beetle, the 34-year-old voice actress shared that it has always been a dream of hers to be a canon part of a superhero world.
"It's amazing because I manifested it. If you go to my Twitter from before, I made like a tweet, manifesting, number one being a voiceover in a video game, two, [being a] voiceover superhero in DC or whatever ganyan. So I really wrote it down," she revealed.
"I wanna become a better voiceover talent, I wanna keep getting better so I can hone my voice to become like that as good as an international caliber [and] being able to reach that right now, I'm 34 it's so surreal," she added.
Magnaye said discovering that she was personally selected for the role made it even more significant. According to Bonch Santos, the Marketing Lead of Warner Bros. Entertainment, the Filipina content creator was their choice from the beginning.
"When we hear the opportunity to do the voiceover for this character there is one person we have [in mind] and that is Inka," she said.
Inka's preparation
Inka, who comes from a family of voice actors, prepared physically and mentally for the role. She studied her role and script as she always does and "didn't speak for the next few days" to preserve her voice.
"Apart from that, it was quite the same as the other voiceover gig but also with the knowledge and understanding that it was the biggest so I was walking into that studio like conditioning myself to be like okay," she continued.
Inka as the Scarab
Being the first Filipino voice actress in a DC superhero film, Inka also noted that her biggest challenge is finding a way to make her voice stand out from other actors.
"The biggest challenge in my voice I guess when I think about it now, is to kind of figure out what sets my voice apart from all the other kinds of voices of the superhero movies."
Inka shared that representatives from Warner Bros. guided her through the voice-over process, adding that she tried to give her most AI voice that was personal but synthetic.
"I want to be able to put a mark on that like it was Inka who did the voiceover for that and I want people to be able to set that apart from others to make it sound more personal but making it sound synthetic," she expressed.
"I love how Pinoys can rally behind artists that represent Pinoy talent, and I am so excited to be an addition to that," Inka happily said. "So I hope that people will find comfort in that and find pride in it."
Aside from her involvement in the film, Inka thinks Filipino viewers would identify with Jaime and Blue Beetle as a whole due to the movie's strong emphasis on family, which contrasts with other superhero movies where protagonists frequently manage their powers on their own.
"Pinoys, not just here in the Philippines, but all over the world, we are so closely knit with our families; family is the most important thing," Magnaye said.
Blue Beetle is an upcoming superhero film from the DC Extended Universe. It follows the story of college graduate Jaime Reyes (played by Cobra Kai star Xolo Maridueña) who returns home filled with aspirations for his future, only to find that it's not quite as he left it.
While searching for his life purpose, fate intervenes when Jaime unexpectedly finds himself in possession of an ancient relic of alien biotechnology: the Scarab. When Jaime gets chosen to be its symbiotic host, he is bestowed with an incredible suit of armor capable of extraordinary powers, forever changing his destiny as he becomes the Super Hero Blue Beetle.
Blue Beetle is set to premiere in the Philippine cinemas on Aug. 16. Watch the trailer below.