Danny Mandia

MANILA — Dubbing director Danny Mandia, looked up to in the local voice acting community as the "Father of Modern Filipino Dubbing," died Wednesday at 70, a spokesperson for his family confirmed to ABS-CBN News. 

Mandia passed away peacefully at Manila Doctors Hospital that night, said voice actor Pocholo Gonzales. 

Coming from a theater background, Mandia discovered dubbing after being invited by a theater friend to do translations for the Japanese sci-fi series "Ultraman" and "Magma Man" before eventually being asked to supervise the dubs, he recounted in a video by Gonzales earlier this year. 

The Boac, Marinduque native became a dubbing director and translator for ABS-CBN from 1992 and of its anime-oriented cable channel Hero when it launched in 2005, producing "Tagalized" versions of foreign animated and live-action shows. 

The dubbed animations he directed are a nostalgia list for Filipinos who grew up in the 1990s and early 2000s: among them "Peter Pan," "A Dog of Flanders," "Remi: Nobody’s Girl," "Julio at Julia," "Snow White," "Magic Knight Rayearth," "B't X," "Little Women," "Zenki," "Heidi," "Anne of Green Gables," "Saber Marionette J," "Digimon," "Kim Possible," "Voltes V Celebrity Edition," "Akazukin Cha-cha," "Voltron," and "Ragnarok The Animation." 

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Mandia also went behind the microphone at times to dub for characters when he was interested in giving life to them, such as Captain Hook's sidekick Smee in the "Peter Pan" series. 

His translation work extended as well to the theme songs of some of the animated series which he turned into well-remembered Tagalog versions. 

Mandia considered among his biggest projects the first Tagalog dub of the Taiwanese drama "Meteor Garden," which the Kapamilya network aired in 2003. "Meteor Garden" took the Philippines by storm — making household names of Barbie Hsu who played Shancai along with F4 actors Jerry Yan, Vic Chou, Ken Chu, and Vanness Wu — and heralded the popularity of East Asian dramas in the Philippines, known locally as "Asianovelas." 

Other dubbed TV shows he contributed to were "Bananas in Pajamas," "Love Scar (Fantasy Fever)," "ABCDEF4," and "Girls Marching On." He made a comeback as a dubbing director during the pandemic, voice-directing hundreds of movies under CreatiVoices Productions, which has a dubbing booth named after Mandia. 

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'Ama'

Lovingly called "Ama" by those under his wing, Mandia guided many aspiring voice actors, translators, and directors to also find their voice beyond dubbing. 

He used downtimes between dubbing sessions to teach dubbers how to act and apply theater principles in the recording booth. 

An educator with academic backgrounds in economics and agriculture before taking theater arts, Mandia also taught at the De La Salle College of St. Benilde, Miriam College, and Trinity College. He later teamed up with Gonzales in 2005 to establish the Philippine Center for Voice Acting or the VoiceWorx Workshop, which describes itself as the country's first and only voice acting and dubbing workshop. 

"He transformed the way we use our voices in the industry, shaping the future of voice artistry in the Philippines," the Certified Voice Artist Program (CVAP), another initiative Mandia and Gonzales launched, posted in tribute to the director. 

"He was the purest heart of our community, reminding us all of the power that our voices hold. He taught us not just how to perform, but how to use our voices to inform, inspire, involve, and illuminate the next generation of voice artists." 

The CVAP will hold a tribute for Mandia on Sunday, October 20, at 1 p.m., with further details to be announced. 

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Gonzales, known in the community as "The Voice Master," credits Mandia for giving him his first break in dubbing an anime series with "Remi: Nobody’s Girl." 

"Si Sir Danny ang pinakamabait at dakilang tao na nakilala ko. Kung hindi dahil sa kanya, walang dubbing artistry," Gonzales said. 

TV news editor Eugene Adalia, who continued in voice acting alongside his work as a journalist, called Mandia his "mentor, instruktor, direktor, gabay, at kaibigan." 

"Sa taong umalalay sa 'kin noon pang kolehiyo, at nagbigay ng unang tapak ko sa mundo ng propesyunal na dubbing, at sa kalauna'y naghawan rin ng daan para mapasok sa industriya ng pagbabalita, habangbuhay ang aking pagtanaw ng utang na loob," Adalia said in a Facebook post. 

Born August 23, 1954, Mandia left behind his wife Bea, children Eric and Andrei, daughter-in-law Yvette, grandchild Aiden, "anak-anakan" Blair Arellano, as well as five siblings. 

Asked in 2019 how he wanted to be remembered, Mandia said he sees his memory alive in the people he mentored and inspired. 

"Marami na ako sigurong naipundar sa kanila na hanggang ngayon binibigyan ako ng credit for that," he said. "Sila naman ang magsasabi kung anong natutunan nila." 

"I will not wish for anything na matatandaan nila ako… Matatandaan nila ako kung may matatandaan sila para sa akin."  

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