Aaron Dismuke -
Anime
Convention Personality of the Week - February 17, 2008
Common practice for
anime dubs and voice acting is for women to handle boys' voice roles.
If there's a long-running series, a director can cast a woman to handle
that mid-pitched role without worrying about the boy's voice breaking
with age. So, such notable boys' dub roles such as Ash/Satoshi in
Pokemon and Naruto Uzumaki in Naruto are handled by women. That's why
the role of Alphonse Elric in the Fullmetal Alchemist dub is so
special. While the original Japanese performance of this male character
was by a woman, Rie Kugiyama, the English performance was by a boy,
Aaron Dismuke. It had to be a gamble to give a major role in a
high-profile series to an actor who was so young (Dismuke was 11 when
the Alchemist dub was produced, while Kugiyama was 24). However, the
gamble paid off. Dismuke brought a charm and sincerity to the role of
Alphonse that few adults could have matched. His performances, balanced
against the intensity of Vic Mignogna's reading of Edward Elric,
created a perfect pair for the vital roles. Dismuke's acting has
impressed so many fans that he, just like the other lead actors from
the Alchemist dub, has an
online fan club. At all of 15 years old at this writing, Dismuke
has become one of the group of regulars you can expect to hear in
Funimation dubs.
Common practice for
anime dubs and voice acting is for women to handle boys' voice roles.
If there's a long-running series, a director can cast a woman to handle
that mid-pitched role without worrying about the boy's voice breaking
with age. So, such notable boys' dub roles such as Ash/Satoshi in
Pokemon and Naruto Uzumaki in Naruto are handled by women. That's why
the role of Alphonse Elric in the Fullmetal Alchemist dub is so
special. While the original Japanese performance of this male character
was by a woman, Rie Kugiyama, the English performance was by a boy,
Aaron Dismuke. It had to be a gamble to give a major role in a
high-profile series to an actor who was so young (Dismuke was 11 when
the Alchemist dub was produced, while Kugiyama was 24). However, the
gamble paid off. Dismuke brought a charm and sincerity to the role of
Alphonse that few adults could have matched. His performances, balanced
against the intensity of Vic Mignogna's reading of Edward Elric,
created a perfect pair for the vital roles. Dismuke's acting has
impressed so many fans that he, just like the other lead actors from
the Alchemist dub, has 