Voice Dub Actress Apologizes After Being Criticized for Trying to Steal Zhao Lu Si’s Thunder After Love’s Ambition Becomes Unexpected Hit
There is a Chinese saying that when someone is popular/doing well it gets others jealous. C-netizens have fully backed Zhao Lu Si this week after a well known voice dub actress went public that she dubbed the entirety of Zhao Lu Si’s dialogue in popular C-drama Love’s Ambition. The voice actress said due to Zhao Lu Si not feeling well, she was brought in to dub the entire drama, but in the end only about 10% or so was used and the rest was Zhao Lu Si’s own voice when it aired. C-netizens are calling her out for trying to shade Zhao Lu Si and also ride the wave of LA popularity now that the drama did well. The voice actress has since apologized, especially after a production staff member allegedly shaded her by saying “those behind the scene should stay behind the scenes”. Zhao Lu Si has not spoken out about this lol, but I’m sure she has a lot more things going on that addressing a nothingburger issue.
Wow, you have a pretty biased take to say that she’s stealing Lusi’s thunder when she’s merely taking credit for her own work.
Zeng Mengyu posted about her voice acting work on Love’s Ambition because Zhao Lusi’s fans were praising her line delivery, saying she deserves award nominations and that she improved massively compared to her previous dramas (fyi even in Hidden Love part of the lines was done by a voice actor, Lusi did the adult parts) but even in the credits you can see Lusi’s voice actors’ credits.
So of course the voice actor felt slighted that Zhao Lusi and her fandom was taking credit for her work, especially since she was instructed to mimic Lusi’s voice in order to make it sound more natural (this also happened in Hidden Love). Cdramas these days are hiring voice actors and telling them to mimic the voices of popular stars’ so they can plausibly deny that they didn’t dub themselves (Cnetz deride actors who don’t self-dub as 演贝, aka 演员 minus the 口), but the voice actor is doing most of the work i.e. 90% and Lusi maybe does 10% and they mix that 10% into the drama so they can still say it’s self-dubbed.
The other reason Zeng Mengyu posted about her work on Loves Ambition was because she didn’t sound like herself and it wasn’t her usual standards due to the need to mimic Lusi so she felt the need to clarify. There’s nothing wrong with taking credit for her own work, why is she expected to keep quiet and let Lusi take credit for her work when she did the dubbing?
Lastly, the only reason she apologised was because Lusi’s fandom is extremely rabid and started hating on her voice, at first they said Lusi improved but when they realised it was Zeng Mengyu’s voice they said she sounded bad and they prefer Lusi to dub herself. Some Lusi’s fans even started to complain on other dramas Zeng Mengyu worked on to say that she sounds bad and needs to be switched out. The voice actor did nothing wrong, she dubbed Lusi and turned the drama into a success no? If you worked on a project that became a big success and people tried to take credit for your work or deny your involvement would you accept it? She contributed a lot to the success of the show.
If she only ended up with 10% of her voice in the finished product and she is named in the credits, then she should be satisfied. This voice actor was not the visuals and ZL’s dialogue (from first 10 episodes at least that I have seen) is minor, so 10% of that is tiny. From my reading of it, this voice actor is attempting to gain some fame, perhaps not the right way of doing things.
@annette
Yes you are right.
Voice dubbers are hired to replace pronunciations influenced by dialect or accent. Not to replace actors entirely.
Even if 100% dubbed voice was used, it’s not right to attribute entire success of the drama to the voice dubber.
Then what happened to all previous productions?…
can they claim entire success was due to voice dubbers, and thus, all actors are irrelevant and can’t act without voice dubbers?
Annete, the voice actor did 90% of the work and Lusi did 10%, I’m not sure why Lusi’s foreign fans keep misrepresenting this in translations (anything to make their idol look good?) but the voice actor did a big majority of the work.
Lusi’s fans are acting out and bullying her because they want her to get award nominations but she won’t get them if the drama is mostly dubbed. That’s just a fact.
Lusi and her fans need to stop bullying Zeng Mengyu, Esther Yu, and Li Yitong (recently they started hating on Yitong because the styling of her currently filming modern drama is similar to Love’s Ambition…. They keep accusing her of being unfamous and wanting to increase her popularity by copying Lusi even though actors don’t have a say in the drama styling, it’s mostly decided by a drama stylist like Aiwen or Yi Xiaoya).
@A
Agreed 100%. The idea that voice acting is ‘behind the scenes’ and not important is utter nonsense. How the actor delivers his lines is a key part of acting. That’s part of the reason why so many idol actors aren’t respected as actors — they aren’t willing to put in the work to hone such a crucial tool of an actor. If ZLS fans think it is so inconsequential, then don’t do any audio for her roles, and let them read subtitles.
@A, so do you mean that koala translating wrong? I reread the post again, and comprehend that even the VA did the voice in ZLS’s LA, her voice only used 10% in the drama.
Cloud chasing backfired.
@missy
I agree with you.
Clout chasing…? That’s what you meant, right?
I like cloud chasing. It’s a good image.
😉😉
If every crew wanna claim credit then it will be thousands of them…. I edit this, I carry the table, I am the archer…..
No doubt voice dubbing is important but next time won’t need her anymore, replaced by sound engineers.
How does 10% of the dubbed voice account for total success of the drama?
She is paid for her work. Isn’t that enough?
Where did the voice actress Zeng Mengyu claim the TOTAL success of the drama was due to her dubbing? She didn’t. She just stood up for her own work, instead of letting others steal credit for her work.
Seriously? If getting paid is the only consideration, then some actors should just work, and STFU about anything they did about the work, or any problems they had on set, nor seek any popularity awards or recognition for their work.
She didn’t lie. If she did the work of dubbing the entire drama but only a small part was used, she still did complete the dubbing work for the entire drama. Don’t see why she was bullied into apologizing. ZLS fans are so unlikeable.
For real. It doesn’t matter if the VA dubbed the whole thing behind the scenes if only 10% was used in the final cut. What a stupid controversy. These same people all pissed off remain quiet when their faves like Bai Lu, Wang Hedi, etc. use voice actors for the majority of their dramas.
@foulthings
Yes I agree with you.
While I don’t advocate hatred for the dubber, I don’t see what’s the fuss and overwhelming support for the dubber.
It’s rather perplexing how this turn into massive shading of ZLS and other commentators with different views.
Look at here, so much anger hurled at anyone doesn’t give standing ovation to the voice dubber …. money is not enough??? So must give all the glory to voice dubbers???
Why her alone?
What about other voice dubbers for all actors?
Either 10% of the drama as seen on TV was dubbed, or nearly all of it was dubbed, one or the other. The voice dubber might well have dubbed it all but, if only 10% of hers was used, then, presumably, the other 90% ZLS’s version was chosen over hers. That’s not something I’d be bragging about if I were a voice actor. Unless that 10% is the voice part that is getting all the praise.
this!…
There are many well respected voice artists that I personally like. They do stay behind the screen as that is their role. Some are even good screen actors too.
I feel this voice dub actress may not be doing herself favours by her post. She may be hired and paid to do a job. But when drama is airing… the producer decides on only edits. Her comments does her no favours.
@HL
I agree with you. And I think the voice dubber may not mean anything negative but the timing is certainly off for making these comments on her own, while the drama was being aired.
Morever, whether the dubbers’ voices are being used 10% or 100%, it’s harsh of commentators to demean all actors whose voices are being dubbed 10% or 100%.
This practice of using professional dubbers has been commonly deployed to ensure consistency and clarity. So if one wants to blame the artistes, might as well blame the industry norm.
Afterall, if the actors are truly perfect in everything, then they do not require professional voice dubbers, so how are the voice dubbers gonna get paid?
Nobody is not acknowledging the efforts of voice dubbers, since they do get the credits + pay …. So what else do they want? As part of the crew, the crew members should focus on promoting the drama rather than promoting themselves. They can do that after the drama has been aired for quite some time.
Anyway, I am just wondering why are so many commentators trying to elevate voice dubbers over actors, then why not these commentators just remove the actors and let the voice dubbers take over the acting as well?
And why are so many commentators expressing hate towards actors (in this case ZLS)? Did ZLS commit a crime? Or harm an entire nation?
I may not be a fan of Zhao Lu Si but I have enjoyed afew of her projects. I do not understand the hate towards her. And the negative labels attached to her.
I do find voice dubbers similar to body doubles… they work behind scenes and some may get opportunity to work as screen actors one day and make it big.
She didn’t make these comments on her own. She was prompted by ZLS fans going on about how her voice work was award worthy, when it wasn’t her voice, but Zheng Mengyu’s. She makes a living off her voice, so why shouldn’t she speak up and claim her own work?
Commenters right here, including you, have dismissed and disparaged the contribution of voice ACTORS. They aren’t behind the scenes, they are doing a quarter to half the acting. They are credited in the cast, because recognition of their work leads to more work, just like actors. There are famous studios and voice actors that are in demand, just like regular actors. Yes, they are used when actors don’t put in the effort to learn standard Mandarin, or don’t have the voice skills to deliver lines — that’s why actors get blamed, not the industry. That’s why the big awards won’t consider actors that don’t use their own voices. If you don’t think an actor’s voice is that important, just remember, most of a generation of actors in Hollywood were basically tossed to the side and unemployable, once the ‘talkies’ replaced silent films.
Seriously? Voice actors are part of the crew and shouldn’t promote themselves??? Actors are part of the crew too, so they shouldn’t promote themselves either, by your logic.
These dramas and films are a collaborative effort. But some people get more credit than others, and that’s okay, because they may do more work or bring more to the work. But there’s absolutely no need for fans to harass and try to put someone down who was part of that of collaborative effort, for standing up and claiming credit for their own damn work.
“Those behind the scene should stay behind the scenes”
What a toxic thing to say!A glimpse of C-ent’s toxic mentality.
Nah dude. Those behind the scenes are all part of the success.
This being said, what the the VA did wasn’t very clever. Same as this article’s childishly biased tone.
I had to reread the post because I thought Lusi was the one with only 10%.
To be honest, in financial terms, her 10% contribution is like that of a minor shareholder. Barely any control compared to the main player. It’s basically an accounting rounding error, hardly noticeable.
But still, the production staff shouldn’t have called her out like that. It only made things worse for her, especially since it looks like they’re support and agree with Lusi’s fans doing.
Her influence is awful. Everything about this lusi nonsense gives off negative vibes. Someone just proud doing their job well and ends up getting slandered. Toxic fanbase and most toxic actress ever. I get why Galaxy Cool being strict with her, wait once she joined neq agency she will start playing the victim again.
Her fanbase is toxic because of her own behavior at taking digs at others. Real case of a star syndrome wl
@koala
I reloaded on my iphone many times and all the comments didn’t appear.
Not the first time
And also the latest articles won’t reload at times….
Good luck to this girl in getting hired in the future lmao. What actress is going to want to use her as their voiceover when she’s now known for trying to take credit for their success. Yeah, line delivery is very important. But she’s not hired to be the face of the drama. And the majority of her work wasn’t even used in the final cut. I’ve never seen such behavior from a VA before. Even when voice actors do the entire drama you don’t see them coming out of the woodwork to take credit away from an actor.
Yes…she is not doing her career any favours…
Not speaking Chinese, not all that invested in this, but I did read on reddit that it is more complicated. Apparently, ZLS was having voice coaching sessions by someone who complimented her delivery in a particular scene. The voice actor, for whatever reason, addressed this, saying that the voice coach was mistaken, it wasn’t ZLS’s but her voice in that scene. Then went on to say a whole lot more, which could be, and was, interpreted in a variety of ways.
Anyway, I find the voice dubbing thing being commonplace in China interesting. Although it does seem that viewers are increasingly wanting actors to do their own dubbing. If that’s what it’s called, when they ‘voice’ themselves.
So funny! This is much like some naysayers claiming that Xiao Zhan rose to stardom all thanks to his perfect dub actor for the Untamed, and the Untamed would still have had a runaway hit without XZ cuz the dub actor voice made Wei Wuxian. Hahahahahahaha.