It all started with a dream. A dream to produce voice ARTISTS and not voice TALENTS. A dream to promote voice acting as an ART and not as a JOB. A dream to make the Philippines the center of voiceover excellence in Asia.
In 2005, Pocholo “The VoiceMaster” Gonzales would have reached the peak of his voice acting career. Nine years into the industry, he has already made a name for himself, having voiced literally thousands of projects – TV and radio commercials, dubbed telenovela and anime, AVP’s, audiobooks, video games – you name it, he’s voiced it. But for Pocholo, it was just the beginning.
His journey in the voice acting world was not a walk in the park. In fact, he’s met with several challenges, especially as someone who is starting out young as a voice artist. He experienced first-hand the politics and monopoly surrounding the industry, and was even told by the more tenured voice artists that he’s not good enough for the craft. For most people, that would have been the signal to fold up and give up on their dream, but for Pocholo, it became his fuel to do something bigger than what he would have been within the four corners of the recording booth.
Pocholo established his own voiceover services company, Creativoices Productions, in 2005. But more than just being another audio production house, Creativoices became the home of the first and premier voice acting school in the country, the Philippine Center for Voice Acting. This school, more popularly known as “Voiceworx,” became a hub for aspiring voice artists to develop their voice acting skills, and get their foot in the door of voice acting.
Pocholo has revolutionized and professionalized the voice acting industry through Voiceworx. Not only did it provide opportunities for aspiring voice artists, but it also created an entire breed of voice artists who, like Pocholo, treats voice acting as an art instead of just another job, and also serve as an inspiration to other aspiring voice artists to realize their dream.
Pocholo’s voice acting school also became a venue for voice acting mentors to become part of this advocacy of bringing in new voices to the industry. Pocholo is joined by renowned dubbing directors and voiceover experts to teach this new generation of voice artists – Brian Ligsay, Alexx Agcaoili, Neil Tolentino and Danny Mandia.
Ten years and 33 batches later, Voiceworx has produced more than 1,000 graduates, and almost half of them are actively making their name in the industry – as dubbers, voiceover talents, events host, broadcasters, and even trainers. What’s also noteworthy is that Pocholo has sponsored around 300 students as his scholars to the workshop.
Through Creativoices, Pocholo also brought the Filipino voice acting talent to the international scene when he closed several projects with the famous video gaming company, Sega. Pocholo became the voice director for arcade games such as Harley Davidson King of the Road, Golden Gun, Operation Ghost and Transformers. Those games all used Filipino talents for the voices of the characters.
A decade of talents discovered. Of passions ignited. Of dreams fulfilled. Creativoices Productions has truly paved the way for the world to hear the power of the Filipino voice.
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