Ukrainian actress and TV host Larisa Rusnak, in an interview with Wave RBC.UA published by the Styler project (RBC-Ukraine), spoke in detail about her long career in dubbing and voice-over work for Hollywood films. According to her, she is the one who gives a Ukrainian voice to stars such as Angelina Jolie and Cate Blanchett, yet Rusnak refuses to call herself their "official voice": "I wouldn't call it 'official'. I haven't signed anything, there's no contract, it's just an arrangement with the studios."
From voice-over to full dubbing: how the industry has changed
Rusnak recalls that at the beginning of her career in this field, full dubbing did not yet exist — actresses did voice-over work, when the translation was laid over the original audio track. One of the first such projects was the series "Friends", where Rusnak voiced all the female characters, despite the fact that they differed radically in character and timbre. "You don't get in the character's way, you hear them, you become lighter, you get into their rhythm and timbre," the actress explained the working principle of those years. Today, by her observation, studios approach dubbing casting much more carefully: timbre, character and the actor's energy are taken into account, and sometimes film producers themselves approve Ukrainian performers for specific characters.
The voices of Jolie and Blanchett: how the collaboration works
Among the actresses whose characters Rusnak voices in Ukrainian are Angelina Jolie, Cate Blanchett and other famous Hollywood stars. In frames from the recording studio published in the article, Rusnak appears wearing headphones in front of a professional studio microphone, with portraits of Jolie and Blanchett in the background. At the same time, the actress emphasizes that she has no formal contract or "official voice" status: it is an informal arrangement with the studios that has developed over the years. "I am pleased to be involved in working on such large-scale projects," Rusnak admitted, adding that Ukrainian actors often underestimate their own work in this field.
"Very small money": the financial side of dubbing
Despite working with prominent Hollywood names, dubbing, by Rusnak's own admission, is not a profitable direction. "This is very small money. It's not even worth discussing from a financial point of view, it's literally pennies for a huge amount of time and acting experience," the actress stated. Thus, working with the voices of Jolie and Blanchett brings her income that she herself characterizes as symbolic, and the motivation here lies exclusively in the professional, not financial, plane.
Dubbing as a "trainer": why Rusnak doesn't refuse
The actress has no intention of refusing dubbing, explaining that for her dubbing is a kind of professional training that helps her transform quickly and work with her voice. "You can't be everything. A dramatic actor is someone who can do a little of everything. And I also use dubbing as a trainer," Rusnak noted. Cartoons occupy a special place in her work: there, she says, you can experiment much more freely with your voice, without being tied to a specific artist on screen. Thus, despite all its financial modesty, dubbing remains for Rusnak an important tool for maintaining acting form and creative development.
