Tales of the courage of the man in the street, travels to far-away kingdoms of gold, bewitched princesses, these are all stories children love, their characters becoming role models.

21-year old acting student Peter Baykov is no exception, having dreamed of the magic world of fairytales since childhood. But in every story there is a “but” or an “and”. This is true of the young boy who discovered he had an extraordinary talent early on, a talent that has enabled him to make his dream come true – an ability to dub dozens of different film characters with his own voice, a truly rare talent. Just like Eddie Murphy with his seven characters in “The Nutty Professor”, only Baykov’s dubbing record is… 35 characters, both male and female in one single film.

“It is more like a gift I found out I possessed. Even when I was a little boy my friends recorded me imitating film characters I loved, but they couldn’t do what I could. In time I developed a technique for keeping my voice in good shape, that is how I am able to do it. Just as any singer or actor has a voice technique that only works for them, I too have a routine I follow.”

He admits that, by and large, he relies on the dubbing to work out by itself, and his only voice training are elocution and vocal technique exercises. Doing film voiceovers is something Baykov regards as a treasure for the soul and as magic that helps him travel to unknown worlds and live out different lives. He admits that synchronized dubbing, which he has dedicated his career to, is a form of art demanding complete commitment and constant honing.

When you do synchronized dubbing, it is not imitation, because there is a difference between imitation and acting. There is a very fine line here when, without imitating, you have to act out a role and what the character is saying. You have the framework of the way the first actor acted out the role, and you have to work in synchronicity. You have to be ten times more conscious of the nuances, the purity of the acting to be able to “fit into” what the original actor is conveying.

The first films in which he dubbed the voices of all of the movie characters are “Beauty and the beast” and one of the “Show white” adaptations, in “Maleficent” he does the voices of 17 of the film characters. One of them is Maleficent herself, played by Angelina Jolie for which the actress became children’s favourite villain in 2015.

But one of Peter Baykov’s biggest challenges is the dubbing he did for “Game of Thrones” in which he dubbed… 35 characters in all, male and female. He says this helped him expand and develop a wide range of voices. His favourite Game of Thrones characters are Daenerys Targaryen and Tyrion Lannister from two rival families vying for power. Good as he is at dubbing, Peter Baykov only gained popularity in Bulgaria after taking part in a reality talent show. His performance even made an impression on the producers from a world-famous film company, which he regards as a reward for his work.

Peter Baykov chose not to disclose his plans for the future but said he had many more ideas to surprise audiences with.

Photos: private library