As Paris-based TeamTO searched for actors to dub the French voices for multiple Asian characters in its popular CG-animated action/comedy series Jade Armor (pictured), a major problem cropped up—the studio couldn’t find any voice actors with the required skills.

“We know there are Asian voice actors in France, but those actors aren’t trained to work on French animation dubs due to lack of resources and access,” says Guillaume Hellouin, president and co-founder of TeamTO.” And while animation studios have been featuring more diverse characters in their stories, the industry is becoming increasingly aware of the low representation of cultural and social communities among voice actors.”

To address the lack of diversity in the dubbing sector, TeamTO’s École Cartoucherie Animation Solidaire (ÉCAS)—France’s first comprehensive free animation school—partnered with French prodco Frog Box (PJ Masks) and post-production service provider Titrafilm last year to develop and launch a new dubbing course to train professional actors for animation.

According to Hellouin, who is also the president of ÉCAS, Frog Box joined the initiative after it had difficulty finding a Black voice actor to do the dubbing in France for the titular character in Kiya & the Kimoja Heroes, the studio’s new CG-animated preschool series co-produced by South Africa’s Triggerfish Animation and Hasbro’s eOne.

Launching this fall, the ÉCAS dubbing course recruits, trains, casts and groups new dubbing actors based on existing gaps in the market, thus growing the talent pool currently available to the French and European markets for clients and other dubbing providers.

“It is open to any French actors, although the idea is to identify people who have a strong potential for dubbing and voice creation, but who have not already been formally trained in the profession,” says Hellouin. “By going outside the existing, traditional recruitment networks, we hope to expand and diversify the pool of available dubbing actors, because the market needs more varied voices from actors of different backgrounds, both ethnically and socially.” Following a selection process based on actors’ self-taped auditions, the program will offer three five-day courses for five participants each, training 15 actors in total. ÉCAS expects to accept more actors in 2024, says Hellouin.

Located in TeamTO’s studio in Bourg-lès-Valence, France, ÉCAS was created in 2018 for students with no prior experience or qualifications, and no access to elite educational programs. Along with dubbing, the school offers an eight-month course in 3D animation that’s open to 30 students a year (eventually increasing to 50), as well as a storyboarding course in collaboration with Canadian studio House of Cool.

The school’s success rate bodes well for the future of its new dubbing course. More than 83% of ÉCAS’s animation and storyboarding graduates (98 in total) are currently working for TeamTO, while the remaining 20 are working for other studios in France and Canada.