[1 of 2] Shooting For The Moon And Stars With His Last Slingshot: Mr. Jordences “JV” Villasan’s Story Of Grit And How Voice Acting Changed His Life

Some voice artists pursued their interest and passion in voice acting with a long-time dream since childhood or simply out of curiosity. With Mr. Jordences "JV" Villasan's unique story, he embraced his journey as if this is the last chance for him to deliver the performance of a lifetime. 

JV Villasan teaching in a one-day seminar for aspiring voice artists

He was the voice behind the Domex commercial ad, and currently one of the trainors in VoiceWorx Batch 50. He has conducted talks as well with the rest of the CreatiVoices Productions team. All of these together with his projects as voice-over artist in live events, dubber, and other related voice acting avenues. 

His burning grit and passion opened the opportunities for him. Learn more how he turned things around in his and career through his dedication in voice acting as he recalls the story of his life from recent years.


Stepping Into The World Of Voice Acting And Radio Drama

Beginning his adventure in the world of voice acting, he reminisced the days he was exposed to voice acting, "Actually yung journey ko kasi regarding sa voice acting, naging passion ko muna siya, then naging income ko, and then noong biglang nandito na ako (CreatiVoices Productions and VoiceWorx), naging income at passion ko siya...so back and forth. Simula noong college pa lang, nagboboses na ako, alam yan ng lahat ng classmate ko noong college sa FEU Mass Communication. Ang unang nag-open (of opportunities) sa akin sa voice acting is si Sir Mark Aspiras na kakilala pala ni Sir Choy (VoiceMaster Pocholo Gonzales)."

He decided to try it further as he likes the craft, "Tapos ang ending dahil nagustuhan ko siya, pinursue ko siya. Tapos noong una, akala ko passion lang. Oo, pwede nang gawin for free. Yun pala pwedeng pagkakitaan. Di ba yung iba iniisip nila ‘Uy pwede itong pagkakitaan, magboboses ako.’ pero ako naman, reverse. Nakakatuwa kasi nagsimula akong free lang hanggang sa nakilala ako. Nakita ko kasi yun DJ sa ABS-CBN si Jasmin Basar, kaklase pala siya ng pinsan ko. Inisip kong ito na yung opportunity ko. Kailangan mo lang buksan mata mo sa opportunity. Ang nangyari, pumasok talaga ako at nagpakilala, ‘Hello po Ma’am, ako po si JV, kaklase po kayo ng ate ko. Alam ko pong may show kayo sa radio drama. Can you please include me in it?’ Tapos, the rest is history, naging dramatista ako, radio dramatists sa MOR 101.9 ng 2012 o 2013 yata."


Series Of Failures And Setbacks Leading Him Back To Voice Acting

Everything during that time looked smoothly that JV didn't feel he is growing. He decided to leave the radio drama program and went to the BPO industry as an agent. He shared, "Tapos umalis ako inisip ko na, ‘Ano ba yan, it’s too easy, walang growth.’ Yun pala, pagsisihan ko yun desisyon ko. After noon, nagwork ako ng call center, mga Indians ang clients ko. I end up missing the life I had (as voice artist). Tapos di na ako makawala kasi para akong na-chain sa 8-hour job. Ngayon, ang naging goal ko na is I want to have freedom from time constraints. Saka gusto ko rin pag meron akong trabaho, yung na-eenjoy ko."

Stuck in the middle of a directionless career and his urgency to provide more for his family, he remembered to go back to his passion in voice acting. "One summer (2018) naisip ko wala na akong magagawa, parang ganito na lang ako. Sabi ng misis ko, maghanap na ako ng work. Nakaisip na ako ng idea why not pagkakitaan ko na yun passion ko, yun gusto ko nang gawin? Tapos naalala ko, meron kasing nag-OJT na kaklase ko sa FEU dito sa CreatiVoices, so pumunta ako dito. Nanghiram pa ako sa nanay ko ng P10,000 (the workshop fee back then), sabi ko ‘Ma, last chance na ‘to. Kung hindi ito mag-work, papuntahin niyo na ako ng ibang bansa. Tatanggapin ko. Lulunukin ko na malayo ako sa pamilya ko para lang makapagtrabaho.’ Pumayag nanay ko, pinahiram ako.", he recalled.

The VoiceMaster's League in PTV 4 guesting

It wasn't a blind and risky gamble because JV made sure to give it all he got with this last chance. He narrated, "Tapos after akong pahiramin, I made sure na mapapansin ako ng lahat ng direktor. Luckily I was invited by all the four directors (expert instructors in VoiceWorx). Nag-iisa lang ako sa Batch 43 na na-invite ng lahat. Nandoon yung hunger na kailangan ko ‘tong gawin kasi last chance ko na ‘to. Kung baga, I’m in there for the money...pero the passion is still there, the humility is still there. Pero yun hunger, hindi yun talaga nawala. Do or die na ‘to. Yun P10,000, ang promise sa akin ni Sir Choy, ibalik sa akin yun pinang-workshop ko. It worked and it happened. Hindi lang nabalik once, many times. First job ko kay Sir Choy is yun sa Davao. I was sent to Davao, agad-agad. It’s not for dubbing, it’s for voice-over. I’m doing voice-over as well in college and radio drama and voice-over. Matagal ko na siyang ginagawa noong college pa lang. So meron na akong knowledge prior to CreatiVoices. Nadagdagan pa, nahasa pa, at nalaman kong how does it work and the connections as well, syempre. Ngayon noong nalaman ko yun, nag-iba mundo ko. Mas lumawak yun horizon ko na hindi na pala ito yun kaya ko gawin. Lumawak na sa gusto kong maging dubber dati. I already have radio drama and other experiences."


Fearless Conquering Of Opportunities

Intimidation seems not to be in his vocabulary. Despite being a neophyte in the industry, he set his eyes on his goal to give his best shot in every opportunity. Remembering the promise he gave to himself while dreaming of providing a better life for his own family back home, there's no room for wasting opportunities anymore. He recalled, "So iniisip ko noon, para akong nasa PBB house, kaklase kita, kaibigan kita pero kakainin kitang buhay. Ganun yun iniisip ko. Ganun yun gigil. I’m not gonna lie. Ganun naman talaga kasi if you have your back against the wall, talagang gagawin mo. Kasi syempre, naisip ko dalawang anak ko walang makain. Misis ko naghahanap na sa akin. I mean I promise my wife this is not the life I want you to have. Tapos, nadudurog yun puso ko. I made that promise, sabi ko I’ll make her a queen pero hindi ko magawa. At the end of the day, the family should be the core of what you’re doing. Kasi at the end of the day, saan ka ba matutulog, saan ka ba hihiga? Sa kama mo kung nasaan din ang pamilya mo. Mahirap din kasi yun sobrang babad ka sa work. Mahirap din yun sobrang babad ka sa family. Dapat work-life balance. Eh Libra ako so mga Libra, gustong work-life balance. If there’s someone better than me...Yes I aim to be No.1 but if there’s someone better than me, who am I to hinder that person to be in the first spot?"

JV Villasan's first committed project as a voice artist after graduating from VoiceWorx

The investment for VoiceWorx fee of P10,000 back then that he borrowed from his mother, he got it back with his first assigned job even after he just graduated from the workshop. "Yun sa Davao, yun ang unang balik sa akin. I got P18,000, much more pa doon sa P10,000 na binayad ko. For 3-days na event yun. Meron akong P18,000 kahit fresh from VoiceWorx ako noon. Sinabihan ako ni Sir Choy na, ‘Yan si JV, pag sumalang sa booth, parang hindi baguhan.’ Yun yung comment niya sa akin. Natutuwa naman ako kasi na-prove ko na sarili ko."

As he delves deeper into his craft and profession, he committed to learn and improve every day, "Talagang sobrang ginalingan ko na parang lahat ginawa ko na...to the point na parang nababaliw na ako, kahit sa bahay, nag-dudub ako. Imbibe ko na talaga. Tapos doon ko na-realize na yun tinuturo ko na in art and in acting, there is a thin line between sanity and insanity. I’ve experienced it lalo noong inaaral ko si Joker ni Mark Hamill. Once you study a character, talagang you go in-depth at sobrang iba yun feeling. Iba rin yun effect. Kasi yun nga, emotion, energy in motion, yun ang pinaka-core. Saka syempre common sense which I learned recently through Papa Neil (Tolentino), kailangan pag nag-dudub ka, meron kang common sense. Kasi kapag wala kang common sense, kawawa ka sa kanya."

Lessons Strengthening The Fighter In His Meaningful Journey

At present, he is nearing his two years of combined experiences as a voice artist, trainor, and speaker. In this short yet fulfilling journey, here are the lessons he learned, "What you see, what you here, do it here...and someone said to me, work hard in silence and let your success be your noise. It’s a very sound advice. Kasi minsan kung ano pa yun bagay na tahimik ka tapos gawin mo na lang. Your work will speak for itself. Ganun naman tayo. Kunwari si Sir Choy, nakikita mo mga accolades niya, he doesn’t need to speak anything. Uy, iba ‘tong taong ito. Nalaman ko na I need to be humble kasi humility is not for yourself. It’s being considerate to other people. That’s what humility is. It’s putting other people before you, that’s real humility. That’s what I learned. Lahat yun encompassing ng mga mentors ko. Ewan kung meron bang word na quadfecta, parang sila yun ‘holy squad’ ng mga mentors ko. Kung baga, hindi ako mabubuo kung wala sila. All of their concepts, all of their teachings...hindi ko lang sinulat, tinandaan ko. Nandito siya sa utak ko saka sa puso ko to the point I can teach it even though I am not looking at my notes. Minsan I do pero kaya ko nang wala. Pag wala...tulad niyan nakalimutan ko lesson plan ko, nag-talk ako, nagturo ako ng wala yun, nagawa ko naman. Kasi alam ko na eh."

Teaching VoiceWorx Batch 50 about dubbing

He continued, "Tapos nagfi-fit na rin ako ng sarili kong formulas. Kasi may VoiceMaster’s Formula so meron na rin akong sarili kong formula. Kasi medyo complicated yun VoiceMaster’s Formula parang ginawang condo ni Bruce Lee for his self, di ba? Gumawa ako ng sarili (formula) thinking the students in mind na it’s understandable. I’m not saying it is better than the VoiceMaster’s Formula, it’s just more understandable, same pa rin and the core is from the VoiceMaster’s Formula but I made it simplified. Kasi kung baga, I compressed and simplified it in its form for beginners talaga. Tutal basic naman talaga and you can have a mental archive of the voices and how you can change your voices. Kasi ang hirap naman kapag isusulat mo lahat. Yes, the mind is the most unreliable paper pero syempre kailangan meron din tayong tatandaan at meron din tayong archives."

Stay tuned for the last part of the interview and find out how JV Villasan transitioned as a trainor and teacher in voice acting!