Fil-Am Grayson Villanueva lends voice to boyband member Tae Young on Disney-Pixar’s ‘Turning Red’

Did you know that 4*Town member Tae Young was voiced by a Filipino-American?

Fil-Am artist Grayson Villanueva has lent his voice to Disney-Pixar’s latest animated film “Turning Red.”

The film follows the story of confident 13-year-old Mei Lee who is torn between her duties as a good daughter and all the chaos that comes with being a teen, including obsessing over a boy band named 4*Town in which Tae Young, Grayson’s character, is a member.

In one of GMA Digital Specials episodes, Grayson narrated how he landed the opportunity to voice Tae Young on “Turning Red.”

Grayson finished a cognitive psychology degree at University of California Irvine, but music had always been a serious hobby for him, so he also took up training in music-related fields.

To pursue his music career, Grayson found a job at Universal Studios, where he made several entertainment industry contacts, one of whom was a vocal contractor who reached out to him for “Turning Red.” At the time, he didn’t know that the opportunity was for a Disney-Pixar movie.

Grayson submitted some of his sample recordings but didn’t hear from the contractor for three months until one fateful day, he received a text saying Disney was going to call him for the role.

“And so Tom McDougall from Pixar gave me a call, and he said, we’re working on this film called ‘Turning Red,’ and we’re putting together a boy band for the film, and we want you to be a part of it,” he said.

According to Grayson, he was “floored” in excitement when he answered the call. And the rest, as what they say, is history.

Since the release of the animated film, the reception to the fictional band 4*Town has been pretty wild. In real life, the band has a website, an official Spotify playlist, and a fan group dubbed 4Townies. With those being said, Grayson couldn’t believe that a fictional boyband was now ranking on music charts.

In fact, one of the songs in the film, “Nobody Like U” debuted at No. 50 on Billboard Hot 100, making it Pixar’s “first original song” to reach the chart.

With the resounding success of “Turning Red,” Grayson truly serves as an inspiration to musicians, especially Filipinos.

“Turning Red is just such a great film and story. I’m just so honored to be a part of it. They don’t center on the identity of the character, but they center on the experience and the identity of the character. They just happen to be Asian, and I want to see more films just like that,” said Grayson.

Watch the entire interview with Grayson on this GMA Digital Specials. – Hermes Joy Tunac/RC, GMA News