Stunning news: Voice of Captain Majid is… a girl!

The news still shock Arab nationals until this day.

“People get stunned when they find out I’m the voice of Captain Majid or Mowgli, they never expected it to be a woman!” said Amal Hawijeh.

Speaking to Emirates 24|7,  the legendary Syrian actress, artist and writer said she enjoys surprising people when they find out their favourite male cartoon characters from the 80s and early 90s was dubbed by her in Arabic.

It was during that era that Captain Majid was one of the first Japanese Manga cartoon series discovered by Arab children. The cartoon introduced the younger audience to the heroic football player’s own world.

The series ran for 128 episodes over three years, during which Captain Majid fascinated an entire generation and inspired them to be the best football player there ever was. So it’s no surprise as to why a lot of men react instantly when they learn the truth.

“No way!,” laughed Mubarak AM, who grew up watching Captain Majid as a youngster. He added, “Captain Majid’s a woman? What a crazy world!”

The voice actress was in Dubai recently as a special celebrity guest at this year’s IGN convention, where fans got up close and personal with their childhood hero. Those heroes include a host of other characters voiced by Amal, such as Mowgli,  in the Arabic dubbed Japanese animated version of Jungle Book, Snow White and The Little Fisherman.

“I’m used to people calling me Mowgli, or Captain Majid!” explained Amal.

Both being male cartoon characters, it makes one wonder why a young boy wasn’t brought in to voice Captain Majid instead.

Amal answered that it was not feasible and would have taken a much longer time to complete the dubbing, plus they would need to teach the kids how to act and get the emotion across, which is a skill professional voice actors already possess.

Gifted with her own talent, Amal  has appeared in numerous award-winning productions in the Arab world, with an impressive career in film, books and theatre.

She also starred in and co-wrote her own documentary, directed by Emirati filmmaker Nujoom Al Ghanem, a project that went on to win the Muhr Emirati main award at the Dubai Film Festival back in 2011.

Even though Amal is a popular theater actress, she made the biggest impact behind the microphone. Many viewers today still remember the image of the Captain Majid racing to score a goal.

Abdulla AM felt nostalgic when he heard as well, “Wow that show brings back a lot of memories of school, we were always choosing which character to be whenever we played football, and we always argued on who was going to be Captain Majid.”

It was around the early 2000s when Hawijeh decided to stop dubbing cartoons. She said she came to that decision when she noticed that the quality of cartoons had deteriorated and incorporated more violence.

Although she may have stopped dubbing, she hasn’t stop following her passion for the arts.

As she’s avid about children, Hawijeh is still very active today writing short stories and directing theatre plays.

It’s Amal’s widespread popularity that helped her win the hearts of many, as she left a legacy that still echoes till this very day.