The Voice Behind the Annie Awards
For nearly 20 years, Dina Sherman has been the woman behind the curtain for the animation industry gala
Dina Sherman is a busy voice actor working in animation, commercials, games and more but once a year she has a very special gig that gives her a unique perspective on the Annie Awards.
“I’m actually sitting in the wings, just off stage, behind my music stand, with my script and microphone,” says Sherman, announcer for the awards gala the past 19 years. “It’s where all the presenters come out. I’m the last point before they go on stage.”
She got the gig in 2005, when she was working on the animated series “Biker Mice From Mars.” Animators Tom Tataranowicz and Tom Sito, who were also members of Asifa-hollywood, the organization behind the Annie Awards, asked her if she’d be interested in being the show’s live announcer. “I did it that year and then they called me to do it again. Then again and again, and here we are, 19 years later,” she says.
During that period, the show has sometimes had hosts, sometimes not, but Sherman has been a constant, even when the show had to pivot to a virtual format due to the pandemic.
“The first year, 2020, we got the show off before the world shut down in March,” Sherman recalls. “In 2021, everything was shut down and I did green screen. They put me on a beach. You actually saw me!” The following year, the show had to be postponed and switch to virtual again when the Omicron variant of COVID caused concerns. Sherman’s family was in Italy visiting her daughter, who was studying abroad at the time. “I said, ‘You want me to do it on location?’ They said OK, then my son or daughter would be filming me with my iphone and a Lavalier mic in 40-degree weather. I literally got to open the show on a gondola in Venice and close the show at the Trevi fountain.”
This year, Sherman will preside over a show with feature nominees that include “The Boy and the Heron,” “Nimona,” “Suzume,” “Spider-man: Across the Spider-verse” and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem.”
During the show, Sherman is rarely seen but she does make an appearance now and then when hosts or the script calls for her to take part in bits. “William Shatner is the first person to bring me out on stage,” she remembers. Shatner hosted the Annies in 2010. “It’s the first time the audience saw me.”
As announcer, Sherman has to be ready for anything. She doesn’t get a script until the night before the show and there are often changes right up to the last minute. And sometimes, chaos happens backstage, like the time video equipment caught fire when the show was at the Alex Theatre in Glendale.
“I think it was my third year [announcing the show]. As I was sitting there, I look over at the guys running the video playback and they stand up like they’re dancing, stomping their feet. Then I saw the sparks and the flames. Video Central had caught fire! The playback goes dark and I heard the director say ‘Dina, say something,’” she recalls. “All I remember, seriously, how I started was ‘Ladies and gentlemen, we are experiencing some technical difficulties. Please stand by.’” Later at the afterparty, I’m talking to people, and they said ‘Oh, wait, that was real? I thought you were pre-recorded.’ They thought it was all part of the show.”
Outgoing Asifa-hollywood executive director and Annies producer Frank Gladstone calls Sherman “a real spark plug. She’s been with us forever. I don’t see the Annies happening without her.” Gladstone stepped down as executive director at the first of the year. Asifa-hollywood board member Aubrey Mintz is now the interim executive director.
The 51st Annie Awards will be held Feb. 17 at Royce Hall on the UCLA campus beginning at 7 p.m. Trophies will be handed out in 32 competitive categories, as well as for recipients of juried awards.
She’s been with us forever. I don’t see the Annies happening without her.” — Frank Gladstone