From Philippine folklore to the global screen, the Filipina actress voices Raissa in a story that brings Filipino culture, mythology, and friendship to audiences around the world
There are moments when representation becomes bigger than a name on a cast list.
For Liza Soberano, that moment arrives through a microphone—and through Raissa, a young Filipina whose story becomes part of a fantastical journey rooted in the mythology and culture of the Philippines.
On September 25, 2026, DreamWorks Animation brings Forgotten Island to theaters, with Soberano sharing the lead-voice spotlight with Grammy and Academy Award-winning artist H.E.R., who voices Jo. The two portray lifelong best friends whose lives begin to take different paths after high school.
And then comes Nakali.
A mysterious portal transports Jo and Raissa to a fantastical island inhabited by creatures drawn from stories familiar to generations of Filipinos. Their adventure becomes a story about friendship, memory, and the fear of growing apart—but it is also a journey into a world where Filipino folklore takes center stage.
A FILIPINO STORY, TOLD ON A GLOBAL STAGE
Written and directed by Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado, Forgotten Island draws heavily from Filipino mythology and cultural traditions.
The film brings Philippine folklore into a major international animated production, featuring creatures and figures associated with Filipino mythology, including the Manananggal.
For Soberano, playing Raissa is therefore more than another voice-acting credit.
She is part of a project in which Filipino culture is not simply a backdrop. It is woven into the world of the story itself.
Nakali is populated by magical and mythological creatures connected to the stories Jo and Raissa grew up hearing from their Filipino families. Among them is the feared Manananggal, voiced by another Filipino cultural icon, Lea Salonga.
That places Soberano within an extraordinary ensemble of Filipino and Filipino-American talent.
Alongside Soberano and H.E.R. are Salonga, Manny Jacinto, Dolly de Leon, and Jo Koy, with Dave Franco, Jenny Slate, and Ronny Chieng also lending their voices to the film.
LIZA SOBERANO AS RAISSA
At the heart of Forgotten Island is friendship.
Raissa and Jo have been best friends since grade school. But graduation brings an inevitable question: What happens when two people who have grown up together begin walking toward different futures?
Raissa is preparing to leave for college in the United States, while Jo’s path takes a different direction. Their final night together becomes the beginning of an unexpected adventure when they discover a portal to Nakali.
Beneath all the magic and mythology lies a deeply human question:
What happens when growing up means leaving something—and someone—you love behind?
The question becomes even more complicated when the girls discover that escaping Nakali may require them to sacrifice the memories of their friendship.
Suddenly, the adventure is no longer simply about finding a way home.
It is about remembering where—and who—you came from.
BEYOND THE VOICE
Soberano’s participation is particularly significant as Forgotten Island arrives at a time when Filipino stories and Filipino talent continue to gain visibility in international entertainment.
The film’s cultural world includes details recognizable to Filipino audiences—from karaoke and lechon to jeepneys, family humor, and folklore creatures such as the aswang, duwende, kapre, and Manananggal.
These details help make Nakali feel less like a distant fantasy world and more like a fantastical extension of the stories, traditions, and memories familiar to many Filipinos.
The Filipino presence extends beyond the characters, too.
The soundtrack brings together Filipino and Filipino-American artists, including H.E.R., Liza Soberano, BINI, SB19, Sophia Laforteza of KATSEYE, Ruby Ibarra, Guapdad 4000, P-Lo, and Lea Salonga, among others.
In Forgotten Island, Filipino identity is heard as much as it is seen.
A DIFFERENT KIND OF FILIPINO PRIDE
Filipino pride does not always have to arrive with a flag waving in the background.
Sometimes, it arrives through a voice.
Sometimes, through a character.
Sometimes, through a story that takes something your grandmother once told you about—stories of aswangs, kapres, or Manananggals—and places it on a screen watched by audiences who may be encountering those legends for the first time.
That is what makes Soberano’s Raissa meaningful.
For Filipino audiences, she is part of a story that reflects pieces of home.
For international audiences, she becomes one of the voices introducing them to a mythology that has existed in Filipino communities for generations—long before Hollywood discovered its possibilities.
And for the next generation of Filipino viewers, seeing a Filipina actress like Liza Soberano at the center of a major DreamWorks production can make an important idea visible:
Our stories belong on the world’s biggest screens, too.
FROM MANILA TO NAKALI
Soberano has previously appeared in international productions, including Lisa Frankenstein. But Forgotten Island offers a distinctly different kind of international moment.
This time, the journey outward begins with something deeply Filipino.
It begins with folklore.
With family stories.
With childhood memories.
With creatures that once lived in whispered warnings and late-night stories.
And at the center of that journey is Raissa, brought to life by a Filipina actress whose voice becomes part of a much larger conversation about Filipino identity and representation in global entertainment.
On September 25, when the lights go down in theaters and Forgotten Island begins, Liza Soberano will not simply be introducing audiences to Raissa.
She will be part of introducing audiences to Nakali—and, through it, to a little piece of the Philippines.
And that, in its own way, is Filipino pride.
Photo: DreamWorks Animation — Raissa (Liza Soberano) and Jo (H.E.R.) in Forgotten Island.
