Eric Kelso (born December 22, 1962)
is an American
voice actor
Voice acting is the art of performing voice-overs to present a character or provide information to an audience. Performers are called voice actors/actresses, voice artists, dubbing artists, voice talent, voice-over artists, or voice-over talent ...
,
director
Director may refer to:
Literature
* ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine
* ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker
* ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty
Music
* Director (band), an Irish rock band
* ''Di ...
, presenter and
producer currently based in
Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
,
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
.
He is best known as the voice of
Paul Phoenix in the video game series, ''
Tekken
is a Japanese Media mix, media franchise centered on a series of fighting game, fighting video and arcade games developed and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment (formerly Namco). The franchise also includes film and print adaptations.
The ...
'', as well as Guizhang Chen,
Masayuki Fukuhara,
and Ren of Heavens
in the ''
Shenmue
is an action-adventure game series created, produced and directed by Yu Suzuki. '' Shenmue'' (1999) and ''Shenmue II'' (2001) were developed by Sega AM2 and published by Sega for Dreamcast. '' Shenmue III,'' developed by Suzuki's company Y ...
'' series,
Captain Falcon
is a fictional character and the protagonist in the racing video game series ''F-Zero'' by Nintendo. Within the series, he is a mysterious racer who is among the best on the circuit, as well as a renowned bounty hunter. A different version of th ...
, and Blood Falcon in ''
F-Zero GX
''F-Zero GX'' is a 2003 racing video game developed by Amusement Vision and published by Nintendo for the GameCube console. It runs on an enhanced version of the engine used in ''Super Monkey Ball (video game), Super Monkey Ball''. ''F-Zero AX'', ...
'', and
Jacky Bryant
The following is a list of characters from the ''Virtua Fighter'' fighting game series released by Sega. Starting with ''Virtua Fighter'', this series has spanned five games (not including updates) and has been released on arcade systems as well as ...
in the ''
Virtua Fighter
is a series of fighting games created by Sega-AM2 and designer Yu Suzuki. The original ''Virtua Fighter'' was released in October 1993 and has received four main sequels and several spin-offs. The highly influential first ''Virtua Fighter'' game ...
'' series.
Outside of video games, he has also provided voices for many Japanese TV shows, films, radio programs.
Early life
Eric Kelso was born and raised in
San Jose, California
San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popul ...
. He attended high school in
Santa Cruz and went to the
University of California at Santa Barbara
The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduates and 2,983 graduate students enrolled in 2021–2022. It is part of the Un ...
where he majored in
Film Studies
Film studies is an academic discipline that deals with various theoretical, historical, and critical approaches to cinema as an art form and a medium. It is sometimes subsumed within media studies and is often compared to television studies.
...
. While at
UCSB
The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduates and 2,983 graduate students enrolled in 2021–2022. It is part of the U ...
he received a Corwin Metropolitan Film Award for writing and directing the short film, "an echo en route".
After graduating in 1986, he set out to travel the world in search of documentary film subjects. He eventually made his way to his current long-time residence of
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
.
Career
Narration
Kelso has been active in Japan doing English-language and Japanese-language voiceovers for movies, television shows, children's programs and educational broadcasting. In 1995, Kelso provided live interactive voiceover and CG movement work for Mr. Mike, a sarcastic talking microphone character, around the world. Notable events include
TELECOM 95 in
Geneva
Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...
,
Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
, as well as at ASIA TELECOM 97 in
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
.
He voiced the Japanese movie trailer for
Disney's ''Mulan'', as well as the part of River Guide in the Wild River Splash VR Simulator ride for DreamWorks at SEGA's
Joypolis
is a chain of indoor amusement parks created by Sega and run by CA Sega Joypolis. Beginning on July 20, 1994 with the original location sited in Yokohama, Japan, Joypolis centers have since opened in several cities in Japan and later China. Th ...
in
Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
. In 2006, shortly after the merger of
Tomy and Takara, Kelso provided the voice for the
Omnibot 2007: i-SOBOT, which has been certified by
Guinness World Records
''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...
as "the world's smallest humanoid robot in production".
Kelso has been a director and producer for corporate video recordings for companies such as
Prologis
Prologis, Inc. is a real estate investment trust headquartered in San Francisco, California that invests in logistics facilities. The company was formed through the merger of AMB Property Corporation and Prologis in June 2011, which made Prologis ...
Inc. and
Medtronic
Medtronic plc is an American medical device company. The company's operational and executive headquarters are in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and its legal headquarters are in Ireland due to its acquisition of Irish-based Covidien in 2015. While it ...
.
Voice acting
Kelso began voice acting for the video game industry in 1996. In 2001, he voiced the character
Paul Phoenix in the
fighting video game
A fighting game, also known as a versus fighting game, is a genre of video game that involves combat between two or more players. Fighting game combat often features mechanics such as blocking, grappling, counter-attacking, and chaining attac ...
, ''
Tekken 4
is a fighting video game developed and published by Namco as the fourth main and fifth installment in the ''Tekken'' series, following the release of the non-canon crossover titled ''Tekken Tag Tournament'' in 1999. It was released as an arcade g ...
''. In 2004, Kelso reprised this role in ''
5'' and continued to voice the character in ''
Dark Resurrection'' and ''
6''.
In 2000, Kelso provided voices for the English dub of the
Sega Dreamcast
The is a home video game console released by Sega on November 27, 1998, in Japan; September 9, 1999, in North America; and October 14, 1999, in Europe. It was the first sixth-generation video game console, preceding Sony's PlayStation 2, Nint ...
game, ''
Shenmue
is an action-adventure game series created, produced and directed by Yu Suzuki. '' Shenmue'' (1999) and ''Shenmue II'' (2001) were developed by Sega AM2 and published by Sega for Dreamcast. '' Shenmue III,'' developed by Suzuki's company Y ...
''. Playing the roles of Masayuki Fukuhara
and Guizhang Chen,
Kelso noted how expansive the project was, having a more developed storyline and more dialogue than other games at the time. In 2001, Kelso became the voice for another
fighting game
A fighting game, also known as a versus fighting game, is a video game genre, genre of video game that involves combat between two or more players. Fighting game combat often features mechanics such as Blocking (martial arts), blocking, grappli ...
character in ''
Virtua Fighter 4
is a fighting game by Sega. It is the fourth game in the ''Virtua Fighter'' series.
The game was first released in arcades on the NAOMI 2 board in 2001. A console port of ''Virtua Fighter 4'', as well as that of '' Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution ...
'' called
Jacky Bryant
The following is a list of characters from the ''Virtua Fighter'' fighting game series released by Sega. Starting with ''Virtua Fighter'', this series has spanned five games (not including updates) and has been released on arcade systems as well as ...
.
He also reprised the role in ''
Virtua Fighter 5
is the fifth installment in Sega's ''Virtua Fighter'' series of arcade fighting games. The original version was released on the Sega Lindbergh arcade system board. The first location tests took place on November 26, 2005 leading to the official ...
'', as well as side projects featuring the character, such as, ''
Sega Superstars
''Sega Superstars'' is a party video game developed by Sonic Team for the PlayStation 2. It was published by Sega and released in Europe on October 22, 2004; in North America in November 3, 2004; and in Japan in November 11, 2004. The game featur ...
'', ''
Virtua Quest'',
''
Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing
is a 2010 kart racing video game, produced for Wii, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Nintendo DS (February 23, 2010), and Microsoft Windows (March 3, 2010), featuring characters from multiple List of Sega video game franchises, Sega franchises. The game ...
'', and ''
Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate
''Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate'' (abbreviated to ''DOA5 Ultimate'' or just ''DOA5U'') is a fighting game in the ''Dead or Alive (franchise), Dead or Alive'' series, developed by Team Ninja, and released by Tecmo Koei for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 ...
''
In 2002, Kelso also worked on the sequel to ''Shenmue'', ''
Shenmue II
''Shenmue II'' is a 2001 action-adventure game developed by Sega AM2 and published by Sega for the Dreamcast. It was directed, produced and written by Yu Suzuki. Like the original Shenmue (video game), ''Shenmue'' (1999), ''Shenmue II'' consists ...
'', voicing a new character in the franchise, Wuying Ren "of Heavens".
The English dub of the game appeared in the re-released version on the
Microsoft Xbox
Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by the na ...
console as well as the high-definition ports for
Microsoft Windows
Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...
,
PlayStation 4
The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in ...
and
Xbox One
The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third base console in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was first released in North America, parts of ...
.
Filmography
Television
Film
Video games
Radio
Narration
Other voice work
References
External links
Official website*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kelso, Eric
1962 births
20th-century American male actors
21st-century American male actors
American directors
American expatriates in Japan
American male video game actors
American male voice actors
Living people
Male actors from San Jose, California