Yevgeniya Ivanovna Davidyuk ( rus, Евгения Ивановна Давидюк, born March 22, 1981), known professionally as , is a Russian voice actress, singer, and radio personality based in Japan.
Early life
Yevgeniya Davidyuk was born at
Novosibirsk,
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
on March 22, 1981, and spent most of her childhood at
Gorky.
Her father was a military officer who taught his subordinates the ideologies of the
communist party
A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. ...
. She has a younger brother.
At the age of eight, her family moved to
Czechoslovakia
, rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי,
, common_name = Czechoslovakia
, life_span = 1918–19391945–1992
, p1 = Austria-Hungary
, image_p1 ...
for a five-year stay due to her father's work, but they returned to the Soviet Union a year later and lived in
Kaliningrad
Kaliningrad ( ; rus, Калининград, p=kəlʲɪnʲɪnˈɡrat, links=y), until 1946 known as Königsberg (; rus, Кёнигсберг, Kyonigsberg, ˈkʲɵnʲɪɡzbɛrk; rus, Короле́вец, Korolevets), is the largest city and ...
for almost two years before moving back to Novosibirsk.
At the age of 16, she became interested in voice acting after watching the
Japanese animated series ''
Sailor Moon'' in 1997, which she described as the "anime that changed my life". She majored in
information technology
Information technology (IT) is the use of computers to create, process, store, retrieve, and exchange all kinds of Data (computing), data . and information. IT forms part of information and communications technology (ICT). An information te ...
at
in 1998. While studying, she frequently visited the Siberia-Hokkaido Cultural Center where she founded an anime club and learned Japanese.
She moved to Japan in 2005, where she worked part-time in
Akihabara.
Career
Jenya created an anime fan website (kawaii.otaku.ru)
in 2000, where she posted anime songs she performed in Japanese.
She became known as "the Russian anime singer who sings in Japanese" in 2002 and was invited by the Japanese broadcast channel Mondo2 (now Mondo TV) to appear on a show. She arrived in Tokyo for the first time with her father for a week to be filmed.
In 2007, she was hired as a Russian language coach for anime productions,
including ''
Black Lagoon
''Black Lagoon'' (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Rei Hiroe. It has been published in Shogakukan's ''seinen'' manga magazine ''Monthly Sunday Gene-X'' since April 2002, with its chapters colle ...
''. She made her voice acting debut as an operator at NERV's Bethany Base in the 2009 anime film ''
Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance''.
In 2013, Jenya was a finalist for ''
CanCam
is a Japanese monthly fashion magazine published by Shogakukan. Its name supposedly derives from "I Can Campus", because girls who read it are expected to become "campus leaders". The magazine was created for fashion-conscious consumers, and offer ...
''s model audition. In 2014, she returned to Russia to host and sing in a Game Symphony Japan concert, where an orchestra performs music from games and anime, after an invitation from conductor Kenichi Shimura.
She performed again with the orchestra in Tokyo in July 2016, in Russia in April 2018,
and in Yokohama in November.
In 2015, she was announced as the voice of
Klara, an original character specifically created by director
Tsutomu Mizushima
is a Japanese animation and sound director.
Career
Mizushima was born in Chitose, Hokkaido and raised in Hata, Nagano (now Matsumoto, Nagano). He produced independent films in high school and when he graduated from Nagano Prefectural Matsumoto M ...
for her,
in ''
Girls und Panzer der Film
, alternatively ''Girls und Panzer: The Movie'', is a 2015 Japanese animated film and a sequel to the 2012 anime series '' Girls und Panzer''. Produced by Actas and distributed by Showgate, the film is directed by Tsutomu Mizushima from a scri ...
''.
She met Mizushima after the production team found her
tweet stating her lack of role in ''
Girls und Panzer
, abbreviated as ''GuP'' or ''Garupan'' , is a Japanese anime franchise created by Actas which depicts a competition between girls' high schools practicing tank warfare as a sport. The series was directed by Tsutomu ...
'' despite the appearance of Russian-based characters in the series.
Jenya is currently a
freelance. She previously worked under (September 2008–September 2010),
81 Produce
is a voice talent management firm in Japan founded on 3 February 1981 (thus the year is the company's namesake). A hybrid CD-ROM featuring voice talent data for members of 81 Produce was released on 19 October 1997. The company is located in ...
(November 2010–May 2014), K Hive (March 2015–2018), (July 2018–October 2020), and New Gate Tokyo (January 2021–July 2022).
Personal life
Jenya passed the N1
Japanese-Language Proficiency Test
The , or JLPT, is a standardized criterion-referenced test to evaluate and certify Japanese language proficiency for non-native speakers, covering language knowledge, reading ability, and listening ability. The test is held twice a year in Japan a ...
and scored 935 points on the
TOEIC
The Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC) is an international standardized test of English language proficiency for non-native speakers. It is intentionally designed to measure the everyday English skills of people working in an ...
.
In 2016, Jenya announced on her blog that she had married and was pregnant. On March 20, 2017, she gave birth to a girl.
Filmography
Television
Anime films
Video games
Dubbing
*''
Transformers: Dark of the Moon'', Russian lady (
Inna Korobkina)
*''
X-Men: First Class'', Teenage girl (
Sasha Pieterse
Sasha Pieterse-Sheaffer (; born February 17, 1996) is a South African-born American actress, singer and songwriter. She is known for her role as Alison DiLaurentis in the Freeform series '' Pretty Little Liars'' and its spin-off '' Pretty Litt ...
)
References
External links
Official blog
Official agency profile
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jenya
1981 births
Living people
Actors from Novosibirsk
Novosibirsk State University of Economics and Management alumni
Japanese women singers
Japanese television personalities
Japanese video game actresses
Japanese voice actresses
Russian expatriates in Japan
Russian voice actresses