is a Japanese actor,

voice actor Voice acting is the art of Acting, performing a character or providing information to an audience with one's voice. Performers are often called voice actors/actresses in addition to other names. Examples of voice work include animation, animated, ...

and singer affiliated with

Aoni Production is a Japanese talent agency representing a fair number of Voice acting in Japan, voice actors and other Japanese entertainers. It was founded in 1969 by Susumu Kubo. Voice actors currently affiliated with Aoni All names are in Western order (g ...

. His major roles include Byakuya Kuchiki in ''

Bleach Bleach is the generic name for any chemical product that is used industrially or domestically to remove color from (i.e. to whiten) fabric or fiber (in a process called bleaching) or to disinfect after cleaning. It often refers specifically t ...

'', Treize Khushrenada in ''

Mobile Suit Gundam Wing ''Mobile Suit Gundam Wing'', also known in Japan as , is a 1995 Japanese mecha anime series directed by Masashi Ikeda and written by Katsuyuki Sumizawa. It is the sixth installment in the '' Gundam'' franchise, taking place in the "Afte ...

'', Hisashi Mitsui in ''

Slam Dunk A slam dunk, also simply known as a dunk, is a type of basketball shot that is performed when a player jumps in the air, controls the ball above the horizontal plane of the rim, and scores by shoving the ball directly through the basket with on ...

'', Meisuke Nueno in '' Hell Teacher Nūbē'', Kunimitsu Tezuka in ''

The Prince of Tennis is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Takeshi Konomi. The manga was serialized in Shueisha's ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from July 1999 to March 2008, with its chapters collected in 42 volumes. Viz Media licensed t ...

'', Alucard in '' Castlevania'',

Zero 0 (zero) is a number representing an empty quantity. Adding (or subtracting) 0 to any number leaves that number unchanged; in mathematical terminology, 0 is the additive identity of the integers, rational numbers, real numbers, and compl ...

in ''

Mega Man X is a series of Action game, action-platformer, platform games released by Capcom. It is a sub-series of the ''Mega Man'' franchise previously developed by the same group, with Keiji Inafune acting as one of the main staff members. The Mega Man ...

'', Yuu Matsuura in ''

Marmalade Boy is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Wataru Yoshizumi. It was published in Shueisha's ''shōjo'' manga magazine ''Ribon'' from May 1992 to October 1995 and collected in eight ''tankōbon'' volumes. The series was adapt ...

'', Shigure Sohma in ''

Fruits Basket , sometimes abbreviated , is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Natsuki Takaya. It was serialized in the semi-monthly Japanese manga magazine , published by Hakusensha, from 1998 to 2006. The series' title comes from ...

'', Dark in '' D.N. Angel,'' Toriko in '' Toriko'' and Kokushibo in '' Demon Slayer''. As a singer, he was one of the members for Entertainment Music Unit from 1995 to 2000. He is married to voice actress Ai Maeda. His

range Range may refer to: Geography * Range (geographic), a chain of hills or mountains; a somewhat linear, complex mountainous or hilly area (cordillera, sierra) ** Mountain range, a group of mountains bordered by lowlands * Range, a term used to i ...

is A～E♯ and his dialect is Osakan. His older sister is an

animator An animator is an artist who creates images, known as frames, which give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in rapid sequence. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, television, and video games. Animat ...

. He is the official voice-over dub for Scott Foley, Taylor Kitsch, Lin Gengxin and

Stephen Fung Fung Chun-choi (born 9 August 1974), known professionally as Stephen Fung Tak-lun, is a Hong Kong actor, singer, writer, and film director. Biography Fung Tak-lun was born in Hong Kong and studied at German Swiss International School. He is a gr ...

Biography

Okiayu was born in

Kitakyushu is a Cities of Japan, city located in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. As of June 1, 2019, Kitakyushu has an estimated population of 940,978, making it the second-largest city in both Fukuoka Prefecture and the island of Kyushu after the city of Fuk ...

Fukuoka Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Fukuoka Prefecture has a population of 5,109,323 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 4,986 Square kilometre, km2 (1,925 sq mi). Fukuoka Prefecture borders ...

in 1969, moved to

Osaka Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Osaka Prefecture has a population of 8,778,035 () and has a geographic area of . Osaka Prefecture borders Hyōgo Prefecture to the northwest, Kyoto Prefecture to the north, Nara ...

when he was in the third grade of elementary school due to his parents' work, and lived in Nankō Port Town in

Suminoe-ku, Osaka is one of 24 wards of Japan, wards of Osaka, Japan, stretching along the south-west border of the city. It borders the wards of Minato-ku, Osaka, Minato-ku, Taisho-ku, Osaka, Taisho-ku and Nishinari-ku, Osaka, Nishinari-ku to the north, and Sumi ...

. His father had worked at a movie company for a time before Okiayu was born, and he would sometimes get anime posters and cels from his old colleagues. Because of this environment, Okiayu and his sister, who is one year older than him, loved anime and often listened to theatrical anime records and dramas together. His sister was skilled in the field of drawing, having been involved in animation for some time, but Okiayu found more enjoyment in imitating the voices of characters than in drawing, and he came to feel that speaking dialogue was an interesting thing to do. In his first year of high school after entering Abeno High School, he began to think about becoming a voice actor, and began to request information about training schools, but due to financial reasons, he decided to wait until after graduation and began working part-time during his high school years to save money. However, he spent the money on other things, so he ended up borrowing from his parents to attend the training school. His parents advised him to go to college, but he decided to go to the training school because he had no goals in mind. While there were almost no training schools in Osaka at the time, he auditioned and entered the Aoni Juku Osaka School.声優になるマガジン置鮎龍太郎インタビュ�

2015-01-27
『声優になる！夢が近づく！！ヒントが見える！！人気声優たちのリアルインタビュー』 He passed an audition for

through an in-house screening and moved to Tokyo from Osaka. He is said to have cried when he got the acceptance letter. When he first moved to Tokyo, he went to his cousin's place to find a room. Okiayu claims that his first jobs as a voice actor were a radio commercial for a prep school and the voice of a remote-controlled robot roaming around the Expo '90 site. His first work in anime was as a Bodkin archer in ''

Dragon Quest previously published as ''Dragon Warrior'' in North America until 2005, is a series of role-playing video games created by Japanese game designer Yuji Horii (Armor Project), character designer Akira Toriyama (Bird Studio), and composer Koi ...

''''Seiyū Collection 2003'', page 68置鮎龍太郎
2012/07/30 and his first regular role was as Franz Heinel in '' Future GPX Cyber Formula''. His first starring role was in the OVA ''Dark Cat''. The role of Meisuke Nueno in '' Hell Teacher Nūbē'' was his first leading role in a TV anime. He said that ''Nūbē'' was the culmination of his career and that he was able to put himself fully into the role and play it naturally because he was close to Meisuke's age, and he said he cried when he heard it was over. Okiayu has taken over some of the roles from late

Kaneto Shiozawa Toshikazu Shiozawa (, January 28, 1954 – May 10, 2000), better known by the stage name Kaneto Shiozawa (), was a Japanese actor, voice actor and narrator from Tokyo. At the time of his death, he was attached to Aoni Production. He had a distinc ...

, Kazuyuki Sogabe, Tsuyoshi Takishita, and Unshō Ishizuka. Since 2016, he has also been working as a stage actor in the theater company Hero Hero Q Company. In 2023, Okiayu was a recipient of the Best Supporting Actor Award at the

17th Seiyu Awards The 17th Seiyu Awards was held on March 11, 2023, at the JOQR Media Plus Hall in Minato, Tokyo. The winners of the Merit Awards, the Kei Tomiyama Award, the Kazue Takahashi Award, and the Synergy Award were announced on February 21, 2023. The ...

Filmography

Anime

Film

Tokusatsu

Other live-action

Audio dramas

Video games

Dubbing roles

Other roles

References

External links

*
Ryōtarō Okiayu
at GamePlaza-Haruka- Voice Acting DataBase
Ryōtarō Okiayu
at Hitoshi Doi's Seiyuu Database * * *
Ryōtarō Okiayu
profile at

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Okiayu, Ryotaro 1969 births 20th-century Japanese male actors 21st-century Japanese male actors Aoni Production voice actors Japanese male stage actors Japanese male video game actors Japanese male voice actors Living people Male actors from Kitakyushu Male voice actors from Fukuoka Prefecture Seiyu Award winners Singers from Kitakyushu Voice actors from Kitakyushu