Maaya Sakamoto (坂本 真綾 Sakamoto Maaya?) is a Japanese singer-songwriter, actress and voice actress. She has voiced Ling Xiaoyu since Tekken: Blood Vengeance, with the exceptions of Tekken 3D: Prime Edition and Street Fighter X Tekken, where she is voiced by Yumi Tōma. Aside from Tekken, she also reprises her role as Gundam SEED Destiny's Lunamaria Hawke in Bandai Namco's Mobile Suit Gundam Vs. and SD Gundam series.
Trivia[]
- Fluent in Japanese, can speak some English.
- Gave her first U.S. concert on July 3rd at the 2005 Anime Expo in Anaheim, California. During the eight-song concert (with a one-song encore), Ms. Sakamoto amazed her fans by speaking entirely in fluent English throughout the show. She was also repeatedly overwhelmed with happiness at the size and energy of the several thousand-strong crowd, much to the audience's delight.
- Does the voices for Aerith Gainsborough from Final Fantasy VII and Lightning from Final Fantasy XIII.
- Wife of Kenichi Suzumura who also does the voice of Ryūtaro in the Kamen Rider franchise, as well as Zack Fair from Final Fantasy VII. Coincidentally, she and current husband, Kenichi Suzumura, had met during their work in Gundam SEED Destiny, where their characters, Lunamaria Hawke, and Shinn Asuka, were also love interests.
- Does the Japanese dub voice over for actress Natalie Portman, especially in Star Wars film and animation series as Padme Amidala.
- Does the Japanese dub voice over for actress Claire Danes.
- Best known for her collaborations with composer Yōko Kanno.
- Frequently works on animes from Clamp.
- In honor of her marriage to Kenichi Suzumura, noted Clamp artist and writer Nanase Ōkawa drew Maaya as Princess Tomoyo from the Reservoir Chronicle: Tsubasa (2005) universe and her new husband Suzumura as Kamui from X (2001). Sakamoto has acted in and performed theme songs for several animated adaptations of Clamp works.
- Was in the Japanese production of Les Misérables as Éponine Thénardier, from 2003 to 2009. She was in the Japanese recording of the Les Misérables Japanese Violet cast released in 2003.