Maaya Sakamoto

Born in Tokyo, Sakamoto grew up in a family formed by her parents and her older brother. Her first leading role was in the 1993 OVA Little Twins. In 1996, she was given the role of Hitomi Kanzaki, the leading role in the TV anime series The Vision of Escaflowne. For this anime she also performed the opening theme, which was released as her debut single. The single was produced by Yoko Kanno, who was also in charge of the soundtrack for Escaflowne. Her first album, titled Grapefruit, was released on April 23, 1997. Since then, Sakamoto would perform theme songs for several anime series, including Clamp School Detectives. Sakamoto made her debut as a theatre actress on the Japanese version of the musical Les Misérables, playing the role of Éponine. In October 1996 she debuted as a radio host presenting her own program, Sakamoto Maaya no Naisho-banashi, on radio station Nack 5. Sakamoto's 11th single "Tune the Rainbow", released on April 2, 2003, became her first Top 10 single in Japan, peaking at number 9 in the Oricon weekly charts. Her fourth album, Shōnen Alice, released on December 10,2003, was her last record to be produced exclusively by Yoko Kanno. This year she also starred in her first TV drama Suekko Chounan Ane San-nin, and also played the leading role in the short film 03†. Sakamoto's fifth album, Yūnagi Loop, was released on October 26, 2005. It was her first co-produced by herself along with musician Mistuyoshi Tamura. The album's lead single, "Loop," peaked at number seven on the Oricon charts. In 2008, Sakamoto and worked once again with Yoko Kanno for her 15th single. The song was later included in Sakamoto's sixth album, Kazeyomi, which was released January 2009 and also peaked within the Top 3. For promoting this album, Sakamoto began her first low-scale national tour, on which she held three concerts in Nagoya, Osaka and Tokyo. In 2010, Sakamoto celebrated her 15th anniversary in the entertainment industry. In 2011, her seventh album You Can't Catch Me became her first album to reach the first stop of the Oricon charts. Her 2012 Mitsubachi tour concluded with an announcement at her New Year's Eve concert of a new full-length album of songs written and composed solely by Sakamoto.

Sakamoto graduated from Toyo University with a Bachelor's degree in Sociology in spring 2002. On August 8, 2011, she married fellow voice actor and frequent co-star Kenichi Suzumura. The couple have two children, a son and a daughter.