Yōko Kawanami (川浪 葉子, Kawanami Yōko; April 22, 1957 – March 18, 2025) was a Japanese voice actress affiliated with Aoni Production.
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Biography
Born on April 22, 1957, Kawanami grew up in Motomachi, Naka-ku, Yokohama City, Kanagawa Prefecture.
She graduated from Yokohama Municipal Minami-Yoshida Elementary School and Yokohama Kyoritsu Gakuen Junior and Senior High School, the second mission school in Japan, where she became a gentle, well-mannered woman. As an only daughter, she was shy and introverted.
Kawanami, an only child of a dentist, initially pursued dentistry in high school but decided to become a voice actor and enroll at the Toho Gakuen, motivated by her love of foreign films. After discussions, her parents supported her choice, and as of 1982, she expressed gratitude for their understanding.
Near graduation, she recognized that attending vocational school alone wouldn’t suffice to become a voice actor and lacked direction. To avoid disappointing her parents, she enrolled at Theatre Echo Training Institute, improved her acting skills, and was selected as co-host for the radio program "A Thousand and One Nights" with Yasuo Yamada.
Afterwards, following a new project, Kawanami joined Aoni Production, where was she affiliated with until her death. She made her voice acting debut in Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels.
Death
Kawanami died from cancer on March 18, 2025, at the age of 67. Her death was announced a week later on March 27 by Aoni. Eiko Yamada, Jun'ichi Kanemaru, Megumi Ogata, Mika Kanai, Naoko Matsui, Ryōtarō Okiayu, Toshio Furukawa, Yū Mizushima, her agency Aoni, and TMS Entertainment paid respects and gave condolences the day following the announcement on Twitter.
