Romi Park

Romi Park is a Japanese actress and singer known for her extensive career in voice acting and stage performance. Born on January 22, 1972, she has established a prominent presence in the entertainment industry through her work across animated series, theater productions, and musical projects. She is particularly recognized for portraying composed, mature, and assertive young male prodigies as well as strong, rebellious female characters.

Park spent her early life in Edogawa, Tokyo. She attended Wayo Konodai Girls' High School, completing her studies in 1990. Following high school, she enrolled in the theater department at Toho Gakuen College of Drama and Music, graduating in 1992. Park later extended her education by studying Korean at the Korean Language Institute located at Yonsei University.

Her professional career began in stage drama when she joined the Institute for Drama in 1993. Two years later, in 1995, she was promoted to a full member of the Yen theater group. Park remained affiliated with the troupe for twenty-two years until her departure on November 15, 2017, after which she established LAL, an agency focused on entertainment and voice talent.

In 1998, Park made her voice acting debut playing the character Kanan Gimms in the anime series Brain Powerd. Throughout her voice acting career, she became well known for portraying tough, calm, and gifted preteen or teenage male characters, such as Tao Ren, Ken Ichijouji, Tōshirō Hitsugaya, Edward Elric, Kosuke Ueki, and Natsume Hyūga. Her female roles frequently aligned with resolute or punk archetypes, including characters such as Temari, Nana Osaki, and Teresa of the Faint Smile.

Beyond traditional voice work, Park expanded her creative pursuits into music, audiobooks, and live theater. She released a music CD in 2006. Although she was scheduled to appear in the Box Contents 2016 theater production, poor physical health prevented her from participating. In August 2018, she served as the narrator for the Your Name audiobook. She made her musical theater debut in 2019, taking on the role of Madame Thenardier in a production of Les Misérables.

Park has earned several industry honors for her artistic achievements. She received the Voice Actor award at the 26th Anime Grand Prix in 2003, followed by a Voice Actor Award at the Tokyo International Anime Fair in 2004. At the 1st Seiyu Awards in 2006, she won the Best Actress Award for playing Nana Osaki in Nana. Additionally, she starred in the 2013 live-action feature film Akaboshi, which earned a viewpoint nomination at the 25th Tokyo International Film Festival.

Park is a third-generation Zainichi Korean and speaks fluent Korean. Her father is a second-generation Korean resident in Japan, while her mother is Korean. On December 25, 2015, Park officially became a naturalized Japanese citizen. On January 22, 2020, on her forty-eighth birthday, she announced via her website and Twitter profile that she had married fellow voice actor Kazuhiro Yamaji.