IMDB · TheMovieDB.com

Actor

1936-10-16 · Tokyo, Japan · Female

2 series in the catalog

Nobuyo Yamashita (山下 羨代, Yamashita Nobuyo; née Ōyama, October 16, 1933 – September 29, 2024), known professionally as Nobuyo Ōyama (大山 のぶ代, Ōyama Nobuyo), was a Japanese actress last affiliated with Actors Seven. Her husband was actor and television personality Keisuke Sagawa. She is best known for voicing Doraemon, the titular character of the Doraemon franchise from 1979 to 2005 and Monokuma, the main antagonist of the Danganronpa franchise from 2010 to 2016.

Early life

Ōyama was born as the thirteenth in a four-generation family of thirteen people on October 16, 1933. Her great-grandparents were born in the Edo period of Japan and her mother was the daughter of a sake brewer in Furukawa City, Miyagi Prefecture (now Ōsaki, Miyagi City).

She graduated from Rinkawa Elementary School, Hiroo Elementary School, Hiroo Junior High School and Mita High School, Tokyo.

Since an early age, she had a distinctive voice, and when she answered the phone at her kindergarten entrance ceremony, all of the students' parents all stood up and stared. However Ōyama herself was oblivious to reactions. She was such a talkative person that her mother would often tell her, "If you are quiet for a while, I'll give you a treat."

As she entered elementary school, Ōyama was initially an active girl who would run around the schoolyard raising her voice, but people around her would often tell her that she had a "boy's voice," and her teachers gave her strange looks when she checked in for her attendance, so she began to think her voice was strange.

Once Ōyama entered junior high school, a classmate pointed out how her voice was, and that is when she started to become aware of her unique voice. She started to feel disgusted by her voice, and became a quieter person.

She was bullied by her school classmates because of her voice, with a game of "everyone will laugh when Ōyama makes a sound" becoming popular in class. She grew withdrawn, but her mother advised her, "Just because you have a strange voice, if you keep coddling that weakness, it will only get weaker. Join a club activity where you have to use your voice."

Ōyama became satisfied with her voice over time, and was able to overcome her complex. However, she never expected to become a voice actress. Her surrounding peers and homeroom teacher were initially opposed to her school activities, though after a month, they stopped saying their objections, and Ōyama was soon invited to join the school's drama club. Her stage debut was the role of the wicked stepmother in the school's play of Cinderella.

In high school, Ōyama joined the drama and swimming clubs, but soon dropped out when her mother ended up being hospitalized, and then died of uterine cancer at the age of 42 while she was in her second high school year. Now by herself, Ōyama decided to pursue a career in acting.

Career

Following high school, Ōyama entered the Haiyuza Training School as a member of the seventh batch, but her father, who was against these plans, told her, "If you want to be an actor, get out!", so she ran away from home and started living alone. She quickly realized that she would be unable to survive solely on the money that was sent to her from her supportive older brother, so she tried various part-time jobs to earn money for living. Her classmates there included Kumi Mizuno, Shigeru Tsuyuguchi, Hisashi Igawa, Manabu Yamamoto, Shigeyoshi Fujioka, and Kunie Tanaka.

She made her debut in the NHK drama Kono Hitomi in 1956. She began her acting career while in the training school, and after graduating in 1957, she joined the theater company Shinjinkai.

When Ōyama started her career, she received praise as "a funny kid" and "a comedian with a background in modern theater", and appeared in many dramas and comedy shows. She began her voice acting career after a friend noticed her unique husky voice and told her that her voice suited young male roles. Her voice acting debut was in the Japanese dub of Lassie, which aired in September 1957.

In 1960, Ōyama voiced the character Boo in the Japanese puppet show Boo Foo Woo, which led to an increase in voice work.

In 1965, Ōyama made her debut as a lead voice actor in the television anime Hustle Punch, where she voiced the character Hustle. After that, she then starred in several anime productions such as Harris no Kaze and Invincible Super Man Zambot 3.

She was affiliated with Tokyo Pro, Gekidan Deku, Takamatsu Riyuko Office, and Aoni Production.

In late 1978, she was officially cast as the voice of the titular character in the Doraemon anime series, which premiered on TV Asahi the next year. It became her most popular work.

She also became active in a wide range of fields other than voice acting, such as working as a TV personality and publishing books as a cooking expert.

In 1980, sales of Doraemon-related records performed by Ōyama, including the EP Doraemon Ondo, exceeded over one million copies, which earned her an awarded Gold Disc from Nippon Columbia.

In 2001, Ōyama was diagnosed with colon cancer and was hospitalized for a long time, causing her to take time off from all work except for Doraemon, as she decided to continue recording episodes during her treatment after she took her physical condition into consideration. However, the hospitalization led to her decision to retire from the role of Doraemon. At first, she continued on at the persuasion of the anime's staff, but after long-term discussions, officially left the franchise along the other cast members in March 2005 after 26 years.

After Doraemon

After leaving the Doraemon franchise, Ōyama focused on giving lectures and making television and radio appearances. She also continued her voice acting work, narrating shows such as Gansou! Debuya.

In March 2005, Ōyama received the Broadcasting Woman Award.

In May 2006, Ōyama published an autobiographical essay titled, I Was Doraemon. 26 Years of Tears and Laughter which focused on detailing her 26 years voicing Doraemon and was published by Shogakukan.

Six months later, she was awarded a special prize at the 11th Kobe Animation Awards for her achievements on Doraemon alongside her Doraemon co-stars Noriko Ohara, Michiko Nomura, Kaneta Kimotsuki, and Kazuya Tatekabe. The following year in March 2007, they received the Merit Award of the Tokyo Anime Awards at the Tokyo International Anime Fair.

In April 2007, Ōyama became principal of the Acoustic Arts College in Nishi-Shinbashi, Minato-ku, Tokyo. In addition to organizing the curriculum, she also taught many day and night classes for the voice actor and announcer courses, providing direct instructions to students.

On April 24, 2008, while preparing for class in the principal's office at the Acoustic Arts College, Ōyama suffered a cerebral infarction and was hospitalized, but with proper medication, she was discharged on August 17. Through home recuperation and rehabilitation, she ended up recovering to where she was able to carry out daily activities without worry.

In 2010, Ōyama portrayed the antagonist Monokuma in the PSP video game Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc. She continued to voice Monokuma in the Danganronpa franchise, and in 2013, the series was made into a television anime adaptation entitled Danganronpa: The Animation, which was both her first TV anime appearance since Doraemon and her first appearance in a late-night television anime.

In April 2011, Ōyama decided to step down from her position as principal of the Acoustic Arts College and became its honorary president. Though she stepped back from most practical duties, she continued to give special lectures once every few months until 2013. Around this time, she started limiting her work, citing poor health caused by a busy and intense work schedule.

Final years

In the fall of 2012, Ōyama was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. Initially, her husband Keisuke Sagawa was worried that it would "tarnish the image of Doraemon and her", so the diagnosis was kept…