Norio Wakamoto

Norio Wakamoto
Japanese Name	若本 規夫
Birth Name	Noriaki Wakamoto
Profile
Age	79
Birthday	October 18, 1945 (Yamaguchi, Japan)
Gender
Height	167 cm (5 ft 6 in)
Blood Type	A
Nationality	Japanese
Occupation	Voice actor
Other Information
Affiliation	Sigma Seven
Media
JoJo Debut	JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (CD)

Norio Wakamoto (若本 規夫, Wakamoto Norio) is a Japanese actor and voice actor notable for voicing DIO in the Stardust Crusaders Drama CD and Hol Horse in the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure 2000 OVA.

Norio's most popular character he has voiced is Cell from the Dragon Ball series. He is also known for voicing Vicious in Cowboy Bebop, Katakuriko Matsudaira in Gintama, Mujuro Utsutsu in Ninja Scroll, Charles zi Britannia in Code Geass, Goro Otaki in Detective Conan, Oskar von Reuenthal in Legend of the Galactic Heroes, Chu in Yu Yu Hakusho, Oda Nobunaga in Sengoku Basara, and Shuren in Fist of the North Star.

Biography

Norio Wakamoto was born on October 18, 1945 in Yamaguchi. After graduating from Kansai University Daiichi High School, Wakamoto graduated from Waseda University Faculty of Law but failed his bar exam and started his career as a policeman. After working at the Nakano Police Academy of the Metropolitan Police Department, he worked for the Metropolitan Police Department riot police for two years. During the 1968 Shinjuku riot, he participated in the offense and defense at the forefront as a MTF member. After retiring from the police, Wakamoto worked as a founding member of the Consumers Union of Japan secretariat, but was dismissed after hitting his boss while being drunk. On the train, a newspaper advertising Ryo Kurosawa's voice-over school interested him. Wakamoto says that he knew he didn't fit into organisations and thus needed a job where he could work on his own. Although the school only took 20 candidates and he was among the later 300th candidates, Wakamoto was accepted. After working at Ryo Kurosawa's voice-over classroom, he became a voice actor.

Wakamoto's debut role was in the 1977 anime Glacier Warrior Gaislugger as Onoriki. He would continue his career as a voice actor in anime, live-action television narration, tokusatsus, video games and dubbing foreign actors.

He has the qualifications of Shorinji Kempo 3rd Dan and All Japan Kendo Federation 3rd Dan, and also has one side of being one of the industry's leading "martial arts groups". In addition to martial arts, he has a qualification for Shinto, the Misogi Ko-Shintō Shinto Shinto Association.

Wakamoto's voice is known for both its astringency and sharpness. As a result he is typically cast as evil characters, the boss of an evil organization, villainous or powerful people. Since Wakamoto was raised in Sakai City, he sometimes handles the ad lib of Senshu dialect.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Roles

Role

DIO

Title	Media	Year
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Drama CD	Drama	1992-93

Role

Hol Horse

Title	Media	Year
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure	OVA	2001