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. Because the school was the second ever mission school ever to be established in Japan, it was strict, but she grew to become a gentle, well-mannered woman. Because of her upbringing as an only daughter, she was shy and had an introverted personality.
Kawanami's father was a dentist, which alongside the fact she was an only child, caused her to study throughout high school with intention on becoming a dentist, but just as she was to finish high school, she suddenly announced to her parents that she wanted to become a voice actor and would start enrolling in the voice acting department at Toho Gakuen. She didn't wish to follow a set career path and loved foreign films, wanting to work in a field relating to them. After a few days of strong discussion, her parents understood her strong wishes and allowed her to go to the school. As of 1982, Kawanami felt grateful for her parents' kindness.
Despite this, she realized close to graduation that simply attending a vocational school wouldn't be enough to become a professional voice actor and she had no knowledge on where to go. Out of fear of disappointing her parents, she decided to go to the Theatre Echo Training Institute. She was able to improve her acting skills and advanced into the specialized course, being suddenly selected upon entering the course as the co-host of a year long radio program entitled "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.