Rie Tanaka (田中 理恵, Tanaka Rie, born January 3, 1979 in Sapporo, Hokkaidō) is a Japanese voice actor and singer affiliated with Office Anemone. She is formerly associated with the talent agencies Dramatic Department and Retreat. She once married fellow voice actor Kōichi Yamadera, though the two ended up divorcing in August 4, 2018.
During Tanaka's grade school years, she loved reading to children. She was part of her school's book committee and would often hold picture story shows for younger students before her classes began. Being a fan of Mutsumi Inomata's illustrations, she bought a Dragon Quest drama CD at a bookstore and became convinced that voice acting was her true calling after listening to its contents.
After graduating from high school and getting to know manga artist Kazuhiko Shimamoto, Tanaka moved to Tokyo to attend training courses at Yoyogi Animation Academy. Although the young woman was torn between her dreams of becoming a voice actor or a nursery teacher, she decided on the former because it would enable her to reach out to more children with her voice.
Tanaka also began a music career early on, starting with character image songs and later singles with her name attached. April 26, 2019 saw her open a YouTube channel called Rie Tanaka TV where she livestreams some of the games she voiced in. She has an active presence in social media, though an incident on June 23, 2013 forced her to take a break for one year. It happened when Tanaka was at a promotion event for Hyperdimension Neptunia; a disgruntled male attendee caused a commotion by threatening her specifically with a knife. Although she injured her knee while trying to flee, the man was apprehended and no one else had been hurt.
Being one of the more vocally diverse actors in her line of work, Tanaka has played a number of different roles ranging from innocent girls to antagonistic figures. She has lent her performances to Queen Sophia in Luminous Arc 2, Maho Nishizumi in Girls und Panzer, and Aphrodite in Record of Ragnarok.
Works
- Mitsuru Kirijo - Persona 3 (including FES)
- Lacus Clyne - Dynasty Warriors: Gundam series; reprise of her original role in SEED and SEED DESTINY
- Neptune - Hyperdimension Neptunia
- Kureha - Fatal Frame II: Deep Crimson Butterfly
- Faris Scherwiz - Dissidia Final Fantasy: Opera Omnia
- Nō - Nioh series
- Mariabell Crois - The Legend of Heroes: Akatsuki no Kiseki
- Freya - Aura Kingdom