Naruto, the masterpiece of Kishimoto has been the favorite anime of many watched since the time it first aired.
Personally, I started watching anime when I was in 8th Grade, it did not turn out well for my high school social life but hey it was fun.
If Naruto set the benchmark in anime, Shippuden broke all the benches and left its mark on the anime industry. Naruto helped the anime industry reach audiences out of Asia.
Naruto was picked up by a lot of Americans and soon it became so popular that it got references in other anime and media.
The Merchandise and art sold, based on this series had no bounds. You are 100 percent making a profit if you start printing some shirts with some Naruto art.
The series has a great plot and animation but something we take for granted is voice acting.
Seiyuu, Japanese for Voice Actors work day in and day out more consistently for over hundreds of episodes to give us masterpieces like One Piece, Naruto, and Hunter x Hunter.
Naruto has one of the most exciting voice-acting casts. The acting on some scenes was so good that they have become iconic on their own, some of these voice lines and clips have even made their way into songs and remixes.
Let us dive into the cast of Naruto Voice Actors and some of their top performances.
1. Naruto
Japanese Voice Actor
Junko Takeuchi was cast as the voice actor for probably the most charismatic and goofiest main character in anime. She started the job when she was in her prime, 30 years old.
Junko has now voiced Naruto in all three series, Naruto, Naruto Shippuden, and Boruto. That is the definition of consistency and hard work.
Junko has also acted some popular characters like Gon Freecs in the 1999 version of HxH, Dieter from Monster, and Yuto from After the Rain.
English Voice Actor
The English dubbed version of Naruto was voiced by Maile Flanagan. Maile is a student of Political Sciences focusing on History but destiny had something different planned for her.
She got her first break in the film industry in 1998 and from there on out she landed this role when she was 40 years old. She is still going strong as the voice actor of Naruto in Boruto: Naruto Next Generations.
2. Sasuke
Japanese Voice Actor
Noriaki Sugiyama is the voice behind Sasuke. There is not much personal information about Noriaki or his early life.
He started voice acting in 1999 and soon in 2002, he got a big break as Sasuke’s voice actor. Noriaki has also acted as the voice of Emiya from Fate/Stay.
He is still going strong as the voice actor of Sasuke in Boruto.
English Voice Actor
Yuri Lowenthal is known for his voice-overs in many productions such as Ben Tennyson from Ben 10, Simon from Gurren Lagann but I think Sasuke’s voice matched his style perfectly.
Yuri is the voice of Sasuke Uchiha in the English dubbed version of the series.
3. Sakura
Japanese Voice Actor
Chie Nakamura’s biggest role to date has been Sakura Haruno, one of the three main characters in Naruto.
Chie carried out her job very well, capturing all the emotions of a character like Sakura who has so many emotional moments in the anime can be a difficult job.
Chie Nakamura is also best known for her voice-over for Sophitia in the videogame Soulcalibur.
English Voice Actor
Starting out as a voice actor in 1999, Kate Higgins has been the perfect match for Sakura Haruno in the English Dubbed version of Naruto.
Kate has also voice acted for Saber, the female lead from Fate/Stay, the English dubbed version of course. Her work for Sailor Moon as Sailor Mercury is probably fan-favorite.
4. Kakashi
Japanese Voice Actor
Kakashi has two Japanese Voice Actors, one for an older Kakashi and the other for a younger version of himself, seen in flashbacks and fillers.
The normal version is acted out by Kazuhiko Inoue, a legend in the voice acting industry of Japan. He is probably a role model for a lot of upcoming Seiyuus.
He has been in the industry since 1975 and has been a part of shows like Fairy Tail (Gildarts Clive), Jojo’s Bizzare Adventures (Kars), Inuyasha (Ryokotsusei), Noragami (Kuruha), and many more iconic roles.
The voice actor for young Kakashi is Mutsumi Tamura, fairly young talent in the industry with much potential. She has seen some small roles here and there but her most popular role has to be a young Kakashi.
English Voice Actor
Dave Wittenberg is the voice behind the English dubbed version of Kakashi Hatake. He is a seasoned veteran working in the field since 2001.
Dave has also voiced for Saito from Ghost in the Shell movies and his latest role includes Norman Osborne, Spiderman’s Nemesis in Marvel Future Avengers.
5. Jiraiya
Japanese Voice Actor
In Naruto(2002), Jiraiya was voiced by veteran voice actor, Hochu Otsuka. He started his acting career in 1983 with Makoto Soda from Captain Tsubasa and has acted with famous characters like Jouji from Samurai Champloo.
In Naruto Shippuden, the veteran actor, 53 at that time still continued to act the famous Senin. Jiraiya’s role was very complicated and important. He was also a comedic relief in a lot of scenes and Hochu has done a good job of alternating effortlessly between these two styles.
English Voice Actor
In the dubbed version of both the series, Naruto and Naruto Shippuden Jiraiya has had two voice actors for his two age versions shown in the anime.
Adult Jiraiya was played by veteran actor David Lodge. He performed excellently and brought the Pervy Sage to life over the decade.
The younger version of Jiraiya was played by Brad MacDonald. He is famous for his voice acting in the Digimon series which is quite popular in the states.
6. Tsunade
Japanese Voice Actor
Masako Katsuki was the voice behind the Fifth Hokage and one of the Legendary Senin, Tsunade.
Her character has two sides, a tough and strict mother-like figure who adores her students and the citizens of the Leaf Village and her goofy fun side who loves gambling away all her money.
This was perfectly executed by Masako. She is also known for her role as Sailor Neptune in the Sailor Moon series.
Tsunade’s younger version in Naruto was played by a different voice actor, Haruhi Nanao. She was in the prime of her career when she played young Tsunade and now she has grown into an amazing voice actor with a lot of good credits under her belt.
English Voice Actor
In the English dubbed version of the show, Tsunade was played by Debi Mae West, who started her voice acting career in 1997, and soon for her talent, she was cast for the role of Tsunade an important character in a very famous show.
If you have been a fan of gaming and have played Metal Gear Solid 4 you’ll be glad to know that Debi was the voice behind Meryl Silverburgh, the commander of the Rat Patrol Team. She was awarded the Spike Video Game award for this performance.
7. Orochimaru
Japanese Voice Actor
I was curious about this one myself, Orochimaru was probably the scariest character in Naruto and his voice only made him even more villainous. Wakako Matsumoto, known as Kujira(Stage Name) was the voice behind Orochimaru, one of the Legendary Senin.
Kujira is a veteran in the industry. He started his Seiyuu career in the 90s with roles in iconic anime like You’re Under Arrest, Beyblade and he got his big break with Orochimaru and he nailed it alright.
The younger version of our scary villain was played by Yurika Yamaguchi. She was perfect for such an important role credit to her previous performances like Akagi from Neon Genesis Evangelion.
English Voice Actor
In the dubbed version of the anime, Orochimaru has a voice that gives you the chills. It is as good as if not better than the Japanese version. This solid performance is credited to Steve Blum.
Steve started his voice acting career in 1992 with small roles until he got his first break, Spike Speigel in Cowboy Bebop. This was big for Steve as the anime still lives on in the hearts of many fans.
Steve matched Orochimaru’s voice perfectly, the chill in his tones and the villainous overtones were perfect.
8. Itachi Uchiha
Japanese Voice Actor
Hideo Ishikawa is the voice behind the famous anti-hero of the Uchiha clan. Itachi was an important character to the series but his role and importance were not known to the audience.
My favorite line and overall just a badass scene by Itachi was when he fought Sasuke and asked, “Sono Sharingan omae wa doko made meiteiru?” Hideo voiced this so perfectly, it has become iconic.
English Voice Actor
In Naruto (2002), Itachi had appeared to kidnap young Naruto on the orders of the Akatsuki. Here he was voiced by actor and voice actor, Skip Stellrecht.
In Naruto Shippuden, Itachi was a full-fledged character as we know and in Shippuden, he was voiced by Crispin Freeman. Crispin aged 49 currently was in the prime of his career when he was awarded the role of Itachi and he did a pretty good job.
Some other famous characters he voiced are Alucard from Hellsing and Kyon from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.
9. Pain
Japansese Voice Actor
We are not referring to the voice actor of Nagato the man behind Pain. Pain is a wide term, technically Pain was Yahiko before he died and Nagato took over the mantle of Pain but the voice of Pain (Yahiko) was still performed by the voice actor of Yahika, Kenyu Horiuchi.
Kenyu started his career back in 1983 with roles in the famous series Captain Tsubasa. His performance as Pain was just mind-blowing. He let everyone feel the pain his character felt, an amazing performance.
If you have listened, watched, and lived the moment when Pain tried to explain the pain you know what follows,
“Feel Pain, Contemplate Pain, Accept Pain, Know Pain. Those who do not know the pain will never know what true peace is. I will never forget Yahiko’s Pain. And now. This world shall know Pain.”
These words are so famous there are clips and TikToks circulating around the internet of people remixing it.
English Voice Actor
The English version of the character is voiced by a star in the industry, Troy Baker. He is also known for acting in some famous roles like Jin Kariya from Bleach, Greed from FMAB and he also played Yamato in the same series he played Pain.
His voice acting as Pain is overshadowed by the Japanese version performed by Kenyu but for what it’s worth it still gives me chills watching that scene no matter the language.
10. Madara Uchiha
Japanese Voice Actor
Naoya Uchida was cast as the voice actor of Madara, probably because his name sounds so similar. Just kidding.
Naoya stated voice acting way back in 1972 with roles here and there. His first big role was Hiroshi Todo in the sci-fi anime, Witch Hunter Robin.
After that, he also played the role of Doc Q, in One Piece but I think Madara was his biggest character ever. The arrogance of a mastermind was portrayed very well by Naoya.
English Voice Actor
Neil Kaplan was the voice behind Madara in the English dubbed version of Naruto Shippuden.
Kaplan has some famous roles under his belt like Optimus Prime from Transformers: Robots in Disguise and many additional voices from the famous series Digimon.
Kaplan did a great job on Madara. He voiced the condescension, the arrogance, and the overconfidence in his character perfectly.
My favorite scene was when Madara toyed with the Five Kages like they were ten-year-old toddlers.
