Cho is a veteran Japanese actor, voice actor and narrator whose career has stretched across television, anime, films, dubbing, children’s programming and video games for more than four decades. Born Shigeru Nagashima and previously known professionally as Yuichi Nagashima, he adopted the stage name Cho in 2006, taking it from the nickname of the character he played in the long-running educational program Tanken Boku no Machi. His distinctive voice has since become familiar to anime audiences through characters such as Brook in One Piece, Jaken in Inuyasha, Gin-no-suke Nohara in Crayon Shin-chan, Matal Mogamett in Magi, Sōichirō Hague in Fire Force, Kazuo Yamashita in Kengan Ashura and Regro Burnedead in Mashle.
Outside anime, Cho is also recognized for Japanese dubbing performances including Gollum in The Lord of the Rings, Neelix in Star Trek: Voyager and Seymour Simmons in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. His ability to move between eccentric comedy, warm children’s entertainment, dramatic supporting characters and unusual fantasy figures has made him one of Japan’s enduring character actors.
Who Is Cho?
Cho (チョー) is the professional name of Japanese actor and voice actor Shigeru Nagashima. Before adopting Cho, he was professionally known as Yuichi Nagashima (長島雄一). He was born on December 15, 1957, in Kōnosu, Saitama Prefecture, Japan, and studied Japanese literature at Nishogakusha University. His professional career began with acting before he developed into a prolific voice performer and narrator.
The name Cho is unusual among Japanese stage names because it has a direct connection to one of his best-known early television roles. In Tanken Boku no Machi, Nagashima played a character called Cho-san, and that familiar name eventually became his professional identity. Columbia’s archival information for the program identifies the performer as Cho-san (Nagashima Yuichi) and describes the series as an educational program that introduced elementary-school viewers to communities and working life.
Today, Cho is represented by Tokyo Actor’s Consumer’s Cooperative Society, commonly known as Haikyo. His official profile describes his voice as high baritone and lists his work across television, anime, dubbing, narration and special-effects productions.
Early Life and Career
Cho’s route into voice acting began with theatre and conventional acting rather than with a childhood ambition to become an anime voice actor. He studied at the Bungakuza Theatre Research Institute and later the Seinenza Theatre Research Institute’s practical training program before joining Production Baobab in 1986. In 2007, he moved to Tokyo Actor’s Consumer’s Cooperative Society.
His first major public recognition came through Tanken Boku no Machi, an NHK educational program that began broadcasting in 1984. The series followed Cho-san, a young deliveryman who explored different towns and explained local communities and occupations through hand-drawn maps. The role gave Nagashima a distinctive on-screen identity long before many anime fans became familiar with his voice.
That experience would prove surprisingly important later. The character’s name became his professional name, linking the actor’s early television career with the voice-acting career that followed.
Another major children’s-program role came with Inai Inai Baa!, where Cho has portrayed Wanwan. His work on the program is especially unusual because it involves not simply supplying a voice but also performing inside the character costume. Haikyo lists Wanwan among his major television credits alongside Tanken Boku no Machi.
These early roles established something that would remain characteristic of Cho’s career: he was equally comfortable entertaining children, performing comedy and creating distinctive voices for animated characters.
Voice Acting Career
Cho’s anime career developed gradually during the late 1980s and 1990s. He appeared in productions including Crayon Shin-chan, Great Teacher Onizuka and other television series before taking on the role of Jaken in Inuyasha. His official agency profile also credits him with Gin-no-suke Nohara in Crayon Shin-chan, Hiroshi Uchiyamada in Great Teacher Onizuka, and numerous other supporting roles.
His work has often involved characters who are older, eccentric, physically unusual or highly expressive. That has allowed him to develop a recognizable specialty without being confined to a single type of character.
In Inuyasha, for example, Jaken is a small and frequently comic servant who nevertheless belongs to a darker supernatural world. In Crayon Shin-chan, Gin-no-suke provides another opportunity for broad comedy. Later performances such as Brook in One Piece combine comedy with action and genuine emotional drama.
Cho’s career became particularly visible internationally through One Piece. The official One Piece character profile identifies him as the Japanese voice of Brook, the Straw Hat Pirates’ musician. Brook is a skeleton revived through the power of the Yomi Yomi no Mi, and the character’s mixture of music, humor, swordsmanship and melancholy makes him a particularly demanding performance.
Selected Anime Roles
| Anime / Project | Character | Year | Role Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crayon Shin-chan | Gin-no-suke Nohara | 1992 onward | Japanese original voice |
| Great Teacher Onizuka | Hiroshi Uchiyamada | 1999 | Japanese original voice |
| Inuyasha | Jaken | 2000 onward | Japanese original voice |
| Rave Master | Musica | 2001 | Japanese original voice |
| Hidamari Sketch | Principal | 2007 onward | Japanese original voice |
| One Piece | Brook | 2008 onward | Japanese original voice |
| Kaiji: Hakairoku-hen | Ōtsuki | 2011 | Japanese original voice |
| Space Battleship Yamato 2199 | Analyzer and others | 2012 | Japanese original voice |
| Magi: The Kingdom of Magic | Matal Mogamett | 2013 | Japanese original voice |
| Log Horizon | Akatsuki’s mentor / related roles | 2013 onward | Japanese original voice |
| Fire Force | Sōichirō Hague | 2019 onward | Japanese original voice |
| Kengan Ashura | Kazuo Yamashita | 2019 onward | Japanese original voice |
| Hell’s Paradise | Hōko | 2023 | Japanese original voice |
| Mashle: Magic and Muscles | Regro Burnedead | 2023 onward | Japanese original voice |
| Ranma ½ | Genma Saotome | 2024 onward | Japanese original voice |
The table contains selected major or recognizable credits rather than a complete filmography. Haikyo’s official profile lists many additional anime appearances.
Most Famous Anime Roles
Brook — One Piece
Brook is undoubtedly Cho’s most internationally recognizable anime character.
The skeletal musician joined the Straw Hat Pirates after spending decades alone at sea. His personality combines flamboyant humor, musical talent, swordsmanship and a deep sense of loss. That combination gives Cho considerable room to move between comedy and emotional drama.
The official One Piece character profile identifies Cho as Brook’s voice actor and describes Brook as the crew’s musician and a swordsman capable of using music as part of his distinctive personality.
Cho has also continued to voice Brook in One Piece theatrical films, television specials and video games. His performance has become one of the defining elements of the character.
Jaken — Inuyasha
Cho’s Jaken is one of his best-known earlier anime performances.
Jaken serves Sesshomaru and frequently provides comic relief within the supernatural world of Inuyasha. The character’s nervous energy, loyalty and exaggerated reactions allow Cho to demonstrate the expressive side of his voice acting.
The role is important because it predates Brook and shows that Cho had already developed a strong reputation for eccentric supporting characters before becoming associated with one of anime’s biggest global franchises.
Gin-no-suke Nohara — Crayon Shin-chan
Cho has also been part of the Crayon Shin-chan voice cast as Gin-no-suke Nohara, the grandfather of the title character.
This role represents another recurring pattern in Cho’s career: playing older characters with strong personalities and a comic edge. His work in the series has continued across the long-running franchise.
Matal Mogamett — Magi
In Magi: The Kingdom of Magic, Cho voices Matal Mogamett, a powerful magician and important figure connected to Magnostadt.
Unlike his more overtly comic characters, Mogamett requires a more serious performance. The character carries political and emotional weight, giving Cho an opportunity to use a deeper and more restrained side of his voice.
Sōichirō Hague — Fire Force
Cho voices Sōichirō Hague in Fire Force. The character is a member of the Fire Force world and another example of the mature authority figures that frequently appear in Cho’s filmography.
Haikyo lists Hague among Cho’s anime credits, reinforcing his continuing involvement in major modern action series.
Kazuo Yamashita — Kengan Ashura
In Kengan Ashura, Cho voices Kazuo Yamashita, an ordinary office worker pulled into the brutal world of underground fighting.
The role is especially interesting because Yamashita is not a conventional action hero. His fear, surprise and gradual transformation provide opportunities for a more grounded performance, demonstrating that Cho’s range extends beyond exaggerated comedy and fantasy.
Regro Burnedead — Mashle
Cho plays Regro Burnedead, Mash’s adoptive father, in Mashle: Magic and Muscles.
Regro is a warm and sometimes comedic character whose relationship with Mash provides one of the emotional foundations of the series. The performance fits Cho’s long history of playing older characters who can move naturally between humor and affection.
Cho’s Notable Characters
Cho’s career is unusually broad even within the world of Japanese voice acting.
His anime credits include Analyzer in Space Battleship Yamato 2199, Ōtsuki in Kaiji: Hakairoku-hen, Principal in Hidamari Sketch, Michael Inoue in Penguin no Mondai, Terumasa Takai in Arakawa Under the Bridge, Hippopotamus in Blue Dragon, Dentón in HEROMAN, and Matal Mogamett in Magi.
He has also appeared in later anime such as Black Clover, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, Naruto, Bleach, The Seven Deadly Sins, Kengan Ashura, Hell’s Paradise and Mashle.
What connects many of these performances is not a particular age or personality type but their individuality. Cho frequently gives even supporting characters a recognizable rhythm, tone and attitude.
Movies, Television and Other Voice Roles
Cho’s work extends well beyond Japanese television anime.
Japanese Dubbing
One of the most important parts of his career is Japanese-language dubbing of international productions. These performances should be distinguished from his original Japanese anime roles.
Perhaps the most internationally recognizable is Gollum in The Lord of the Rings. Cho provided the Japanese voice for Andy Serkis’s performance, bringing his own interpretation to one of modern fantasy cinema’s most distinctive characters. Haikyo officially lists Gollum among his major dubbing credits.
His dubbing credits also include Neelix in Star Trek: Voyager, Simmons in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Scooby-Doo in Japanese-language versions of Scooby-Doo, and the Trufflehunter character in The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.
In 2018, Cho also appeared in the Japanese dub of Pixar’s Coco, where he was announced as part of the Japanese voice cast and played a skeleton character. The casting was notable because of the natural connection audiences could make between his One Piece role as a skeleton and the film’s world of animated skeletons.
These are Japanese dubbing performances, not English-language original performances.
Television
Cho’s television history is particularly distinctive.
His role as Cho-san in Tanken Boku no Machi remains an important part of his identity. The educational program ran from 1984 and used his character to introduce young viewers to communities, occupations and everyday life.
He later became widely familiar to Japanese children as Wanwan in Inai Inai Baa!. Haikyo lists the role among his major television credits and also credits him with appearances in related Wanwan programs.
He has additionally worked as a narrator on programs including travel, documentary and variety productions. His voice therefore reaches audiences who may not necessarily know him from anime.
Live-Action and Special Effects
Although Cho is primarily discussed today as a voice actor, his career has always included live performance.
His work on Tanken Boku no Machi was performed on camera, while his later career has included television drama and tokusatsu projects. Haikyo’s profile lists appearances in NHK’s historical drama Atsuhime and voice work for productions such as Samurai Sentai Shinkenger and Doubutsu Sentai Zyuohger.
This background helps explain why his performances often have a strong physical and theatrical quality.
Video Games
Cho has also built a substantial video-game voice career.
One notable example is Stephen in Shin Megami Tensei IV. The official game materials identified Cho as Stephen’s voice actor, while later Shin Megami Tensei IV FINAL materials again featured Cho discussing his performances as Stephen and Dr. Matsuda.
He has also voiced Brook across numerous One Piece games, as well as characters in titles associated with franchises including Tales, Sonic, Digimon, Super Robot Wars and other Japanese game series.
His video-game work demonstrates the same versatility found in his anime career. He can provide a highly recognizable voice to a recurring character or create a more restrained performance for a story-driven RPG role.
Awards and Recognition
Cho received the Tomiyama Kei Award at the 12th Seiyu Awards in 2018. The award recognizes long-term achievement and contribution to voice acting, making it particularly significant for a performer with such an extensive career across television, anime, dubbing and narration.
Cho himself discussed receiving the award in 2018, noting his admiration for the late voice actor Kei Tomiyama and expressing his gratitude to colleagues, producers and audiences who had supported his career.
He also received the Miura Jun Award in 2009, further reflecting the distinctive public identity he developed beyond conventional voice acting.
His career is especially notable because recognition has come from different sides of Japanese entertainment: children’s television, anime, dubbing, narration, live performance and broader popular culture.
Career Highlights
Several moments define Cho’s professional journey.
The creation of Cho-san: His role in Tanken Boku no Machi gave him a recognizable television identity and eventually inspired the stage name he uses today.
The move into professional voice acting: He joined Production Baobab in 1986 and later transferred to Haikyo in 2007, building a long-term career in voice performance.
Jaken in Inuyasha: The role helped establish his reputation among anime viewers during the early 2000s.
Brook in One Piece: His performance as the Straw Hat musician became his most internationally recognizable anime role.
Gollum in The Lord of the Rings: His Japanese dubbing work connected him with one of international cinema’s most famous fantasy characters.
Wanwan in children’s television: His long-running work on Inai Inai Baa! made him familiar to generations of Japanese children outside anime.
The Tomiyama Kei Award: Receiving the honor at the 12th Seiyu Awards recognized his decades of work across multiple forms of voice performance.
Why Is Cho Recognized by Anime Fans?
Cho is recognized by anime fans because he has spent decades creating distinctive characters across different eras of Japanese animation.
For One Piece viewers, he is inseparable from Brook’s flamboyant personality and emotional history. Inuyasha fans remember him as Jaken, while viewers of Crayon Shin-chan, Magi, Fire Force, Kengan Ashura and Mashle have encountered very different sides of his acting ability.
His career is also unusually broad. A person may recognize his voice from an anime series without realizing that the same performer also voiced Gollum in the Japanese version of The Lord of the Rings or performed as Wanwan on Japanese children’s television.
That range is perhaps the defining characteristic of Cho’s work. He has built a career around memorable voices rather than one fixed vocal identity.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Cho?
Cho is the professional name of Japanese actor, voice actor and narrator Shigeru Nagashima. He was previously known professionally as Yuichi Nagashima and adopted the name Cho in 2006.
What is Cho most famous for?
International anime audiences most commonly know Cho as Brook in One Piece. In Japan, he is also strongly associated with characters such as Wanwan and Cho-san from children’s television.
Who does Cho voice in One Piece?
Cho provides the Japanese original voice of Brook, the Straw Hat Pirates’ musician. He has played the character across the television anime, films and related media.
Who does Cho voice in Inuyasha?
Cho voices Jaken, the loyal but frequently comic servant of Sesshomaru in the Inuyasha franchise.
Has Cho voiced characters outside anime?
Yes. His career includes Japanese-language dubbing for international productions, including Gollum in The Lord of the Rings, Neelix in Star Trek: Voyager and Simmons in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.
What is Cho’s real name?
Cho’s birth name is Shigeru Nagashima. He previously worked under the professional name Yuichi Nagashima before changing his stage name to Cho.
Why did Nagashima change his name to Cho?
He adopted the stage name Cho in 2006, taking it from the name of the character Cho-san that he played in Tanken Boku no Machi. The character had already become closely associated with him.
Has Cho won a voice-acting award?
Yes. He received the Tomiyama Kei Award at the 12th Seiyu Awards in 2018, recognizing his long career and contribution to voice acting.
