Maaya Sakamoto

Maaya Sakamoto is a Japanese actress and singer born March 31, 1980. She made her debut as a voice actress in 1992 voicing Chifuru in the anime Little Twins, then became known for voicing Hitomi Kanzaki in The Vision of Escaflowne. Her anime roles span two decades: Leila Malcal in Code Geass: Akito the Exiled, Jeanne d'Arc in Fate/Apocrypha, Shiki Ryōgi in The Garden of Sinners, Eto in Tokyo Ghoul, Haruhi Fujioka in Ouran High School Host Club, Ciel Phantomhive in Black Butler, and Echidna in Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World. In video games, she voices Aerith Gainsborough in the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Lightning in Final Fantasy XIII, and Aigis in Persona 3. She also dubbed Japanese versions of international films, voicing Padmé Amidala in Star Wars. As a singer, Sakamoto released her debut single "Yakusoku wa Iranai" in 1996 with composer Yoko Kanno. Her singles "Triangler", "Tune the Rainbow", "Loop", and "Ame ga Furu" all reached Japan's top 10 Oricon chart, with "Triangler" peaking at number 3 and charting for 26 weeks. Her albums Shōnen Alice and Yūnagi Loop both reached the Oricon top 10, and You Can't Catch Me became her first number 1 album in 2011. She performed a concert at Nippon Budokan on her 30th birthday. As an Aries, Sakamoto's disciplined, determined nature reflects her life-path number 7—a seeker of truth and depth [F1, enrichments]. Actors in Japan often balance dramatic roles with musical performance, and Sakamoto exemplifies this dual mastery.