Takashi Nagasako

Takashi Nagasako’s Path from Stage to Seiyuu

Long before Takashi Nagasako ever stepped into a recording booth, he was absorbing stage craft in ways that would define his vocal career for decades. Growing up in Wakayama Prefecture, Japan, he was inspired to pursue performance after watching actor Kinya Kitaoji in a television drama, and began studying acting seriously in high school. Recruited by theater director Ryotaro Sugi, he moved into new-wave theater and became a working member of Seinenza Research Institute, Honda Studio, and the Shakespeare Theater company – spending years in front of live audiences before voice work ever entered the picture. It was during his time at the Shakespeare Theater, learning alongside seniors Kotaro Yoshida and Unsho Ishizuka, that he first found real joy in performance through the production of King Lear. The practical difficulty of making a living on stage alone eventually led him toward voice acting. After training at the Japan Narration Acting Institute, he joined Arts Vision, the agency that has represented him ever since.

Ganondorf and the Legend of Zelda Legacy

No single role planted Nagasako more firmly in gaming history than Ganondorf in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1998). The Nintendo 64 title gave the dark king a voice for the first time, and Nagasako’s low, menacing delivery set the template for how Ganondorf would sound across the entire franchise. He reprised the role in The Wind Waker (2002), Majora’s Mask, Four Swords Adventures, the 3DS remake of Ocarina of Time, and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, where he voiced the ancient demon king Demise. In crossover territory, Ganondorf appeared again under his voice in Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (2018). For a generation of players who grew up with the N64, his portrayal remains inseparable from the character’s identity.

Twenty Years as Donkey Kong

When Nintendo reconfigured Donkey Kong’s Japanese voice starting with Mario Power Tennis in 2004, Nagasako took over the role and held it for two uninterrupted decades. His tenure covered a vast catalogue – Donkey Kong Jungle Beat, the Donkey Kong Country Returns and Tropical Freeze platformers, Mario Kart 8, Mario Party titles, Mario Golf: Super Rush, Mario Strikers: Battle League, and the 2024 game Mario vs. Donkey Kong. He also voiced Cranky Kong across multiple entries. The run ended with Mario Kart World, where Koji Takeda succeeded him – though archival recordings by Nagasako remain in Donkey Kong Bananza for the Cranky Kong role. The longevity of that tenure underscores how completely his vocal texture became fused with the character’s identity in Japan.

Anime, Fighting Games, and a Career Built on Depth

Outside Nintendo, Nagasako has stacked credits across anime and fighting game franchises with equal consistency. In anime, he voices King Yama in Hozuki’s Coolheadedness and has taken on roles across Dragon Ball Kai and Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot as the brutish Dodoria, Jozu in One Piece, and supporting roles in Bleach, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, Naruto, and Transformers: Prime, where he voices Bulkhead in the Japanese dub. His fighting game catalogue runs deep: Cervantes de Leon and Rock Adams across the Soulcalibur series from Soul Edge onward, Darun Mister in Street Fighter EX, Ganryu in the Tekken animated film, and Captain Commando in Marvel vs. Capcom. His pigeonhole – the heavyweight, the brute, the commanding villain – has made him one of the most recognizable bass-register voices in Japanese genre entertainment. As recently as 2026, he was cast as Denki Taira in the anime adaptation of Nippon Sangoku, confirming an active career well into his sixties.