Yuji Ueda is a Japanese voice actor currently affiliated with his self-founded voice actor agency, PomaRancz. His wife is voice actor Omi Minami.
Raised in a house of musicians and artists, Ueda was a talented violinist during his childhood. His parents taught him to appreciate classical music and fine art at a young age. Since his family lacked a nearby clinic, Ueda aspired to become a doctor during his childhood. For this aspiration, he was driven to be a "straight A student". In high school, however, Ueda gravitated towards theater and TV narration. He appreciated the introspective aspects needed to get into a character, admitting to reading philosophy and psychology books to assist with understanding this process later in his voice acting career.
Ueda graduated Tamagawa University's art department to act on stage as an actor. He also traveled across Japan with a dancing troupe before he started his voice acting career in 1992. With other voice actors in the industry, Ueda is known for his jovial jokes, his sing-song speaking voices, and his amazing cooking skills. He later chose to be referred by hiragana to avoid misconceptions that were common with the kanji for his name.
A few of his roles include Sanosuke Sagara in Rurouni Kenshin, Takeshi (Brock) in the Pokemon animated adaptations, and Liang Lian in the Japanese dub of Sword Dynasty.
Works
The following roles listed below come from titles associated with Koei Tecmo and third party works distributed as part of a deal with other companies.
- Rin Rikudou - Joker File drama CDs; Joker is originally conceptualized by Katsumi Michihara
- Masao "Mark" Inaba - Megami Ibunroku Persona drama CDs
- Ashburton - Gotha Ismailia Seneki
- Sun Wukong - Saiyuki: Journey West
- Keiji Maeda, Kojirō Sasaki - Dynasty Warriors series, Warriors Orochi series
- Jared Blaine - Dragoneer's Aria
- Rinnosuke Robo - Touhou Genso Wanderer