Early life and education Yamaguchi was born in
Fukuoka. He graduated from Fukuoka's prefectural Chikuzen High School. In 1984, Yamaguchi moved to Tokyo and entered the Tokyo Announce University College, a vocational school training various performers from voice actors to singers to announcers or even reporters and dancers.
Background Yamaguchi is the son of a carpenter father. He had been into anime as a child, but his interest lapsed in high school after joining a band. He attended acting classes taught by
Kaneta Kimotsuki, and soon joined his 21st Century Fox theater company. About a year after joining, he took the stage for the first time in a supporting role, and played the lead role of the boy detective in So Kitamura's "Odoriko ~THE DANCER MURDER CASE~". Yamaguchi began working as a voice actor, voicing
Ranma Saotome in
Ranma ½.
Activities as a voice actor He has appeared in numerous works in the fields of live-action dramas, animation, games, and foreign film dubbing. In anime, he specializes in playing lively children and young people. In the early 1990s, he also played low-key roles such as Eto in Record of Lodoss War and Gokujurota in Gale! Iron League. In
Case Closed, he plays
Shinichi Kudo and
Kaito Kid. His favorite "Conan" episode is "Flying Locked Room Shinichi Kudo's First Incident". In
One Piece, he originally wanted to play the role of
Monkey D. Luffy, the main character, and went to audition, but was unsuccessful. He decided to play the role of
Usopp after receiving an offer. Yamaguchi has been reading the original manga since the beginning of the serialization, and couldn't imagine what kind of voice the character would have prior to getting the role.
Other ventures In Japanese dubs of international works, Yamaguchi is the voice of
Kyle Broflovski,
Bugs Bunny, and
Crash Bandicoot. He appeared in
hentai and
eroge as . After performing
rakugo at an event in 2017, Yamaguchi started studying under Shirano Tatekawa. He uses the name as a
rakugoka. and in
Sakura-Con 2009. His third appearance to date has been at
Animazement in 2010. He also made a fourth appearance in Hawaii at
Kawaii Kon in 2011. Yamaguchi won the individual seiyu award at the 2003
Tokyo International Anime Fair. He established his own entertainment production company called Goku Co. Ltd., of which he is president. In 2019, Yamaguchi won the Kei Tomiyama Award at the
13th Seiyu Awards. ==Filmography==