Eric Kelso
Eric Kelso | |
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File:Pasted-image-small-19.png | |
Born | Eric Victor Kelso 22 December 1962 |
Nationality | American |
Occupation(s) | Voice actor, narrator, director, producer |
Website | www.erickelso.com |
Eric Kelso (born December 22, 1962) is an American voice actor and narrator currently based in Tokyo, Japan. He is well known as the English voice actor for Paul Phoenix in the video game series, Tekken. He has also provided the voices for Guizhang Chen,[1] Masaya Fukuhara,[2] and Ren of Heavens[3] in the video game series, Shenmue, as well as Jacky Bryant in the Virtua Fighter series.[4] Outside of video games, he has provided voices for Disney, Universal Studios, DreamWorks, and the Iron Chef cooking show. His voice is well-known in Japan on many TV commercials, as well as NHK TV and radio programs.
Early life
Eric Kelso was born and raised in California. He attended high school in Santa Cruz and went to University of California, Santa Barbara where he majored in Film Studies. While at UCSB he received a Corwin Metropolitan Film Award for writing and directing the short film, "An Echo en Route".[5] After graduating in 1986 he set out to travel the world in search of documentary film subjects and eventually made his way to Japan where he happily resides today.[6]
Career
Narrator
Kelso has been a narrator for more than 300 international corporate videos including Major League Baseball, Toyota Motors, Mitsubishi, Du Pont, Sony, Panasonic, Isuzu Motors, Yamaha Motors, NEC, Japan Airlines, Nescafe, Tiffany's, Toshiba, RCA Victor, UNESCO World Heritage. Since 1988 he has narrated thousands of English teaching materials as well, from junior highschool and highschool tests and textbooks, to university entrance examinations, to TOEIC, TOEFL and STEP tests.[6]
Television and Radio
Kelso has had numerous on screen roles on televison, including Nissin Supao TV CM with Fukada Kyoko (actor), NEC, Aris Computer Advancements (presenter), Hitachi Corp. Future Innovations (presenter), TBS TV, Mezase Multilingual (writer/host), Asahi Kasei, Company News (newscaster) , NEC TV CM, Global Solutions (actor), NHK TV English I and II (actor). A cohost and cast member of NHK Broadcasting programs since 1988, Kelso’s credits include; radio reporter for NHK Radio starring in the shows "New York and Boston with Eric" (1991) and NHK Radio: "Florida with Eric" (1992), Shima Kosaku, Tsunami Survivors, Somewhere Streets, Business World, Go Kitchen Go!, TV Eikaiwa I, TV Eikaiwa II, Radio Eikaiwa, Yasashi Business English, English Listening Nyumon, Jissen Business English and Eigode Asobo.[7]
Kelso also appeared for many years as the voice of Masaharu Morimoto in the Iron Chef.[8]
Television Commercials
Kelso is the voice of more than 20 Japanese television commercials for companies such as Toyota, TDK, Sony, Max Factor, Suntory, Mazda, Sunkist, Brooks Brothers, Nissin Foods, NEC, Mitsubishi Motors, Namco Bandai, RIZAP.
Animation
In animation, Kelso has been active in Japan doing voiceovers for movies, amusement parks, children’s programs and educational broadcasting. In 1995, Kelso provided live interactive voice over and CG movement work for "Mr. Mike", a microphone character, around the world. Noteable events include TELECOM 95 in Geneva, Switzerland,[9] as well as at ASIA TELECOM 97 in Singapore. He played Doraemon in Gakken’s English version of the popular Japanese series of the same name. He voiced the Japanese movie trailer for Disney’s Mulan, as well as the part of River Guide in the Wild River Splash VR Simulator ride for DreamWorks at SEGA’s Joypolis in Tokyo. At Universal Studios Japan he can be heard as the voice of Woody Woodpecker.[10] In 2002, he did several characters for Zoids: Fuzors. In 2006, shortly after the merger of Tomy and Takara, Kelso provided the voice for the newly released "Omnibot 2007: i-SOBOT", which has been certified by Guinness World Records as "the world's smallest humanoid robot in production”. In 2015, Kelso voiced the character of Ikasama in the English version of Ganba no Bōken (Gamba and Friends) from TMS Entertainment.
Video Games
Kelso began voice acting for the video games industry in 1996, with his first role being in Soul Blade as Siegfried Schtauffen,[11] released on the Sony Playstation console. Continuing to work with Sony, 1998 seen Kelso hired to provide the voice of Paul Phoenix in the fighting video game series, Tekken 3, also released on the Sony Playstaton. In 1999, Kelso would provide voice over in the English dub of the iconic Sega Dreamcast game, Shenmue. Playing the roles of Masaya Fukuhara[2] and Guizhang Chen,[1] Kelso noted how large a project was, having a lot more pages to read, as well as a lot more additional dialogue and voice effects when compared to other projects. In 2000, he reprised the role of Paul Phoenix in Tekken Tag Tournament, and continue to voice the character in Tekken 4,[12] Tekken 5,[13] Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection, and Tekken 6.
In 2001 Kelso also worked on the sequel to Shenmue, Shenmue 2, providing the voice over for a new character in the franchise, Ren of Heavens.[3] The game appeared both on the European and Japanese releases on the Sega Dreamcast, and then re-released in 2002 on the Microsoft Xbox console. Also in 2001, Kelso provided the voice over for Woody Woodpecker at Universal Studios Theme Parks Adventure.[3] The year also seen Kelso become the voice artist for another iconic fighting game character in Virtua Fighter 4 called Jacky Bryant.[14] He also reprised the role in Virtua Fighter 5,[15] as well as side projects featuring the character, such as; Sega Superstars,[16] Virtua Quest, Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing,[17] and Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate[18]
Director and Producer
Kelso has been a director and producer for corporate video recordings for Prologis Inc. (since 2015) and Medtronic (2016)
Filmography
Video Games
References
- ^ a b "Voice Of Chen Gui Zhang - Shenmue". Behind The Voice Actors. 2014-05-19. Retrieved 2016-10-21.
- ^ a b "Voice Of Masayuki Fukuhara - Shenmue". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved 2016-10-21.
- ^ a b c "Voice Of Wuying Ren - Shenmue II". Behind The Voice Actors. 2014-04-12. Retrieved 2016-10-21.
- ^ "Voice Of Jacky Bryant - Virtua Fighter 4". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved 2016-10-21.
- ^ https://65.media.tumblr.com/fa24314af7f8ec70cfaeb39dabccfeb7/tumblr_ofes1itiBN1vilcqco1_1280.png
- ^ a b "SEGA Nerds interview with Shenmue voice actors". YouTube. 2015-07-09. Retrieved 2016-10-21.
- ^ "プロフィール". Eric Kelso. Retrieved 2016-10-21.
- ^ "The Voices of Iron Chef (1998, Live Action Series) - Voice Cast Listing at Voice Chasers". Voicechasers.com. Retrieved 2016-10-21.
- ^ http://www.itu.int/newsroom/press_releases/1995/ITU95-29.html
- ^ "Voice Of Woody Woodpecker - Universal Studios Theme Parks Adventure". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved 2016-10-21.
- ^ "Voice Of Siegfried Schtauffen - Soul Edge". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved 2016-10-21.
- ^ "Voice Of Paul Phoenix - Tekken 4". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved 2016-10-21.
- ^ "Voice Of Paul Phoenix - Tekken 5". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved 2016-10-21.
- ^ "Voice Of Jacky Bryant - Virtua Fighter 4". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved 2016-10-21.
- ^ "Voice Of Jacky Bryant - Virtua Fighter 5". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved 2016-10-21.
- ^ "Voice Of Jacky Bryant - Sega Superstars". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved 2016-10-21.
- ^ "Voice Of Jacky Bryant - Sonic and Sega All-Stars Racing". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved 2016-10-21.
- ^ "Voice Of Jacky Bryant - Dead or Alive 5". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved 2016-10-21.
External links
- Official website
- Eric Kelso at IMDb
- Eric Kelso at Behind The Voice Actors