Naomi Watanabe

Naomi Watanabe
渡辺 直美
Naomi Watanabe in 2010
Born	Naomi Watanabe (1987-10-23) 23 October 1987 (age 37) Banqiao City, Taipei County, Taiwan
Occupation(s)	Actress, comedian, fashion designer
Years active	2007 (2007)–present
Height	1.57 m (5 ft 2 in)
Musical career
Genres	Comedy J-pop
Instrument	Vocals
Labels	Yoshimoto

Naomi Watanabe (渡辺 直美, Watanabe Naomi, born 23 October 1987) is a Japanese comedian, actress, and fashion designer. She rose to fame in 2008 for her imitation of Beyoncé, after which she was given the title "the Japanese Beyoncé".^[1][2][3]

Career

Watanabe does impersonations of popular artists in Japanese culture, among which her imitation of Beyoncé singing "Dreamgirls" and "Crazy in Love" quickly became popular. She has also launched her own fashion line called Punyus (loosely translated to "chubby" in English), and played the role of Mabel in the musical Fame and Tracy Turnblad in the musical Hairspray. Her Instagram account has 9.9 million followers as of 23 February 2023.^[4]

Guest appearances

Watanabe was seen as a guest in the 2013 anime movie Crayon Shin-chan: Very Tasty! B-class Gourmet Survival!!.^[5] In 2016, she voiced the character of Ashima in the Japanese language dub of the Thomas & Friends film The Great Race.^[6] In 2019, she was featured in Queer Eye: We're in Japan!, Season 1, Episode 3, "The Ideal Woman".^[7]

In March 2021 she announced her intention to move from Japan to the United States the next month.^[8] She has appeared in Us Weekly magazine.^[9]

Personal life

Watanabe was born in Taipei to a Japanese father and a Taiwanese mother and raised in Ibaraki.^[10] She is of Japanese and Taiwanese descent.^[11][12]

Awards

In December 2024, Naomi Watanabe was included on the BBC's 100 Women list.^[13]

Discography

Singles

As a featured artist

Title	Year	Peak chart positions	Album
		JPN Hot 100[A]
"Kira Kira (キラキラ)" (Ai featuring Naomi Watanabe)	2017	19	Wa to Yo
"Kiss Me More"[15] (Doja Cat featuring Naomi Watanabe)	2022	—	Non-album single
"—" denotes items that did not chart.

Filmography

Variety shows

Year	Title	Network	Notes	Ref(s)
2010–14	Waratte Iitomo!	Fuji TV
2011	Saturday Night Live Japan	Fuji TV
2023	Takeshi's Castle (2023)

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref(s)
2012	Tug of War!
2013	R100
2018	Sunny: Our Hearts Beat Together	Ume
2020	The Untold Tale of the Three Kingdoms	Diaochan		[16]
	The Promised Neverland	Krone		[17]

Television drama

Year	Title	Role	Network	Notes	Ref(s)
2011	Deka Wanko		NTV
	Yūsha Yoshihiko		TV Tokyo
2014	A Time of Love		TVB Jade
2016	The Hiddens		Astro Wah Lai Toi
2019	Queer Eye	Guest	Netflix
2020	Followers		Netflix

Animation

Year	Title	Role	Type	Notes	Ref(s)
2007	Sazae-san		TV
2013	Crayon Shin-chan: Very Tasty! B-class Gourmet Survival!!		Film
2015	Chibi Maruko-chan: A Boy from Italy		Film
2020	Doraemon: Nobita's New Dinosaur	Natalie	Film		[18]
2021	Sailor Moon Eternal	Zirconia	2-Part film, Season 4 of Sailor Moon Crystal		[19]
2022	Deemo: Memorial Keys	Sachet	Film		[20]

Japanese dub

Live-action

Year	Title	Role	Voice dub for	Notes	Ref(s)
2015	Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb	Tilly	Rebel Wilson		[21]
2015	Pixels	Serena Williams			[22]
2016	Ghostbusters	Dr. Abigail L. "Abby" Yates	Melissa McCarthy		[23]
2018	I Feel Pretty	Renee Bennett	Amy Schumer
2022	Ghostbusters: Afterlife	Gozer / Mini Marshmallow Man			[24]

Animation

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref(s)
2016	Thomas & Friends: The Great Race	Ashima
2017	Coco	Frida Kahlo		[25]
2022	Minions: The Rise of Gru	Master Chow		[26]

Notes

1. Sources for chart positions:
   • "Kira Kira"^[14]

References

1. "和製ビヨンセ・渡辺直美、美空ひばりさんのモノマネ初披露". Oricon (in Japanese). 23 August 2008. Retrieved 12 March 2010.
2. "和製ビヨンセ・渡辺直美が激白？「椎名桔平に口説かれたら芸人辞めます！」". Cinema Today (in Japanese). 2 May 2008. Retrieved 12 March 2010.
3. Hou, Kathleen (August 2019). "Make Some Room For Naomi Watanabe The unstoppable Japanese comedian is coming for America and the world". The Cut. Retrieved 2 August 2019.
4. Inagaki, Kana (18 April 2018). "Comedian Naomi Watanabe on luxury, loneliness and being plus-size in Japan". Financial Times.
5. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 22 January 2013. Retrieved 15 January 2013.
6. "映画 きかんしゃトーマス「走れ！世界のなかまたち THE GREAT RACE」" (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 26 January 2019. Retrieved 15 December 2016.
7. "Queer Eye: We're in Japan! | Netflix Official Site". www.netflix.com. Retrieved 7 November 2019.
8. Baseel, Casey (3 March 2021). "Naomi Watanabe moving to U.S.; switching base of operations to outside Japan". Japan Today. Retrieved 22 March 2021.
9. Us Weekly, 13 December 2021, p. 46.
10. Inagaki, Kana (18 April 2018). "Comedian Naomi Watanabe on luxury, loneliness and being plus-size in Japan". Financial Times.
11. Hou, Kathleen (1 August 2019). "Make Some Room For Naomi Watanabe". The Cut. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
12. "渡辺直美は8.5kg減 「肉食ダイエット」がいいかも". Ameba News (in Japanese). 25 November 2009. Archived from the original on 30 December 2009. Retrieved 10 March 2010.
13. "BBC 100 Women 2024: Who is on the list this year?". BBC. 3 December 2024. Retrieved 3 December 2024.
14. "Billboard Japan Hot Albums: 2017/08/09".
15. "渡辺直美がラップで全世界デビュー、ドージャ・キャット楽曲に参加 | CINRA". www.cinra.net (in Japanese). Retrieved 22 July 2022.
16. "『新解釈・三國志』"自称イケメン将軍"岩田剛典＆"絶世の美女"渡辺直美が参戦". Crank-in!. Retrieved 3 August 2020.
17. "Live-Action The Promised Neverland Film Casts Keiko Kitagawa, Naomi Watanabe". Anime News Network. Retrieved 9 November 2021.
18. "Naomi Watanabe Cast in 2020 Doraemon Anime Film". Anime News Network. 29 January 2020. Retrieved 10 March 2022.
19. "劇場版「美少女戦士セーラームーンEternal」 ジルコニアのキャストが発表！". Sailor Moon Official (in Japanese). 10 September 2020. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
20. "DEEMO Memorial Keys Anime Film Reveals February 25 Debut, 5 More Cast Members". Anime News Network. 21 October 2021. Retrieved 21 October 2021.
21. "ナイト ミュージアム／エジプト王の秘密". Fukikaeru. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
22. "マイアミ・ギャングスター". Sony Pictures. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
23. "ゴーストバスターズ". Fukikaeru. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
24. "ゴーストバスターズ／アフターライフ －日本語吹き替え版". Fukikaeru. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
25. "リメンバー・ミー". 16 March 2018. Retrieved 11 February 2021.
26. "ミニオンズ フィーバー －日本語吹き替え版". Fukikaeru. Retrieved 29 June 2022.

External links

• Naomi Watanabe's profile at Yoshimoto Kogyo
• Punyus (fashion brand)
• Naomi Watanabe at Anime News Network's encyclopedia