Naomi Watanabe

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]

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

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	Notes	Ref(s)
2011	Deka Wanko
	Yūsha Yoshihiko
2014	A Time of Love
2016	The Hiddens
2019	Queer Eye	Guest
2020	Followers
2025	Omusubi	Akipi	Asadora	[18]

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		[19]
2021	Sailor Moon Eternal	Zirconia	2-Part film, Season 4 of Sailor Moon Crystal		[20]
2022	Deemo: Memorial Keys	Sachet	Film		[21]
2025	Elio	Ambassador Auva	Film	English and Japanese versions	[22]

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		[23]
2015	Pixels	Serena Williams			[24]
2016	Ghostbusters	Dr. Abigail L. "Abby" Yates	Melissa McCarthy		[25]
2018	I Feel Pretty	Renee Bennett	Amy Schumer
2022	Ghostbusters: Afterlife	Gozer / Mini Marshmallow Man			[26]

Animation

Year	Title	Role	Voice dub for	Notes	Ref(s)
2016	Thomas & Friends: The Great Race	Ashima	Tina Desai
2017	Coco	Frida Kahlo	Natalia Cordova-Buckley		[27]
2022	Minions: The Rise of Gru	Master Chow	Michelle Yeoh		[28]

Notes

1. Sources for chart positions:

   • "Kira Kira"^[14]