Yuri Lowenthal

Yuri Lowenthal (born March 5, 1971 in Alliance, Ohio) is an American voice actor.

He's known for voicing: Ben Tennyson in Ben 10, Sasuke Uchiha in Naruto, Suzaku Kururugi in Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion, Simon in Gurren Lagann and Yosuke Hanamura in Persona 4: The Animation and the video games.

Biography
Lowenthal was born in Alliance, Ohio and raised in Nashville, Tennessee, later moving to Northern Virginia. His father worked for the United States Agency for International Development, and he spent two years in Niger in Africa. He didn't do much acting until the end of high school when he tried out for drama class in his senior year, but it was enough to get him interested in acting. His early exposure to anime was from shows such as Speed Racer, Star Blazers and Battle of the Planets.

At The College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, he took classes in theatre but majored in East Asian studies where in his third year, he studied abroad in Osaka, Japan. He also participated in the school's gymnastics program and ROTC. After graduating in 1993, he joined the Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme (JET) where he served as a Coordinator of International Relations, helping out foreign English teachers in Shiga Prefecture. While at JET he continued to participate in theatre and acting. After two years there, he still wanted to try acting full-time, and moved to New York City and participate in theatre in shows that were off-off-Broadway. He spent six years in New York doing theatre and indie films.

Lowenthal moved to Los Angeles and worked in live-action and theatre roles, To supplement his on-camera work, he and his wife Tara Platt took a voice-over class. Their instructor later happened to be directing the English dub for an anime show called SD Gundam Force; he got his first ever anime dub role there, and soon tried out for other anime roles as well as other voice-over work in animation, commercials, and video games.

Lowenthal continued voicing in other anime shows, including the lead character Haru Glory in Rave Master, which had a run on Cartoon Network's Toonami line up. He also voiced a character in Zatch Bell! which had a notable run on Cartoon Network. He starred in a number of anime shows such as Girls Bravo where he played Yukinari, Scrapped Princess where he voiced Leo Skorpus, Kyo Kara Maoh, where he voiced Yuuri Shibuya, and Saiyuki Reload where he voiced Son Goku. When he auditioned for Naruto, which was being directed by the same person who did Rave Master, he had tried out for multiple roles including Sasuke Uchiha and Iruka, and got a call back for Sasuke. In an interview with Silionera, Lowenthal said that "It certainly allows me to go to some dark places as the series continues. And it makes Sasuke that much more interesting as a character. And that much more fun to play." The Naruto anime became one of the more popular anime shows in the U.S., and its sequel Naruto Shippūden has also aired on Adult Swim.

In 2007, Lowenthal was cast as Jinnosuke, aka "Kuma", a teddy-bear-headed warrior, in the anime feature Afro Samurai which starred Samuel L. Jackson as the title character. Other lead roles in anime include Suzaku Kururugi in Code Geass, which ran on Adult Swim, and Simon in Gurren Lagann, which ran on Toonami.

Lowenthal's first major role in video game voice-overs was as the Prince in Ubisoft's Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. Lowenthal provided the voice for the protagonist in Persona 3 and Yosuke Hanamura for Persona 4. He also provides the voice of Cecil Harvey in the Nintendo DS remake of Final Fantasy IV, and again in Dissidia: Final Fantasy on the PSP.

Personal Life
Lowenthal met actress Tara Platt on an NYU grad film where they played opposite each other in a romantic comedy film called Model Chaser. Six months into their relationship, Lowenthal helped Platt do a cross-country move to Los Angeles so that Platt could participate in auditions there for new TV shows. He had originally planned to fly back after the move, but midway through the trip he proposed to her in Bowling Green, Ohio, and they married in Las Vegas in 2002. They founded a company called Monkey Kingdom Productions in 2004. Their first child, Sagan Carter Lowenthal, was born in 2016.

When asked about his ethnic background, Lowenthal has tweeted that he is a "Tennessee Jew", and has mentioned being Jewish on various media.

Animated Series

 * Winx Club (2004-2015) - Ogron, Cop (ep. 89), Robber (ep. 89) (Nickelodeon Dub)

Anime

 * Marmalade Boy (1994-1995) - Ginta Suou, Imai (ep. 23), Student A (ep. 24) , Konno (ep. 32) , Schoolboy (eps. 30 & 33) , Schoolboy (ep. 35) , Man (ep. 37) , Kid 2 (ep. 50)
 * The Prince of Tennis (2001-2005) - Katsuo Mizuno, Tatsunori Mori, Keigo Atobe, Kiichi Kuki (ep. 13), Shunsuke (ep. 21)
 * Rave Master (2001-2002) - Haru Glory
 * Duel Masters (2002-2006) - Jamira (eps. 53-65)
 * Naruto (2002-2007) - Sasuke Uchiha, Akane's Friend (ep. 11), Land of Waves Townsman (ep. 11) , Gatō's Henchman (ep. 19)
 * Bleach (2004-2012) - Keigo Asano, Kenji Yamashita, Mitch (ep. 1), Kaneda (eps. 6-7) , Soul Reaper (ep. 30) , Young Renji Abarai (ep. 32) , Robber A (ep. 83) , Young Byakuya Kuchiki (ep. 208) , Shinobu Eishima (eps. 209-210) , Mai's Crush (ep. 261) , Soul Reaper B (ep. 263) , Soul Reaper D (ep. 310) , Male Student C (ep. 343) , Kaoru Unagiya (ep. 344) , Additional Voices
 * Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo (2004-2005) - Raoul de Château-Renaud
 * Afro Samurai (2007) - Jinnosuke/Kuma
 * Blue Dragon (2007-2008) - Shu
 * Gurren Lagann (2007) - Simon
 * Nodame Cantabile (2007) - Keiji Tamaki, Noriyuki Takahashi, Tomohito Kimura, Young Man A (ep. 9), Yamato (ep. 11) , Attendee (ep. 18) , Yoshitaka Noda (ep. 22)
 * Tenkai Knights (2013-2014) - Gen Inkai/Dromus

OVAs & Specials

 * Karas (2005-2007) - Ken

Anime Films

 * Only Yesterday (1991) - Additional Voices
 * Paprika (2006) - Kosaku Tokita
 * Tekkonkinkreet (2006) - Dawn
 * Resident Evil: Degeneration (2008) - Additional Voices
 * Bayonetta: Bloody Fate (2013) - Luka Redgrave
 * Batman Ninja (2018) - Robin/Damian Wayne, Red Hood/Jason Todd