In the Japanese version of My Hero Academia, Izuku Midoriya is voiced by Daiki Yamashita. In the English dub, the character is voiced by Justin Briner. Yamashita is the original Japanese performer behind Deku’s anxious intensity, emotional vulnerability, and steady heroic growth across the TV series, OVAs, and films.
Japanese Voice Actor: Daiki Yamashita
Date of Birth
September 7, 1989. Public profiles list Yamashita’s birthday as September 7, and biographical sources identify his birth year as 1989.
About Daiki
Daiki Yamashita is a Japanese voice actor, narrator, and singer affiliated with Arts Vision. He debuted in voice acting in 2012, rose quickly through lead roles such as Sakamichi Onoda in Yowamushi Pedal, and later became globally recognizable as Izuku Midoriya in My Hero Academia. His official music profile also notes his artist debut in 2021, showing how his career has expanded beyond voice acting into recording and live performance.
Hometown
Yamashita is from Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. His official profiles consistently identify Shizuoka as his home prefecture, and public biographical sources specify Hamamatsu City.
Career Highlights
Yamashita’s career is defined by a cluster of high-visibility anime leads and standout supporting roles. His best-known parts include Izuku Midoriya in My Hero Academia, Sakamichi Onoda in Yowamushi Pedal, Goh in Pokémon Journeys, Narancia Ghirga in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind, Naoto Hachiōji in Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro, Shuji Nakaumi in Platinum End, and Yushiro in Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba. He also won Best Male Newcomer at the 8th Seiyu Awards, an early industry recognition that matched his rapid rise.
Full Current Filmography
The list below reflects documented screen, game, and dubbing credits visible in Yamashita’s official Arts Vision profile and public filmography sources as of March 24, 2026. Because databases vary and some sources emphasize principal rather than every incidental credit, this should be read as a source-documented filmography, though it is extensive rather than selective.
TV anime and streaming series (documented credits, chronological):
2012: Little Busters! — Student B / Male Student B.
2013: Arata: The Legend — Suguru Nishijima; Chronicles of the Going Home Club — Demon King; Gaist Crusher — Rekka Shirogane; Galilei Donna — Theo Escher; Log Horizon — Tōya / Iwan; Silver Spoon — Yūichi Matsuyama; Strike the Blood — Ryō Uchida; Tamako Market — Inuyama; Yowamushi Pedal — Sakamichi Onoda; Oreshura — various roles; The Pet Girl of Sakurasou — Young Man 3.
2014: Ao Haru Ride — Naitō; Glasslip — Hiro Shirosaki; Log Horizon 2 — Tōya; Oreca Battle — Val / Taddon; Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Crystal — Gurio Umino; Psycho-Pass 2 — Moe Suzuki; Shōnen Hollywood — Kira Saeki; Space Dandy — Mio; Sword Art Online II — Jun; The Irregular at Magic High School — Hagane Tomitsuka; Yowamushi Pedal Grande Road — Sakamichi Onoda.
2015: Ace of Diamond 2nd Season — Takuma Seto; Charlotte — Oikawa; Kamisama Kiss◎ — Mamoru (young); Lance N’ Masques — Yōtarō Hanafusa; Mikagura School Suite — Usamaru; Rampo Kitan: Game of Laplace — Sōji Hashiba; The Heroic Legend of Arslan — Borner; The Rolling Girls — Hitoshi; Triage X — young Arashi; Uta no Prince-sama Maji Love Revolutions — Shion Amakusa; Hetalia: World Twinkle — Ladonia; Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans — Danji Enrei.
2016: Active Raid — Dog; Assassination Classroom Second Season — Rikuto Ikeda; Dimension W — Lwai-Aura-Tibesti; Handa-kun — Yukio Kondo; My Hero Academia — Izuku Midoriya; Prince of Stride: Alternative — Yuri Himemiya; Tonkatsu DJ Agetarō — Agetarō Katsumata; Twin Star Exorcists — Shinnosuke Kunizaki; Food Wars! The Second Plate — Mitsuru Sotsuda; Trickster — Yoshio Kobayashi; Touken Ranbu: Hanamaru — Atsushi Toushirou / Imanotsurugi; Re:Zero — Kan; Uta no Prince-sama Maji LOVE Legend Star — Shion Amakusa.
2017: Anonymous Noise — Kanade Yuzuriha; Boruto — Magire Kakuremino; Chain Chronicle — Aram; Yowamushi Pedal: New Generation — Sakamichi Onoda; My Hero Academia Season 2 — Izuku Midoriya; Re:Creators — Sōta Mizushino; Children of the Whales — Ryodari; Sengoku Night Blood — Yukimura Sanada; Tsukipro The Animation — Sakuraba Ryota; Hitorijime My Hero — Mitsuru Fukushige.
2018: Beatless — Kengo Suguri; My Hero Academia Season 3 — Izuku Midoriya; Rokuhōdō Yotsuiro Biyori — Tsubaki; 100 Sleeping Princes and the Kingdom of Dreams — Navi / Cheshire Cat; Phantom in the Twilight — Wayne King; Touken Ranbu: Hanamaru 2 — Atsushi Toushirou / Imanotsurugi; Ninja Girl & Samurai Master 3rd Season — Ranmaru Mori; Jingai-san no Yome — Tomari Hinowa; JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind — Narancia Ghirga.
2019: Ace of Diamond Act II — Takuma Seto; Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba — Yushirō; Attack on Titan Season 3 — young Zeke; Star-Myu 3 — Shion Kasugano; Ensemble Stars! — Ritsu Sakuma; The Ones Within — Akatsuki Iride; Oresuki — Amatsuyu “Jouro” Kisaragi; Outburst Dreamer Boys — Yamato Noda; No Guns Life — Tetsurō Arahabaki; My Hero Academia Season 4 — Izuku Midoriya; Pocket Monsters 2019 / Pokémon Journeys era — Goh.
2020: Cagaster of an Insect Cage — Naji; Major 2nd Season 2 — Akira Nishina; Genie Family 2020 — Pūta; No Guns Life 2 — Tetsurō Arahabaki.
2021: Horimiya — Shū Iura; Log Horizon: Destruction of the Round Table — Tōya; Attack on Titan: The Final Season — young Zeke Jaeger; My Hero Academia Season 5 — Izuku Midoriya; Seven Knights Revolution — Nemo; Full Dive — Hiroshi Yūki; Backflip!! — Shunsuke Azuma; 86 — Haruto Keats; Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro — Naoto Hachiōji; Yu-Gi-Oh! Sevens — Yuo Goha; Blue Period — Yotasuke Takahashi; Ranking of Kings — Hokuro.
2022: Platinum End — Shuji Nakaumi; Dance Dance Danseur — Junpei Murao; Tokyo Mew Mew New — Tart; Cardfight!! Vanguard will+Dress — Zinki Mukae; My Hero Academia Season 6 — Izuku Midoriya; Shine Post — Naoki Hinase; Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War — Ryūnosuke Yuki.
2023: Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro 2nd Attack — Naoto Hachiōji; Hell’s Paradise — Yamada Asaemon Senta; The Ancient Magus’ Bride Season 2 — Violet St. George; Opus Colors — Kohei Tose; Rokudo’s Bad Girls — Dōji Matsugamiya; Pokémon Horizons — Rotom Phone; Horimiya: The Missing Pieces — Shū Iura; Reborn as a Vending Machine, I Now Wander the Dungeon — Aka; Captain Tsubasa: Junior Youth Arc — Alan Pascual; Ragna Crimson — Nebulim; Under Ninja — Shion Hachiya; Onimusha — Sahei; Rurouni Kenshin — Seta Sōjirō.
2024: Mysterious Disappearances — Ren Adashino; My Hero Academia Season 7 — Izuku Midoriya; Failure Frame — Tomohiro Yasu; Magilumiere Magical Girls Inc. — Kazuo Nikoyama; The Most Notorious “Talker” Runs the World’s Greatest Clan — Noel Stollen; Cardfight!! Vanguard DivineZ 2nd Season — Jinki Mukae.
2025: Medaka Kuroiwa Is Impervious to My Charms — Shō Kobayakawa; Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Disturbance — Seta Sōjirō; Catch Me at the Ballpark! — Wataru Ichinomiya; Binan Kōkō Chikyū Bōei-bu Haikara! — Tasuku Nekoma; Sakamoto Days — Mafuyu Seba; Shabake — Ichitarō.
2026 / announced: A Gentle Noble’s Vacation Recommendation — Judge; Fist of the North Star — Bat; Rebuild World — Akira (announced).
OVA / special / films:
OVAs: Yowamushi Pedal (2013) — Sakamichi Onoda; Blue Spring Ride (2014) — Naitō; My Hero Academia: Save! Rescue Training (2016) — Izuku Midoriya; My Hero Academia: Training of the Dead (2017) — Izuku Midoriya; Oresuki: Oretachi no Game Set (2020) — Amatsuyu “Jouro” Kisaragi.
Special: Oresuki: Ore wa Teinei ni Susumeru (2019) — Amatsuyu “Jouro” Kisaragi.
Anime films: Tamako Love Story (2014) — Inuyama; Yowamushi Pedal Re:Ride (2014) — Sakamichi Onoda; The Empire of Corpses (2015) — Nikolai Krasotkin; Yowamushi Pedal Re:ROAD (2015) — Sakamichi Onoda; Yowamushi Pedal: The Movie (2015) — Sakamichi Onoda; Doraemon the Movie: Nobita’s Treasure Island (2018) — Flock; My Hero Academia: Two Heroes (2018) — Izuku Midoriya; My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising (2019) — Izuku Midoriya; My Hero Academia: World Heroes’ Mission (2021) — Izuku Midoriya; Ensemble Stars!! Road to Show!! (2022) — Ritsu Sakuma; Backflip!! (2022) — Shunsuke Azuma; Drifting Home (2022) — Yuzuru Tachibana; My Hero Academia: You’re Next (2024) — Izuku Midoriya; The Rose of Versailles (2025) — Jean.
Video games / dubbing / other documented credits:
Games include Akiba’s Trip: Undead & Undressed — Kaito Tachibana; Gaist Crusher / Gaist Crusher God — Rekka Shirogane; Granblue Fantasy — Young Cat; Tokyo Xanadu — Yuuki Shinomiya; Ensemble Stars! — Ritsu Sakuma; Touken Ranbu — Imanotsurugi / Atsushi Toushirou; The Idolm@ster SideM — Kirio Nekoyanagi; My Hero One’s Justice — Izuku Midoriya; and additional titles listed on his Arts Vision profile such as Unicorn Overlord, Bungo and Alchemist, Black Star -Theater Starless-, Stand My Heroes, and White Cat Project. Japanese dubbing credits documented in public filmography sources include The Maze Runner trilogy (Newt), Dear Eleanor (Billy), Love Island (Tre Forte), Sing 2 (Jerry), Victor and Valentino (Victor), All Saints Street (Neil), Dragon Raja: The Blazing Dawn (Lu Mingfei), and The Super Mario Galaxy Movie listing Bowser Jr. Other documented work includes narration and drama CD appearances.
Critical Reception
Yamashita’s reception is strongest in two areas: industry recognition and character-defining lead work. Early in his career, he won the Best Male Newcomer prize at the 8th Seiyu Awards, a notable signal that the industry saw him as one of the standout emerging actors of his generation.
For My Hero Academia, the public record shows a long-running association between Yamashita and Deku’s emotional core. Official series materials repeatedly foreground his comments when major Deku arcs are promoted, especially the “Dark Deku” phase and the final-stage material, while interview coverage has emphasized how central his performance is to communicating Deku’s burden, resolve, and psychological change across the later seasons. That does not amount to a single formal review consensus, but it does show sustained recognition of his performance as one of the anchors of the franchise. Sources: 8th Seiyu Awards (https://www.seiyuawards.jp/winning/winning_08/index.php); My Hero Academia official news comment from Yamashita on Deku’s Season 6 arc (https://heroaca.com/news/18294/); The Beat Anime Expo 2025 interview coverage (https://www.comicsbeat.com/ax-2025-interview-my-hero-academias-daiki-yamashita-on-how-dark-deku-impacted-him-what-kohei-horikoshi-thinks-of-his-acting-and-more/).
Social Media
YouTube: 山下大輝 / Daiki Yamashita Official YouTube Channel (https://www.youtube.com/@daikiyamashitaofficialyout5845)
English Voice Actor: Justin Briner
Date of Birth
August 23, 1991. Public filmography and biography sources list Justin Briner as born on August 23, 1991, in Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
About Justin
Justin Briner is an American voice actor and writer best known for voicing Izuku “Deku” Midoriya in the English dub of My Hero Academia. He has also voiced major anime and game characters including Mikaela Hyakuya in Seraph of the End, Luck Voltia in Black Clover, Shō Kusakabe in Fire Force, Hanako / Amane Yugi in Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun, and Maki Katsuragi in Stars Align. Public biographical sources also note that he studied theater at the University of North Texas before building his dub career.
Hometown
Briner is publicly identified as being from Baltimore, Maryland, USA, and broader biographical sources describe him as having been raised in Maryland before later working extensively in Texas-based English dubbing.
Career Highlights
For anime fans, Briner’s signature role is still Deku. Public cast listings for My Hero Academia identify him as the English voice of Izuku Midoriya across the TV series, while film and franchise listings also place him in the dubbed movies tied to the property.
Beyond My Hero Academia, Briner built a strong résumé of lead and co-lead roles in English-language anime dubbing, including Mikaela Hyakuya (Seraph of the End), Qwenthur Barbotage (Heavy Object), Alfonso San Valiante (Garo: The Animation), Kensuke Hanasaki (Trickster), Luck Voltia (Black Clover), Shō Kusakabe (Fire Force), and Hanako / Amane Yugi (Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun).
Full Current Filmography
The list below reflects documented credits visible from major public filmography sources as of March 24, 2026. Because English-dub databases, convention bios, and general filmography pages do not always agree on whether every incidental, ensemble, or one-episode part is listed, this should be read as a source-documented current filmography summary rather than a guaranteed every-credit master ledger.
Anime television / streaming series (documented roles):
Seraph of the End — Mikaela Hyakuya; The Heroic Legend of Arslan — Elam; Heavy Object — Qwenthur Barbotage; Garo: The Animation — Alfonso San Valiante; Puzzle & Dragons X — Lance; Drifters — Yoichi Suketaka Nasu; Nanbaka — Uno; Trickster — Kensuke Hanasaki; Hand Shakers — Tazuna Takatsuki; Convenience Store Boy Friends — Haruki Mishima; Knight’s & Magic — Ernesti “Eru” Echavalier; Taboo Tattoo — Justice “Seigi” Akatsuka; My Hero Academia — Izuku Midoriya / Deku; Black Clover — Luck Voltia; Classroom of the Elite — Ken Sudō; Stars Align — Maki Katsuragi; Fire Force — Shō Kusakabe; Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun — Hanako / Amane Yugi; Fruits Basket — additional voices / supporting dub work; Tokyo Ghoul:re — supporting dub work; Overlord II — supporting dub work; Tsuredure Children — supporting dub work; One Piece TV specials / related dub projects — supporting roles. These roles are consistently reflected across public actor databases and biographical summaries, with Deku, Mikaela, Hanako, Luck, Shō, Alfonso, and Qwenthur appearing most prominently.
Anime films (documented roles):
Black Butler: Book of the Atlantic — Edward Midford; My Hero Academia: Two Heroes — Izuku Midoriya; My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising — Izuku Midoriya; My Hero Academia: World Heroes’ Mission — Izuku Midoriya; My Hero Academia: You’re Next — Izuku Midoriya; The Stranger by the Shore — Mio Chibana; One Piece Film: Red is listed among Briner’s better-known film credits in current public databases, though general database snippets do not always expose the character name in search previews.
Video games (documented roles):
Cibele — Ichi; Briner is also publicly recognized for video-game voice work in anime-adjacent titles and franchise projects, though the most consistently surfaced game credit in general-source summaries is Cibele.
Writer / ADR-related work (documented):
Public biographical sources also credit Briner with writing work, including ADR script head writer credit on Rio: Rainbow Gate!.
Critical Reception
Briner’s reception is closely tied to how well his English-dub performances preserve the emotional identity of young, high-strain protagonists. Commentary around My Hero Academia has repeatedly singled out his Deku performance as a major strength of the dub. In a season review, IGN described the dub cast favorably and specifically called Briner’s work as Deku “excellent” and a standout element, while Polygon noted that both Briner and Daiki Yamashita “nail” Deku’s core personality in their respective languages.
His work has also received award attention from dub-focused outlets. IMDb’s awards summary lists Briner with multiple Behind the Voice Actors Award nominations connected to My Hero Academia, including 2018 nominations for Voice Actor of the Year and Best Male Lead Vocal Performance in an Anime Television Series/OVA for Deku. That is not the same as a mainstream industry prize, but it is a meaningful sign of sustained fan and niche-industry recognition within English dub circles.
Interview coverage also supports the idea that Briner is strongly identified with Deku’s long-form character arc. In convention and press interviews, he has spoken about Deku as a psychologically grounded character dealing with self-worth, identity, and growth, which helps explain why many fans consider his performance one of the defining English-language anchors of the series. Sources: Toonami Squad interview (https://toonamisquad.com/crunchyroll-expo-2018-interview-with-justin-briner/); ComicBook interview on My Hero Academia Season 5 (https://comicbook.com/anime/news/my-hero-academia-anime-season-5-interview/); ComicBook interview on Season 7-era reflections (https://comicbook.com/anime/news/my-hero-academia-season-7-anime-interview-2/).
Social Media
I’m omitting this section because I could not verify a direct, official handle-plus-profile URL from reliable public sources in this pass.
