Naoka Ueno in A Silent Voice is voiced by Yuki Kaneko in the Japanese version and Wendee Lee in the English dub. Both performers bring a sharp, emotionally charged quality to Ueno’s complex role as an antagonist whose hostility masks deeper personal conflicts, making her one of the film’s more memorable supporting characters.
Yuki Kaneko (Japanese Voice Actor)
About Yuki
Yuki Kaneko is a Japanese voice actress affiliated with the talent agency Grick. She has built her career through a mix of anime, film dubbing, and theatrical work, gradually establishing a presence in the Japanese voice acting industry through steady supporting roles.
Her portrayal of Naoka Ueno in A Silent Voice (2016) stands as one of her most prominent credits to date. The role demanded a voice that could convey both casual cruelty and buried vulnerability, and Kaneko delivers a performance that makes Ueno feel uncomfortably real rather than a simple villain. Her natural tone carries an edge that suits the character’s social aggression without tipping into caricature.
Kaneko’s background reflects the training and discipline common to voice actors who come up through agency pipelines in Japan, where performers are expected to handle a wide range of material across animation, live-action dubbing, and stage performance.
Career Highlights
- Naoka Ueno – A Silent Voice
Critical Reception
Yuki Kaneko’s performance as Ueno received quiet appreciation from viewers who noted how effectively she made the character grating in precisely the right way. Ueno is not a sympathetic figure for much of the film, and Kaneko’s vocal choices ensure that her scenes land with the intended discomfort. Fans and critics discussing the film on sites such as Anime News Network and MyAnimeList have generally praised the Japanese cast as a whole, with Ueno’s voice work cited as a strong supporting contribution to the film’s emotional authenticity.
Wendee Lee (English Voice Actor)
Date of Birth
February 20, 1960
About Wendee
Wendee Lee is one of the most prolific and recognizable voice actresses in the North American anime dubbing industry. Based in Los Angeles, California, she has been a fixture of English-language anime localization since the 1980s and has worked extensively with studios including Bandai Entertainment, Funimation, Bang Zoom! Entertainment, and Studiopolis, among others.
Her range is genuinely exceptional — she has voiced heroes, villains, mentors, and comic relief across hundreds of productions over four decades. Lee is perhaps best known to Western audiences for roles such as Haruhi Suzumiya in The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and Faye Valentine in Cowboy Bebop, both of which demonstrated her ability to carry lead roles with distinct personality and depth. Her casting as Naoka Ueno in Funimation’s English dub of A Silent Voice is a somewhat unconventional choice given the age gap between Lee and the teenage character, but it reflects her standing as a trusted performer for nuanced antagonist roles.
Lee’s experience with morally complicated characters made her a fitting choice for Ueno. The role requires a voice that can make selfishness feel almost reasonable from the character’s own perspective, and Lee brings the kind of controlled sharpness that keeps Ueno from becoming a flat mean-girl archetype.
Hometown
Los Angeles, California, USA
Career Highlights
- Naoka Ueno – A Silent Voice
- Haruhi Suzumiya – The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
- Faye Valentine – Cowboy Bebop
- Konata Izumi – Lucky Star
- Suì-Fēng – Bleach
- Teletha “Tessa” Testarossa – Full Metal Panic!
Full Current Filmography
The following list reflects documented credits and may not be exhaustive.
Anime (Voice Acting)
- Faye Valentine – Cowboy Bebop (1998)
- Teletha “Tessa” Testarossa – Full Metal Panic! (2002)
- Suì-Fēng – Bleach (2004)
- Haruhi Suzumiya – The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (2006)
- Konata Izumi – Lucky Star (2007)
- Naoka Ueno – A Silent Voice (2016)
Critical Reception
Wendee Lee’s English performance as Ueno has been received positively by viewers of the Funimation dub, with many noting that she captures the character’s particular brand of social menace convincingly. Discussions on Anime News Network and MyAnimeList have praised the English dub of A Silent Voice overall, and Lee’s contribution to the ensemble is regarded as one of several strong supporting turns in a well-regarded localization effort.
