Naomi Watanabe

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".

Biography Watanabe was born in Taipei to a Japanese father and a Taiwanese mother. The family moved to Japan shortly after her birth and she was raised in Ibaraki . She is an only child. Her parents divorced when she was very young. During that time, Watanabe recalls what living in poverty was like, especially when she was five or six years old; her mother struggled to find stable work because she was a foreigner and could barely understand the Japanese language.

Career Watanabe does impersonations of popular artists in Japanese culture, among which her imitation of Beyoncé singing "Dreamgirls" and "Crazy in Love" became popular. She has 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.

Watanabe made her musical debut in 2017, as a featured artist on Japanese-American singer Ai's single "Kira Kira". The song served as the opening theme song for the Japanese drama Kanna-san!, with Watanabe as the lead actress. "Kira Kira" was nominated for the Grand Prix Award at the 59th Japan Record Awards.

In 2022, she appeared as a featured artist on a Japanese remix of Doja Cat's 2021 single "Kiss Me More".

In 2025, Watanabe and the comic duo Chocolate Planet formed N-choco. They released their debut single "Elusive" with M-Flo.

Guest appearances Watanabe appeared as a guest in the 2013 anime movie Crayon Shin-chan: Very Tasty! B-class Gourmet Survival!!. In 2016, she voiced the character of Ashima in the Japanese language dub of the Thomas & Friends film The Great Race. In 2019, she was featured in Queer Eye: We're in Japan!, Season 1, Episode 3, "The Ideal Woman". She has appeared in Us Weekly magazine.

Personal life In March 2021, she announced she would move from Japan to the United States. Watanabe relocated to New York City, describing it as a "major rebirth".

Awards In December 2024, Naomi Watanabe was included on the BBC's 100 Women list.

Discography

Singles

As a featured artist +List of singles as a featured artist, showing select chart positions and associated albumsTitleYearPeak chart positionsAlbumJPN Hot 100 "Kira Kira"(Ai featuring Naomi Watanabe) 2017 19 Wa to Yo "Kiss Me More" (Doja Cat featuring Naomi Watanabe) 2022 — "Gods' Play" 2026— Idol1st"—" denotes items that did not chart.

Filmography

Variety shows

Film Year Title Role Notes 2012 Tug of War! 2013 R100 2018 Sunny: Our Hearts Beat Together Ume2020 The Untold Tale of the Three Kingdoms Diaochan The Promised Neverland Krone

Television drama

Animation

Japanese dub Live-action Year Title Role Voice dub for Notes 2015 Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb Tilly Rebel Wilson 2015 Pixels Serena Williams 2016 Ghostbusters Dr. Abigail L. "Abby" Yates Melissa McCarthy 2018 I Feel Pretty Renee Bennett Amy Schumer 2022 Ghostbusters: Afterlife Gozer / Mini Marshmallow Man 2025 Wednesday Rosaline Rotwood Lady Gaga

Animation Year Title Role Voice dub for Notes 2016 Thomas & Friends: The Great Race AshimaTina Desai 2017 Coco Frida KahloNatalia Cordova-Buckley 2022 Minions: The Rise of Gru Master ChowMichelle Yeoh