Naomi Watanabe (born October 23rd 1987) is a Japanese comedian/singer/model/fashion designer who now lives in New York City.
Born in Taiwan, she grew up in the Ibaraki prefecture of Japan and made a breakthrough on television thanks to her stage impersonation of Beyoncé. From this, she went on to imitate other mainstream American Pop singers such as Lady Gaga or Ariana Grande, while acting on television, dubbing animes and acting in musicals. Standing out as one of the rare plus-sized public personalities of Japan, she founded in 2014 her own clothing brand called Punyus, one of the rare Japanese clothing line to put emphasis on plus-size wear. She is also the most followed Japanese person on Instagram.
After gaining more Western interest thanks to her appearance in Queer Eye (2018), she left Japan for the United States in 2021, settling in New York City and starting her Podcast Naomi Takes America, dedicated to her discovery of the country.
Filmography:
- 2007 - Sazae-san (adaptation of the manga)
- 2010 - Take Two with Phineas and Ferb (Japan version): Herself
- 2011 - Deka Wanko (adaptation of the manga)
- 2011 - The Hero Yoshihiko and the Devil King's Castle
- 2012 - Tug of War!
- 2013 - Crayon Shin-chan: Very Tasty! B-class Gourmet Survival!! (film adaptation of the manga)
- 2013 - R100
- 2015 - Chibi Maruko-chan: A Boy from Italy (film adaptation of the manga
- 2016 - The Hiddens
- 2018 - Sunny: Our Hearts Beat Together - Ume
- 2019 - Queer Eye (2018): We're in Japan! - Herself (guest)
- 2020 - Doraemon: Nobita's New Dinosaur (sequel to Doraemon: Nobita's Dinosaur) - Natalie (voice)
- 2020 - The Untold Story of the Three Kingdoms - Diaochan
- 2020 - The Promised Neverland (film adaptation of the manga) - Krone
- 2020 - Followers
- 2021 - Sailor Moon Eternal - Zirconia (voice) (replacing Hisako Kyoda)
- 2022 - Deemo: Memorial Keys - Sachet (voice)
Her work provides examples of:
- Big Beautiful Woman: She is the egery of clothing brands, has promoted make-up products and has launched a clothing line dedicated to plus-size wear, in a stark contrast to the beginning of her career where her large body was the butt of the joke.
- Big Fun: Mostly used early in her television comedy career. She would still use that trope has a way of promoting body-positivity.
- Fat Comic Relief: Early in her career, she would take part in Slapstick Comedy which involved her weight (with jokes such as breaking a chair or being presented as a Gonk-like character). During the preparation of the 2022 olympic games in tokyo, one of the organizers suggested that Naomi should dress up as an "Olympig".
- Gonk: Part of her comedy routine is making over-the-top grimaces. Earlier in her career, she would play an unattractive schoolgirl with Big Ol' Eyebrows.
- Mascot: While promoting a brand of Japanese apples as its egery, she dressed up in an appletree dress, with her hair being the branches.
- Podcast: Naomi Takes America is about her discovery of America as she invites american fans who talk to her about various US states.
- Promoted Fangirl: Rising to fame thanks to an impersonation of Beyoncé, she ended up meeting the singer herself and later worked for her as a model for the Ivy Park brand.
- Race Lift: She has played Krone (a black character) in the film adaptation of The Promised Neverland.
- Dubbing-wise, she voiced Serena Williams in the japanese dubbing of Pixels and white actresses such as Melissa McCarthy or Rebel Wilson.
- Special Guest: On the japanese mini-season of Queer Eye (2018).
- Typecasting: Her foreign movie dubbing roles usually involve her being the japanese voice of plus-size actresses such as Melissa McCarthy or Rebel Wilson. One notable outlier is tenniswoman Serena Williams.
