Born on March 31 1980 in Itabashi, Tokyo, Japanese singer and voice actor Maaya
Sakamoto first came to national prominence at the age of 16, starring as Hitomi
Kanzaki in the TV anime series Vision of Escaflowne. The bilingual singer—who
sings in both English and Japanese has been featured as the voice of Padmé
Amidala in the Japanese dub versions of Star Wars: Episode I, II, and III as
well as performing the dub voice of Natalie Portman in various films—released
her debut single "Yakusoku wa Iranai" in collaboration with Yoko Kanno under
Victor Entertainment in April 1996. She c...