Naomi Watanabe

Naomi Watanabe (渡辺 直美, Watanabe Naomi, born 23 October 1987) 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".[1][2][3]

Naomi Watanabe
渡辺 直美
Born
Naomi Watanabe

(1987-10-23) 23 October 1987
New Taipei, Taiwan
OccupationActress, comedian
Years active2007 (2007)–present
Height1.57 m (5 ft 2 in)
Notes
Same year/generation as:
Jungle Pocket
Sabara Seishun no Hikari

Career

Watanabe does impersonations of popular artists in Japanese culture, among which her imitation of Beyoncé singing "Dreamgirls" and "Crazy in Love" quickly became popular. She has also 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. Her Instagram account is followed by 7.9m people as of 18 April 2018[4].

Personal life

Naomi Watanabe was born in Taipei and raised in Ibaraki.[5] She is of half-Japanese and half-Taiwanese descent.[6][7]

Guest appearances

Watanabe was seen as a guest in the 2013 anime movie Crayon Shin-chan: Very Tasty! B-class Gourmet Survival!!.[8] In 2016, she voiced the character of Ashima in the Japanese language dub of the Thomas & Friends film The Great Race.[9] In 2019, she was featured in Queer Eye: We're in Japan! Season 1, Episode 3, The Ideal Woman[10].

References
  1. "和製ビヨンセ・渡辺直美、美空ひばりさんのモノマネ初披露". Oricon (in Japanese). 23 August 2008. Retrieved 12 March 2010.
  2. "和製ビヨンセ・渡辺直美が激白？「椎名桔平に口説かれたら芸人辞めます！」". Cinema Today (in Japanese). 2 May 2008. Retrieved 12 March 2010.
  3. Hou, Kathleen. "Make Some Room For Naomi Watanabe The unstoppable Japanese comedian is coming for America and the world". The Cut. Retrieved 2 August 2019.
  4. Inagaki, Kana. "Comedian Naomi Watanabe on luxury, loneliness and being plus-size in Japan" (April 18, 2018). Financial Times.
  5. Inagaki, Kana. "Comedian Naomi Watanabe on luxury, loneliness and being plus-size in Japan". Financial Times.
  6. Hou, Kathleen (1 August 2019). "Make Some Room For Naomi Watanabe". The Cut. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
  7. "渡辺直美は8.5kg減　「肉食ダイエット」がいいかも". Ameba News (in Japanese). 25 November 2009. Archived from the original on 30 December 2009. Retrieved 10 March 2010.
  8. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 22 January 2013. Retrieved 15 January 2013.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  9. "映画 きかんしゃトーマス「走れ！世界のなかまたち THE GREAT RACE」" (in Japanese).
  10. "Queer Eye: We're in Japan! | Netflix Official Site". www.netflix.com. Retrieved 7 November 2019.
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