Mari Natsuki

Mari Natsuki is one of those performers who just radiates danger and glamour, and I mean that as the highest compliment. She started as this smoldering, theatrical singer, then quietly stacked up real acting chops, earning Japan Academy Prize honors back in the mid-80s, and somehow that's not even the thing most people know her for. For me she'll always be Yubaba in Spirited Away, that voice you recognize in half a second, all velvet and menace. What kills me is that she never coasted, jazz, stage, screen, voice work, deep into her seventies and still looking cooler than people half her age. That's the part I love most. She makes getting older look like an art form rather than a surrender, and honestly, that's a vibe I'll chase forever.

This take was written by generative AI, one per person, from publicly reported facts (editorial policy). It is a reading of the record, not reporting.

Mari Natsuki is a Japanese singer, dancer, actress, voice actress, and jazz musician born on May 2, 1952, in Toshima, Tokyo. She grew up in Omiya, Saitama, and graduated from Toshimagaoka Girls' High School. In 1985 she was honored at the Japan Academy Prize for outstanding supporting actress, and has also been recognized with the Golden Arrow Award. She is widely known internationally as the Japanese voice of Yubaba in the animated film Spirited Away.

Name (English)

Mari Natsuki

Name (Japanese)

夏木マリ

Reading

なつき まり

Born

May 2, 1952 (age 74)

Origin

Toshima, Tokyo, Japan

Occupation

Singer / Dancer / Actress / Voice Actress / Jazz Musician

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Taurus / Dragon

Active years

1971 -

High school

Toshimagaoka Girls' Junior and Senior High School

Awards & achievements

• Japan Academy Prize, Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role (1985)
• Golden Arrow Award (year unknown)

Works summary

Appearances

315 (1971–2026)

By year (titles with a known year)

1971: 2, 1972: 2, 1973: 4, 1974: 10, 1975: 4, 1976: 4, 1977: 4, 1978: 4, 1979: 5, 1980: 2, 1981: 7, 1982: 6, 1983: 2, 1984: 3, 1985: 5, 1986: 7, 1987: 3, 1988: 1, 1989: 3, 1990: 2, 1991: 4, 1992: 3, 1993: 5, 1994: 3, 1995: 9, 1996: 4, 1997: 5, 1998: 2, 1999: 2, 2000: 4, 2001: 5, 2002: 5, 2003: 5, 2004: 6, 2005: 9, 2006: 9, 2007: 11, 2008: 9, 2009: 4, 2010: 10, 2011: 5, 2012: 6, 2013: 8, 2014: 10, 2015: 2, 2016: 8, 2017: 7, 2018: 7, 2019: 10, 2020: 8, 2021: 8, 2022: 3, 2023: 9, 2024: 4, 2025: 2, 2026: 2, year unknown: 22

Debut work

小さな恋 / (リトル・ラブ)

Filmography / notable works

• Official sitehttps://www.natsukirock.com/
• Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/mari_natsuki/
• Xhttps://x.com/marinatsukides
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%A4%8F%E6%9C%A8%E3%83%9E%E3%83%AA
• Wikidatahttps://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1190336

Tags

• From Tokyo
• Singer
• Dancer
• Actress

Last updated

October 18, 2026

Only publicly available facts are listed; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. Base data was compiled from Wikidata from June 2026 onward; ages are recalculated daily and deaths are checked against Wikidata on an ongoing basis. Works and profile fields sourced from Wikipedia reflect content as of 2026-08-26. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.