Wataru Hatano is a Japanese voice actor and singer affiliated with the agency 81 Produce. He was born on March 13, 1982, in Nagano Prefecture. After attending the Amusement Media Academy, he completed the 81 Produce Acting Institute and made his debut in 2001. In 2008, he received the Best Male Rookie Award at the 2nd Seiyu Awards for his performances as Sam Houston in Toward the Terra and Tenshi Yuri in Saint Beast: Kouin Jojishi Tenshitan. He launched his solo singing career in 2011 with the single Hajimari no Hi ni.

Hatano has built a prolific career portraying a wide spectrum of characters. He is well known for his role as the iron-eating Dragon Slayer Gajeel Redfox in the long-running fantasy series Fairy Tail. In superhero narratives, he voices the hero Metal Bat in One Punch Man and Hitoshi Shinso in My Hero Academia. He also plays Motojirō Kajii in Bungo Stray Dogs and Haruta Shigemo in Jujutsu Kaisen. In the idol genre, he is the voice of Gaku Yaotome across the IDOLiSH7 multimedia project, including its various anime seasons and films. His work includes many of the roles provided, such as Hidetomo Kajōmaru in Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War, Klimt in Reincarnated as a Sword, Rei Hōjō in The Yakuza's Guide to Babysitting, Rihito Hiyakawa in The Night Beyond the Tricornered Window, Edward in Shadows House, Murasaki in the Hamatora series, and Ryō Sakaguchi in The Highschool Life of a Fudanshi. His filmography also features Hakuya Mitsumine in Engaged to the Unidentified, Yūto Ayase in Haruka Nogizaka's Secret, and Junichi Nagase in Akane Iro ni Somaru Saka.

Beyond anime, Hatano is active in video games, voicing Josuke Higashikata in the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure games adapted by CyberConnect2 and Rufus in the Street Fighter franchise. He also contributed his voice to the Japanese dub of the Chinese animated series Fox Spirit Matchmaker as the character Haku Gessho. In 2025, he won the 19th Seiyu Awards in the Kids/Family category, recognizing his work in family-oriented programming.