Makio Inoue was a Japanese actor and voice actor, born Takao Inoue on November 30, 1938, in Yamanashi Prefecture. He passed away on November 29, 2019, at the age of 80. He was affiliated with Aoni Production for much of his career.

Inoue's path to voice acting began with a childhood dream of becoming an actor, inspired by mobile theater troupes. He started appearing in television movies while still in high school. His stage name, Makio, was derived from a pen name he used for writing poetry at the time. In the early 1960s, he co-founded an underground theater company. When the company faced financial hardship, an acquaintance invited him to audition for the lead role in a Japanese dub of an American television series, which launched his voice acting career. His work was highly regarded, and by the 1970s, he had achieved significant popularity, becoming known as one of the top three most popular voice actors in Japan.

Inoue is most prominently known for two defining, long-running roles. In 1977, he succeeded Chikao Ōtsuka as the voice of Goemon Ishikawa XIII in the Lupin III series. The director at the time envisioned a new interpretation of the character as a young, handsome swordsman, and Inoue imbued Goemon with his own personality, a role he would cherish and perform for over three decades. His final performance as Goemon was in 2010's Lupin III: The Last Job. The following year, he was succeeded in the role by Daisuke Namikawa. He also voiced the titular character, Captain Harlock, a role he originated in the 1978 series Space Pirate Captain Harlock and continued to play through various films and OVAs into the 1990s.

Beyond these signature characters, Inoue had a prolific career with many other significant roles. One of his earliest major successes was as Mitsuru Hanagata in the 1968 baseball anime Star of the Giants, a role he reprised in numerous sequels and films. His filmography includes a wide range of characters across different genres. He voiced William Albert Ardlay in Candy Candy, Riki Jinguuji in Brave Raideen, Sleggar Law in the Mobile Suit Gundam movie trilogy, and Ithaca in Andromeda Stories. He also took on roles in OVAs such as Legend of the Galactic Heroes and Queen Emeraldas, and in later years, provided the voice for Master Eraqus in the Kingdom Hearts video game series.

In addition to animation, Inoue was active in dubbing foreign films and television series. His work included providing the Japanese voice for actors like David McCallum in The Great Escape and The Greatest Story Ever Told, and Horst Buchholz in a TV edition of The Magnificent Seven.

In the later part of his life, Inoue became a Buddhist monk and built his own temple in Chiba Prefecture. He was known to attend recording sessions in traditional samue clothing and wooden geta sandals, often arriving on a moped. He passed away at his home in Chiba Prefecture on November 29, 2019, due to worsening chronic angina.