Taeko Kawata is a Japanese voice actress born in Tokyo on March 20, 1965. She began her professional career in 1986 after training at the Tokyo Announce Academy and initially joined the talent agency 81 Produce. She remained affiliated with 81 Produce until 2010, after which she became a freelancer. In October 2019, she established her own agency, T-River LLC. She is a graduate of Jissen Commercial High School.

Kawata is known for her versatile and energetic voice, frequently portraying young girls, boys, and cute or mystical creatures. She is perhaps best known internationally as the voice of Amy Rose in the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, a role she has voiced in numerous video games, including the Sonic Adventure series, Sonic Heroes, and Sonic Frontiers, as well as the anime television series Sonic X. Another signature role is that of the robot girl Arale Norimaki in the second Dr. Slump anime series from 1997 and its associated films.

Her extensive filmography includes a significant number of roles in the Pretty Cure franchise. She is the voice of Shypre (also romanized as Chypre) in Heartcatch Precure! and several Precure All Stars crossover films, including Precure All Stars New Stage: Mirai no Tomodachi, Precure All Stars DX2: Kibō no Hikari—Rainbow Jewel o Mamore!, and Precure All Stars DX3 Mirai ni Todoke! Sekai o Tsunagu Niji-Iro no Hana. She also voiced the character Marquis in the Futari wa Pretty Cure: Max Heart film.

Kawata has played a wide array of other notable anime roles. She voiced Kaoru Nishino in Azuki-chan, Chiyo in Aoi Bungaku Series, Kanon in A Little Snow Fairy Sugar, and Vanillan in iii icecrin. Her other roles include Chobi in Gan Gan Ganko-chan, Leo in Jungle Emperor Leo, Harry Thomas in Before Green Gables, Chi in Uchi no 3 Shimai, and Victoria Yukimura in Penguin no Mondai: Shiawase no Aoi Tori de Go-Pen-nasai. In the Digimon franchise, she voiced Kotemon in a Digimon Frontier movie. She has also appeared in long-running series such as One Piece, Sailor Moon, and Soreike! Anpanman.

In addition to anime, Kawata has a prolific career in dubbing foreign films and television series. She is well known as the Japanese voice of Michelle Tanner (played by Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen) in Full House and Carol Anne Freeling in the Poltergeist film trilogy. Her other dubbing credits include roles in Aliens, the Beethoven films, and Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events. She has also provided voices for Sanrio characters, most notably Cinnamoroll.

Beyond voice acting, Kawata is active in nurturing new talent through her agency and has formed a creative unit called Windy's Murmur with fellow voice actress Atsuko Tanaka. In 2022, she was appointed as a tourism ambassador for Konosu City in Saitama Prefecture.