Chieko Baisho is a highly accomplished Japanese actress and singer who has also contributed significantly to voice acting in anime. Born on June 29, 1941, in Tokyo, she began her entertainment career after graduating from the Shochiku Music Dance School, first gaining recognition as a singer with her 1962 debut song "Shitamachi no Taiyō," for which she won the Japan Record Award for Best New Artist. She is widely celebrated in Japan for her long-running role as Sakura in the iconic Otoko wa Tsurai yo (It's Tough Being a Man) film series, a part she played from 1969 to 1995.

Her work as a voice actor, while selective, includes some of the most memorable roles in modern anime. She provided the voice for the West Wind in the 1981 fantasy film The Fantastic Adventures of Unico. In the same year, she voiced Kamaria Ray in the first Mobile Suit Gundam movie compilation. Her most acclaimed voice performance came in 2004 when she voiced the protagonist Sophie in Hayao Miyazaki's Academy Award-nominated film, Howl's Moving Castle. Notably, she voiced both the young and elderly versions of the character, a departure from the international dubs which often used two different actresses. She also performed the film's theme song. More recently, she voiced Fumi Tachibana, the grandmother of the protagonist, in Makoto Shinkai's 2019 hit film Weathering with You. Other voice roles include Sonia in the 2001 film Tracing the Gray Summer (also known as Daiokishin no natsu or The Fantastic Adventures of Unico in the Island of Magic) and Hisako Ōishi in the 1980s anime series Twelve Sets of Eyes.

Baisho's work is marked by long-standing creative relationships, most prominently with director Yōji Yamada, for whom she has acted in numerous films since the 1960s. Her contributions to the arts have been recognized with numerous accolades, including the Hochi Film Award for Best Actress in 1980 and the Mainichi Film Award for Best Actress on multiple occasions. For her voice work in Howl's Moving Castle, she was honored with the Best Voice Actor Award at the 2005 Tokyo International Anime Fair. In 2013, she was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette for her artistic achievements.