Michitaka Kobayashi is a veteran Japanese voice actor born on August 28, 1955, in Mobara, Chiba Prefecture, Japan. He is affiliated with the talent management firm Aoni Production. He began his career in 1977 and has also worked under the stage name Sanshirō Nitta.

Kobayashi's career is marked by a high volume of roles, particularly throughout the 1980s and 1990s, where he was a regular presence in many anime series. He is known for playing a wide array of supporting characters, villains, and anonymous townspeople, demonstrating a versatility that made him a staple voice in the industry. Among his most recognized leading roles is the titular character Ryu Urashima in the 1983 science fiction series Future Police Urashiman. He also voiced Elephan in Video Warrior Laserion and had a notable role as the villainous Sagitta Ptolemy in the classic anime Saint Seiya.

The voice actor has been involved in several major and long-running franchises. He has a recurring role in the One Piece series as Yasopp, the sharpshooter of the Red-Haired Pirates and father of Usopp. He has also contributed to the Gundam franchise, voicing John Juan in Mobile Suit Gundam III: Encounters in Space. In the world of Transformers, he voiced the Autobot Headmaster Highbrow in Transformers: The Headmasters. His extensive filmography includes numerous other titles, such as GeGeGe no Kitarō in its various series, Dragon Ball, Fist of the North Star, and many original video animations (OVAs) from the late 80s and early 90s.

Throughout his long career, Kobayashi has been part of the industry's foundation, often collaborating with a wide range of studios and fellow voice actors without being exclusively tied to a single prominent director or creator. His notable achievement lies in his longevity and the sheer breadth of his work, providing voices for hundreds of characters across nearly five decades in the anime industry, which has made him a familiar presence to fans of anime from the 1980s onward.