Renato Cortesi is an Italian actor, voice actor, dialogist, and dubbing director, born in Bergamo on July 28, 1939. He began his artistic training at the school of the Piccolo Teatro in Milan and started his acting career at a young age in university theatre productions. His career encompasses significant work on stage, in film, and extensively in the field of dubbing for both live-action and animated productions.

In the realm of anime and animated films for the Italian market, Cortesi has lent his voice to a variety of characters. One of his noted roles is Professor Senjiro Shiba in the series Kotetsushin Jeeg. His other anime voice roles include the Sage in The Boy and the Beast, the Majority Leader in Genocidal Organ, a minister in Getter Robo G, and Ichitaru in Muteki Chōjin Zambot 3. He also voiced characters in series such as Cat's Eye, Cinderella Boy, My Patrasche, and provided the second voice for John Silver in the anime adaptation of Treasure Island. Beyond Japanese anime, his work in animation includes voicing the character Kortez in My Patrasche and the Wizard of Oz in a film adaptation of The Wizard of Oz.

Cortesi is widely recognized for his prolific dubbing of prominent international actors in live-action films. He is notably the Italian voice for French actors Gérard Depardieu and André Dussollier in numerous films. His extensive dubbing filmography also includes providing voices for actors such as William Hurt, Liam Neeson, Jeff Bridges, Derek Jacobi in Gladiator, Brad Dourif as Chucky in the Child's Play franchise, and Jim Belushi in Trading Places. He was also a preferred voice for director Federico Fellini, dubbing characters in nine of the director's films, including the role of a young Fellini in Roma.

In addition to his dubbing work, Cortesi has an extensive career as a screen actor, appearing in numerous Italian films and television series since the 1970s. He is also a dialogist and dubbing director, contributing to the creation of Italian-language versions of foreign productions. His contributions to the field were recognized in October 2004 when he received the Deutscher Preis für Synchron (German Prize for Dubbing) in Berlin, an award typically given to German dubbing actors, making him the first international actor to be invited and honored at the gala.