Takao Ishii was a Japanese voice actor and actor from Tokyo, born on June 30, 1954. He was affiliated with the theatre company Theatre Echo. Ishii passed away in July 2018.

His career encompassed a wide range of voice work in anime, video games, and Japanese dubs of foreign films and television series. In anime, he is known for his role as Jirōshin in the various installments of the Saiyuki franchise, including the television series Saiyuki, Saiyuki Reload, and Saiyuki Gunlock, as well as the original video animation Saiyuki Gaiden. He also voiced the character Tatsuo Kano in the television series Hit o Nerae!. Other notable anime roles include the director Andou in Major, Heihachirō in Legend of Himiko, and various characters in long-running series such as Transformers, Golgo 13, and Hikaru no Go. His film work included a role in the classic anime movie Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honnêamise.

Beyond anime, Ishii was highly active in voice-over work for foreign media. He was particularly well-known in Japan as the dubbed voice of painter Bob Ross for the NHK broadcast of the television show The Joy of Painting. His extensive film dubbing credits included voices in Japanese versions of Hollywood films such as Superman, Tomb Raider, Batman & Robin, and Happy Feet. He also contributed voices to popular video games like Tomb Raider Chronicles and provided character voices for tokusatsu series such as Seijuu Sentai Gingaman and Kyuukyuu Sentai GoGoFive.