Kotoe Hatsui was a Japanese actress and voice actress born in Yokohama, Japan, on January 8, 1929. A highly respected figure in Japanese theater and film, she was a founding member of the influential Seinenza Theater Company in 1954 and was under contract with the Nikkatsu film studio from 1957 to 1970. Her career spanned stage, television, and film, where she became renowned for playing strong, mature female characters, often portraying mothers, grandmothers, and formidable mothers-in-law.

In the realm of anime voice acting, Hatsui is remembered for two prominent roles from different eras. She provided the voice for Apollodoria in the 1970 animated film Cleopatra. Her most iconic and internationally recognized voice role came in 1986 when she voiced the character Dola, the boisterous and tough-but-kind-hearted leader of a family of air pirates, in Hayao Miyazaki's Studio Ghibli classic Castle in the Sky. This performance remains beloved by fans of the film.

Beyond anime, Hatsui was active in dubbing foreign films, providing the Japanese-language voices for actresses such as Patricia Neal, Marlene Dietrich, and Anne Bancroft. For her contributions to theater, she was honored with the 33rd Agency for Cultural Affairs National Arts Festival Award for Excellence in 1978 for her performance in the play Mousatsu–Nijouzan Chinkon. Kotoe Hatsui passed away on September 21, 1990, at the age of 61.