Patrick Harlan is an American-born Japanese entertainer, comedian, and voice actor, widely recognized in Japan by his stage name Pakkun. Born in Colorado on November 14, 1970, he is a graduate of Harvard University with a degree in the Comparative Study of Religion. His career in Japan began after he first visited the country in 1993 with the Harvard Glee Club. He later moved to Tokyo in 1996 to pursue acting, having taught English and taught himself Japanese to a high level of proficiency. He is perhaps best known as the funny man of the popular comedy duo Pack'n Mack'n, which he formed in 1997, leading to extensive work as a television personality, host, commentator, and author.

In the realm of voice acting, Harlan has contributed to a range of video games, animated series, and films. His early work includes roles in video games such as Robert Wells in Shenmue (2000) and Ark Thompson in Resident Evil Survivor (2000). He also provided voices for Super Monkey Ball 2 (2002) as Gongon and Dr. Bad-Boon. His film voice work includes a pirate in Doraemon: Nobita's Great Adventure in the South Seas (1998) and Jack Waltz in the anime feature Detective Conan: Dimensional Sniper (2014). He also voiced the character David Rice in an episode of the anime series Neuro: Supernatural Detective in 2008.

Harlan has a notable association with the educational anime series Little Charo. As specified by the user, he voices the English narrator in Little Charo: Tohoku-hen, a role that guides the audience through the story's adventures in the Tohoku region. His involvement with the franchise extends beyond voice work; he is also credited with writing the English scripts for the series, including Little Charo: Tohoku-hen and subsequent releases. This demonstrates a recurring collaboration with the NHK educational franchise, contributing both his linguistic skills and vocal talents to bridge the Japanese and English versions of the story.