Naoki Bandou is a Japanese voice actor born on December 12, 1957, in Asahikawa, Hokkaido, and raised in Hakodate. He is also known by his birth name, Koichiro Bando. His journey into performance began with theater; he graduated from the Youth Seat Drama School and joined the Shinginkai theater troupe. However, finding it challenging to secure prominent stage roles due to his physical stature, he was drawn to voice acting after working with sound effects during theater productions. A senior colleague's encouragement led him to pursue this new path.

His big break in the anime industry came with the series City Hunter in the late 1980s, where he was frequently called upon to fill a variety of minor roles, providing him with invaluable experience and exposure. In 1991, he landed his first regular character role as Guard Star in The Brave Fighter of Sun Fighbird. Over his extensive career, Bandou has been affiliated with several talent agencies, including Q Production, Mausu Promotion, Liberta, and ALBA, and is currently represented by Production Ace.

Bandou is highly regarded as a versatile supporting actor, bringing a wide array of characters to life across numerous anime series, films, and video games. His filmography includes significant roles such as Gato in Naruto, Tako in Mujin Wakusei Survive, Owen in Berserk, and Janáček in Monster. He has also been a recurring presence in long-running series like Crayon Shin-chan, where he has voiced characters including Junichi Ishizaka for many years. In the mecha genre, he is known for his performances in various Gundam series, such as Mobile Suit Victory Gundam and Mobile Suit Gundam AGE, as well as multiple roles in The Brave of Gold Goldran, including Jet Silver, Star Silver, and Silverion.

In the Yo-kai Watch franchise, he has become a core cast member, voicing numerous characters including Robonyan, Robonyan Type-F, Jinmenken, and Grellurin across several series and films. Beyond anime, his voice work extends to video games, where he is known for roles such as Lord Emon in Shadow of the Colossus and Larikush in Baten Kaitos. He is also active in dubbing foreign films and television series into Japanese.

Beyond his performance work, Bandou is dedicated to nurturing the next generation of voice actors. Since 2011, he has managed his own voice acting school, Shaberutech, where he serves as a mentor. His personal interests include photography and desktop music production. With a career spanning several decades, Naoki Bandou is a respected and experienced figure in the Japanese entertainment industry, known for his professionalism, distinctive voice, and ability to enhance any project with his reliable character performances.