Tetsuo Kanao is a Japanese actor and voice actor born on September 25, 1950, in Tokyo, Japan. He is affiliated with the theatre company Theatre Company Subaru. Kanao is a graduate of Keio University, where he earned a business degree before pursuing a career in acting.

Kanao has built a prolific career spanning several decades, with a voice often heard in military and villain roles. His filmography includes a wide array of characters in anime television series, original video animations, and video games. Among his many anime roles, he has voiced Bui in Yu Yu Hakusho, Patros in Bleach, Namakelder in Happiness Charge PreCure!, and Chad Adkins in Gangsta.. In the Dr. Stone franchise, he provides the voice for the character Kokuyo, appearing in Dr. Stone, Dr. Stone: Stone Wars, and Dr. Stone: New World. He also voiced Margrave Juro in the Star Wars: Visions short The Ninth Jedi and Daijirō Funaki in the original net animation Gaikan Chiba. More recent prominent roles include Vim Jeturk in Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury and a recurring role as a fictionalized version of himself in the Kamen Rider Build series.

Beyond anime, Kanao is highly active in dubbing foreign films and television series into Japanese. He is the regular Japanese dubbing voice for actors such as Will Patton and has dubbed performances for Jeremy Irons, Gary Sinise, and Christopher Walken. Some of his most notable dubbing roles include Cypher in The Matrix, Miles Bennett Dyson in Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Rupert Giles in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Chancellor Finis Valorum in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. He also voices characters in Western animated productions, such as Brom Bones in The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad and Blade Ranger in Planes: Fire & Rescue.

In the Kamen Rider franchise, Kanao has achieved recognition for voicing the villain Evolto and his transformations, including Kamen Rider Evol, in Kamen Rider Build. This role is notable as it made him the oldest actor in the franchise's history, as of September 2020, to portray a Kamen Rider, even if only in voice.