Ryūsuke Ōbayashi is a Japanese actor, voice actor, and narrator born on March 13, 1946, in Fukuoka Prefecture. He is employed by the talent management firm 81 Produce and has been active in the entertainment industry since 1966. He originally performed under the name Ryūnosuke Ōbayashi, and his real name is Shōchi Ōbayashi. His height is 171 centimeters.

Ōbayashi is best known for two major long-running roles in anime. He provided the voice of Sōun Tendō, the often-weeping father of the Tendō sisters, in the Ranma ½ franchise, appearing in the television series, several theatrical films including Ranma ½: Nihao My Concubine and Ranma ½: Big Trouble in Nekonron, China, as well as the original video animations. He also famously voiced Captain Kiichi Gotō in the Patlabor metaseries, a role he performed across multiple television series including Patlabor The Mobile Police and Patlabor the Mobile Police: The New Files, as well as all three theatrical films: Patlabor: The Movie, Patlabor 2: The Movie, and Patlabor WXIII. He also voiced the same character in the Mini Pato short film series.

His career in mecha anime includes an extensive history with the Macross franchise. He first voiced the character Exsedol Folmo in The Super Dimension Fortress Macross in 1982. He reprised this role for the feature film Macross: Do You Remember Love? and later in the television series Macross 7 and its Macross 7 Encore episodes. In the Gundam metaseries, he voiced Rakan Dakaran in Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ.

Across his filmography, he has portrayed a wide range of supporting characters and antagonists. He played Yasuo Iwakura, the father of the protagonist, in the psychological science fiction series Serial Experiments Lain, and voiced Ken Sanada in Dual! Parallel Trouble Adventure. His other television roles include Yokomori in DNA², the Mystery Man in Fancy Lala, and Natsume's father in Jungle de Ikou!. He also voiced Raijuta Isurugi in Rurouni Kenshin, Ben Wooder in Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam, and Flide in Heavy Object.

In theatrical anime, his film appearances include roles such as Atagoal, Techno Police 21C, and the Bank President in Pompo the Cinephile. His video game work includes providing the voice of Judge Ghis in Final Fantasy XII, Emperor Strada in Asura's Wrath, and reprising his role as Exsedol Folmo for Macross Triangle Frontier. He also voiced the Shinigami in the Soul Eater drama CD. Beyond animation, Ōbayashi has an extensive career in dubbing foreign films and television series into Japanese.