Lana Condor
Description
Lana Condor, an American actress born in 1997, has built a career that includes several significant voice roles in animation, particularly within the sphere of Japanese anime and its related media. She is best known for her on-screen performances, but her work in voice-over has contributed to the genre's reach in Western markets.
Condor made her entrance into anime-adjacent cinema with the role of Koyomi K. in the 2019 film Alita: Battle Angel. The movie is a live-action adaptation of the cyberpunk manga series Gunnm by Yukito Kishiro, and her character places her directly within this Japanese intellectual property.
Expanding her voice work into television, Condor voiced the lead character, Kaoru, in the English dub of the Japanese stop-motion anime series Rilakkuma and Kaoru, which was released in 2019. The series, a production by the Japanese company dwarf studios for Netflix, follows a young woman living with a beloved character from Japanese culture, representing a more traditional form of anime storytelling.
In addition to these roles directly tied to Japanese productions, Condor voiced the character Casey McGarry in two episodes of the adult animated series BoJack Horseman in 2019. While the show is an American production, it operates within a style heavily influenced by anime and occupies a similar space in the entertainment landscape.
Her most high-profile voice role to date came in 2023 as the lead character, Ruby Gillman, in the DreamWorks Animation theatrical film Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken. Though not an anime, the role is a significant achievement in mainstream animation. In an interview about the production, Condor discussed the unique challenges of voice acting, noting that her role required recording over a three-year period, which taught her the importance of warming up and protecting her voice for the demands of animated performances. She also reflected on her career goal of portraying strong, independent Asian characters, a perspective that has informed her choices in both live-action and voice roles.
Condor made her entrance into anime-adjacent cinema with the role of Koyomi K. in the 2019 film Alita: Battle Angel. The movie is a live-action adaptation of the cyberpunk manga series Gunnm by Yukito Kishiro, and her character places her directly within this Japanese intellectual property.
Expanding her voice work into television, Condor voiced the lead character, Kaoru, in the English dub of the Japanese stop-motion anime series Rilakkuma and Kaoru, which was released in 2019. The series, a production by the Japanese company dwarf studios for Netflix, follows a young woman living with a beloved character from Japanese culture, representing a more traditional form of anime storytelling.
In addition to these roles directly tied to Japanese productions, Condor voiced the character Casey McGarry in two episodes of the adult animated series BoJack Horseman in 2019. While the show is an American production, it operates within a style heavily influenced by anime and occupies a similar space in the entertainment landscape.
Her most high-profile voice role to date came in 2023 as the lead character, Ruby Gillman, in the DreamWorks Animation theatrical film Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken. Though not an anime, the role is a significant achievement in mainstream animation. In an interview about the production, Condor discussed the unique challenges of voice acting, noting that her role required recording over a three-year period, which taught her the importance of warming up and protecting her voice for the demands of animated performances. She also reflected on her career goal of portraying strong, independent Asian characters, a perspective that has informed her choices in both live-action and voice roles.
All Characters
- EnglishAnime overview: Alita: Battle Angel