Masato Obara is a Japanese actor and voice actor born on August 25, 1965, in Tokyo, Japan. He is a graduate of Nihon University College of Art. His career began in the early 1990s on the stage, where he made his theatrical debut with the Tokyo Sunshine Boys company in the play 12 Gentle Japanese. This connection to the theater was formative, as he was a university junior to the renowned playwright Koki Mitani, through whose company he made his professional debut. Early in his career, he briefly used the stage name Orihara Masato before reverting to his birth name on the advice of fellow actor Masahiko Nishimura. His background includes training in traditional Japanese dance and kendo.

Obara's body of work spans television dramas, film, and stage, but he is widely recognized for his contributions to anime and voice-over acting. In anime, he has taken on a variety of significant roles. He is the voice of Araya Kawakami in the 2019 series Blade of the Immortal. He portrayed the legendary detective Sherlock Holmes in Lupin the 3rd Part 6. He also voiced the character Haitham in the film Night at High Noon and the Wonder Gate. His other notable anime credits include Noel Makimura in Devilman Crybaby, Lian in Maho Girls PreCure! and its sequel Witchy Precure!, and Nicholas Boltik in Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Die Neue These.

Beyond anime, a major facet of Obara's career is his extensive work in dubbing foreign films and television series. He is particularly well-known as the regular Japanese dubbing voice for actor Ben Affleck, having voiced his characters in films such as Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad, and Justice League. He is also the go-to voice for Matthew McConaughey in Japan, dubbing his performances in Interstellar and Gold. His other high-profile dubbing roles include voicing Caesar (performed by Andy Serkis) in the Planet of the Apes reboot series and Guy Pearce's Aldrich Killian in Iron Man 3.

Obara is also a prominent voice in the video game industry. He has a long-standing association with the Dynasty Warriors franchise, providing the voice of the Shu general Deng Ai in numerous installments from Dynasty Warriors 6 onwards. His other game credits include roles in the Yakuza series, Valkyria Chronicles 3, and the Japanese localization of Starfield.

Throughout his career, Obara has been affiliated with several talent management agencies. He was formerly with Tokyo Sunshine Boys and later joined Aoni Production, where he was affiliated from 2008 until 2019. He subsequently became a freelancer before joining his current agency, Aksent, in 2020. His work also extends to narration for documentary and variety programs.