Kazuya Kawahara, also known as Kazuhisa Kawahara, is a Japanese actor and voice actor born on December 26, 1961, in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka Prefecture. He graduated from the College of Art at Nihon University. While he has an extensive career as a live-action screen actor, his voice acting work is more selective, with notable performances in anime and video games.

His career background is primarily rooted in live-action television and film, where he is best known for his long-running role as Sergeant Keichi Itami in the detective drama series Aibō, a part he played for many years. His forays into voice acting have been in high-profile projects.

One of his most recognized anime voice roles is that of Seiji Iwaki in the Initial D series. Iwaki is the second driver for the Emperor team and a rival to the protagonist, driving a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IV. Kawahara voiced this character in several installments of the franchise, including the Second Stage television series, the Battle Stage video, and the Final Stage. Another significant voice role is Takeshi Ikeda, also known as Ikepii, in the original video animation adaptation of Be-Bop Highschool, which was produced by Toei Animation and released between 1990 and 1998.

In addition to these anime roles, Kawahara has contributed his voice to the Kamen Rider franchise, a series that blends live-action and voice work. He voiced the villain Apollo Geist in Kamen Rider Decade and its related video game adaptations, such as Kamen Rider: Battride War and Kamen Rider Battride War: Genesis. His involvement in this major tokusatsu franchise demonstrates a recurring collaboration with the Toei Company, which produces both Kamen Rider and the Aibō series in which he appears. This connection illustrates how his voice roles are often linked to the broader entertainment universe of the production companies with which he works. Beyond acting, he reprised his role as Seiji Iwaki for the arcade game Initial D Arcade Stage 8 Infinity.