Tokiko Kato is a Japanese singer, composer, lyricist, actress, and voice actor born on December 27, 1943, in Harbin, China. While primarily known for her extensive career as a singer and chanson performer, her most prominent contribution to the field of anime voice acting comes through her collaboration with Studio Ghibli.

Kato began her artistic journey in music, winning the Japan Amateur Chanson Competition in 1965 while a student at the University of Tokyo. She went on to release over eighty albums and achieve significant international success, including performances at Carnegie Hall in New York in 1988. Her achievements in the arts led the French government to award her the Chevalier Medal for Culture in 1992.

In the realm of anime, Kato is best known for her role as Madame Gina in Hayao Miyazaki's 1992 film Porco Rosso. Director Hayao Miyazaki was reportedly a long-time admirer of her work, which influenced her casting as the sophisticated nightclub singer and hotel owner who serves as a close friend and romantic interest to the protagonist. In addition to providing the voice for Gina, Kato contributed significantly to the film's music, singing the French chanson Le Temps des Cerises and composing and performing the film's poignant ending theme, Once in a While, Talk of the Old Days.

Beyond Porco Rosso, Kato's voice acting credits are extremely limited, making her a unique figure in the industry as a celebrity talent brought in for a specific, high-profile role rather than a prolific voice actor. Her career includes live-action film appearances in productions such as Izakaya Choji (1983) and Hachiko Monogatari (1987), but she has not lent her voice to a substantial body of anime roles outside of her work with Studio Ghibli. Consequently, there are no notable recurring collaborations with other voice actors or multiple major voice roles to document across the anime medium. Her legacy as an anime voice actor remains tied almost exclusively to her memorable performance in Porco Rosso.