Nobuyo Ōyama

Did You Know?

• Her mother would often tell her, 'If you are quiet for a while, I'll give you a treat,' because she was so talkative.
• In 1980, sales of Doraemon-related records performed by Ōyama, including the EP Doraemon Ondo, exceeded over one million copies, earning her a Gold Disc from Nippon Columbia.
• She was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2001 and continued recording Doraemon episodes during her treatment, but the hospitalization led to her decision to retire from the role in 2005.
• In the fall of 2012, she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, but the diagnosis was kept secret for a few years until her husband publicly announced it on May 13, 2015.

Biography

Nobuyo Ōyama was born on October 16, 1933, as the thirteenth member of a four-generation family of thirteen people. Her great-grandparents were born in the Edo period, and her mother was the daughter of a sake brewer in Furukawa City, Miyagi Prefecture (now Ōsaki, Miyagi City). She attended Rinkawa Elementary School, Hiroo Elementary School, Hiroo Junior High School, and Mita High School in Tokyo. From an early age, she had a distinctive voice; at her kindergarten entrance ceremony, when she answered the phone, all the students' parents stood up and stared, though Ōyama herself was unaware of the reaction.

She was so talkative that her mother would offer her a treat if she stayed quiet for a while. In elementary school, she was active and loud, but people often told her she had a boy's voice, and teachers gave her strange looks during attendance, leading her to think her voice was odd. In junior high, a classmate pointed out her voice, and she began to feel disgusted by it, becoming quieter. She was bullied by classmates who played a game where everyone laughed when she made a sound.

Her mother advised her to join a club activity that required using her voice, and she eventually overcame her complex. Her peers and homeroom teacher initially opposed her school activities, but after a month they stopped objecting, and she was invited to join the drama club. Her stage debut was as the wicked stepmother in a school production of Cinderella. In high school, she joined the drama and swimming clubs, but dropped out when her mother was hospitalized and died of uterine cancer at age 42 during Ōyama's second high school year. Left on her own, she decided to pursue acting.

Personality

Ōyama's voice range was alto. As a voice actress active since the dawn of television anime, her unique laughter, described as sounding like either 'uhihi' or 'ufufu', was regarded as a memorable characteristic. In many non-Doraemon roles, she voiced young boy characters with a husky, mischievous, and rough manner of speaking. Her personal motto was 'I want to be a pipe,' reflecting her desire to pass down knowledge such as legends and proverbs to the next generation.

Legacy and accolades

Ōyama is best known for voicing Doraemon in the Doraemon franchise from 1979 to 2005 and Monokuma in the Danganronpa franchise from 2010 to 2016. She is widely recognized by Doraemon fans and is popular in the Danganronpa fandom for her performance. She was also a culinary expert who published books, including Nobuyo Ōyama's Interesting Sake and Food, which sold over 1.36 million copies and became a bestseller. In February 2022, Fuji TV aired a variety show where a survey of favorite voice actors from different generations placed Ōyama first in the Showa generation category.

In March 2025, she and Doraemon co-star Noriko Ohara posthumously received the Special Award from the Chairman at the 48th Japan Academy Film Prize for outstanding contributions to the film industry. That same month, actor Sandayū Dokumamushi appeared on Tetsuko's Room as a representative of Ōyama's close friends, discussing personal memories with hostess Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, with whom Ōyama had co-starred on the NHK puppet segments Boo Foo Woo on Okaasan to Issho.

In September 2025, a memorial gathering was held on the one-year anniversary of her death, attended by close friends and colleagues including Michiko Nomura, Wasabi Mizuta, Michio Hazama, Masako Nozawa, Mari Shimizu, Miyuki Ueda, and Eiko Yamada.