Naomi Watanabe (渡辺 直美) is a Japanese comedian, actress, and fashion designer. She rose to fame in 2008 for her imitation of Beyoncé, after which she was given the title "the Japanese Beyoncé".

Career

Watanabe does impersonations of popular artists in Japanese culture, among which her imitation of Beyoncé singing "Dreamgirls" and "Crazy in Love" quickly became popular. She has also launched her own fashion line called Punyus (loosely translated to "chubby" in English), and played the role of Mabel in the musical Fame and Tracy Turnblad in the musical Hairspray. Her Instagram account has 9.9 million followers as of 23 February 2023.

Guest appearances

Watanabe was seen as a guest in the 2013 anime movie Crayon Shin-chan: Very Tasty! B-class Gourmet Survival!!. In 2016, she voiced the character of Ashima in the Japanese language dub of the Thomas & Friends film The Great Race. In 2019, she was featured in Queer Eye: We're in Japan!, Season 1, Episode 3, "The Ideal Woman". In March 2021 she announced her intention to move from Japan to the United States the next month. She has appeared in Us Weekly magazine.

Personal life

Watanabe was born in Taipei to a Japanese father and a Taiwanese mother and raised in Ibaraki. She is of Japanese and Taiwanese descent.

Awards

In December 2024, Naomi Watanabe was included on the BBC's 100 Women list.

Discography

Singles

As a featured artist

Filmography

Variety shows

Film

Television drama

Animation

Japanese dub