Personal Information
Takeshi Kusaka (born February 24, 1931, in Toshima, Tokyo) is a Japanese actor and seiyuu who established the Shiki Theatre Company. Although he primarily focuses on live acting and dubbing for foreign films, he has taken on select voice roles in animation and serves as an animation director. His notable anime credits include voicing M. Bison in the Street Fighter animated movie and appearing in Twilight of the Cockroaches. In live-action dubbing, he provided the Japanese voice for Judge Claude Frollo in Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame and for Antonio Salieri (dubbing F. Murray Abraham) in the film Amadeus. Kusaka's connection to the character of M. Bison stems from his 1989 performance as the villain Kato Yasunori in Tokyo: The Last War (Teito Taisen), a film adaptation of the Teito Monogatari series. Kato Yasunori served as the primary inspiration for M. Bison. Four years later, in 1994, Kusaka reprised this influence by providing the voice for Bison in the Street Fighter movie.
