Erika Mari Ishii (born March 7, 1987) is an American

voice actor Voice acting is the art of Acting, performing a character or providing information to an audience with one's voice. Performers are often called voice actors/actresses in addition to other names. Examples of voice work include animation, animated, ...

and

host A host is a person responsible for guests at an event or for providing hospitality during it. Host may also refer to: Places * Host, Pennsylvania, a village in Berks County * Host Island, in the Wilhelm Archipelago, Antarctica People * ...

. They are best known as the voice of video game characters such as Valkyrie in ''

Apex Legends ''Apex Legends'' is a 2019 Battle royale game, battle royale-hero shooter video game developed by Respawn Entertainment and published by Electronic Arts, set in the same science fiction universe as Respawn's ''Titanfall'' series. It is offered ...

'', and for their appearances in

actual play Actual play, also called live play, is a genre of podcast or web show in which people play tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs) for an audience. Actual play often encompasses in-character interactions between players, storytelling from the gam ...

web series including ''

L.A. by Night ''L.A. by Night'' is an American actual play web series where the cast plays as vampires using the fifth edition '' Vampire: The Masquerade'' ruleset. It is set canonically in the ''World of Darkness'' series after the events of '' Vampire: T ...

'' and ''

Dimension 20 ''Dimension 20'' is a tabletop role-playing game show produced by and broadcast on Dropout (media company), Dropout, and created and generally hosted by Brennan Lee Mulligan as the show's regular Dungeon Master. Most of the games use Dungeons ...

''.

Career

Ishii's work in acting started at a young age, with a guest appearance on ''

Full House ''Full House'' is an American television sitcom created by Jeff Franklin for American Broadcasting Company, ABC. The show is about the recently widowed father Danny Tanner who enlists his brother-in-law Jesse Katsopolis and childhood best friend ...

''.

Voice acting

In an interview with

Bungie Bungie, Inc. is an American video game company based in Bellevue, Washington, and a subsidiary of Sony Interactive Entertainment. The company was established in May 1991 by Alex Seropian, who later brought in programmer Jason Jones (programme ...

, Ishii stated that playing ''

The Last of Us ''The Last of Us'' is a 2013 action-adventure game developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. Players control Joel, a smuggler tasked with escorting a teenage girl, Ellie, across a post-apocalyptic United States ...

'' (2013) inspired them to enter voice acting in video games. From the late 2010s, Ishii performed voice roles in numerous video games, and would contribute voice work to ''

The Last of Us Part II ''The Last of Us Part II'' is a 2020 action-adventure game developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Set four years after '' The Last of Us'' (2013), the game focuses on two playable characters in a post-apo ...

'' in 2020. During their early career, Ishii was advised to conceal their sexuality and political views to avoid losing work. Later they became more open about their orientation and identity. Ishii indicated that doing so was a positive step, as it allowed them to be part of a community, and to take on relevant roles. "The industry is beginning to recognize the value of authenticity and inclusion. It makes for better art and it's what the majority of the world wants to see." Ishii spoke positively about their role as the mixed-Japanese lesbian Valkyrie in ''Apex Legends'', stating that "None of it was tokenism... She's one of the most real characters I've ever had the honour of portraying." Ishii was a narrator for the audiobook ''Walk Among Us'' (2020), "an audio-first trio of horror novellas set in '' Vampire: The Masquerade''s

World of Darkness ''World of Darkness'' is a series of tabletop role-playing games, originally created by Mark Rein-Hagen for White Wolf Publishing. It began as an annual line of five games in 1991–1995, with ''Vampire: The Masquerade'', ''Werewolf: The Apocaly ...

". In September 2021, Ishii was a featured artist on the acoustic version of the song "Can You Feel My Love" by the music group Juniper Vale. In 2025, they will be the lead character Atsu in ''

Ghost of Yōtei ''Ghost of Yōtei'' is an upcoming 2025 action-adventure game developed by Sucker Punch Productions and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It is a standalone sequel to the 2020 game, ''Ghost of Tsushima''. The game is scheduled to rel ...

'', the sequel to ''

Ghost of Tsushima In folklore, a ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or non-human animal that is believed by some people to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely, from an invisible presence to translucen ...

''.

Actual play

Ishii is known for their roles in

role-playing web shows such as ''

'' and ''

''. In January 2023, it was announced that Ishii, with

Brennan Lee Mulligan Brennan Lee Mulligan (born January 4, 1988) is an American comedian, actor, writer, and gamemaster. He often works with Dropout (formerly CollegeHumor) as a writer, performer, and producer. He is the creator and regular gamemaster for Dropout' ...

Aabria Iyengar Aabria Iyengar ( ) is an American web series actress known primarily for tabletop role-playing game anthologies, streams and podcasts. She was the Dungeon Master (DM) for the first season of ''Exandria Unlimited''. Iyengar has been both a play ...

, and Lou Wilson, would star in the creator-owned actual play podcast '' Worlds Beyond Number''; the show premiered in March 2023. In December 2024, Ishii guest starred in the stage production of '' Dungeons & Dragons: The Twenty-Sided Tavern'' which combines actual play,

improv Improv may refer to: *Improvisation, an act of spontaneous invention **Improvisational theatre (includes improvisational comedy) **Musical improvisation Musical improvisation (also known as musical extemporization) is the creative activity of im ...

, and

immersive theater Immersive theater differentiates itself from traditional theater by removing the stage and Audience immersion, immersing audiences within the performance itself. Often, this is accomplished by using a specific location (''Site-specific theatre, sit ...

Stage 42 Stage 42 (known as the Little Shubert Theatre until July 2015) is a theatre in New York City on Theatre Row, about half a mile west of Broadway. Its address is 422 West 42nd Street, between 9th Avenue and Dyer Avenue. It was built in 2002 an ...

in New York City.

Hosting

Ishii was a

and producer for ''

Geek & Sundry Geek & Sundry, Inc. is a commercial YouTube and Twitch (service), Twitch channel and multimedia production company. It was launched on April 2, 2012, by actress Felicia Day with Kim Evey and Sheri Bryant as part of YouTube's YouTube Original Chan ...

''. Ishii has also hosted other events such as the 2018

Crunchyroll Anime Awards The Crunchyroll Anime Awards, also known simply as The Anime Awards, are awards given annually by the anime streaming service Crunchyroll to recognize the best anime of the previous year. Announced in December 2016, the awards were first prese ...

and the 2021 Acceleration Japan showcase.

Personal life

Ishii openly identifies as

queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are non-heterosexual or non- cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against LGBTQ people in the late 19th century. From the late 1980s, queer activists began to ...

bisexual Bisexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior toward both males and females. It may also be defined as the attraction to more than one gender, to people of both the same and different gender, or the attraction t ...

, or

pansexual Pansexuality is sexual, romantic, or emotional attraction towards people of all genders, or regardless of their sex or gender identity. Pansexual people may refer to themselves as gender-blind, asserting that gender and sex are not determ ...

with no preference between labels, and

genderfluid Gender fluidity (commonly referred to as genderfluid) is a non-fixed gender identity that shifts over time or depending on the situation. These fluctuations can occur at the level of gender identity or gender expression. A genderfluid person m ...

. They have been vocal in their opposition to

transphobia Transphobia consists of negative attitudes, feelings, or actions towards transgender or transsexual people, or transness in general. Transphobia can include fear, aversion, hatred, violence or anger towards people who do not conform to socia ...

, and have raised funds for

LGBTQ LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, Gay men, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning (sexuality and gender), questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, Asexuality, asexual, ...

supporting charities such as

The Trevor Project The Trevor Project is an American nonprofit organization founded in 1998. Focused on suicide prevention efforts for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth, they offer a toll-free telephone number where con ...

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

Web series

Stage

Notes

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ishii, Erika 1987 births 21st-century American actresses Actresses from Los Angeles Actual play performers American actresses of Japanese descent American LGBTQ people of Asian descent American non-binary actors American video game actresses American voice actresses American bisexual actresses CollegeHumor people Living people Non-binary voice actors Non-binary pansexual people Pansexual actresses Polyamorous people