Lisle Wilkerson grew up in Tokyo, Japan. She speaks fluent Japanese, and does voice work is done in both English & Japanese.
She is the powerhouse behind some of the gaming industry’s most popular female fighting characters, such as Nina Williams and Christie Monteiro, Sarah Bryant from Virtual Fighter, as well as Shenmue II.
This year she is starting the podcast “The (Mis)adventures of the Blonde Geisha”, so make sure to keep your eye out for that.
Last summer Lisle was very involved in the Shenmue Kickstarter that was announced at E3, which ended up breaking many records, including a Guinness World Record! Most recently Lisle did dubbing for two upcoming ULTRAMAN live-action films, as well as an animated film, “Eden”.
Lisle acted alongside Bill Murray in the Academy Award winning Sofia Coppola film “Lost In Translation”, and had a lead role in the award-winning indie film “Kamataki”. She not only does video game voices, she also does the voice of Batz Maru (of Hello Kitty) and commercials for such internationally renown companies as Nissan, Panasonic, Sony, etc.
She currently lives in Los Angeles, where she continues to do voice work, and also works as an interpreter, working with many of the big film studios, red carpet events, as well as working with the Japanese govt and tourism board. Lisle has interpreted for everyone from Keanu Reeves to best-selling author Marie Kondo to various J-pop stars such as Love Live! Sunshine!! and renowned set designer Yohei Taneda. She has interviewed countless Japanese and US celebrities and is currently a local media correspondent for Japan, covering high-profile events like The Grammys, Academy Awards, Emmys and Golden Globes. Lisle is also the assistant producer of the upcoming film, “Black Hat”. Lisle is also excited about the 2020 Olympics being hosted in her home city, Tokyo, and has recently started doing some work related to that.
And when Lisle isn’t busy working or running around the country going to cons, you might find her in her pink boxing gloves trying to save the world Nina Williams-style or spending her time at home with her adorable jet-setting “bilingual” cat, Princess Genki.
Links to Social Media:
Twitter: @lisleweapon
Facebook: facebook.com/lisle.wilkerson
Instagram: @blondegeishalisle
*Favorite Guilty Pleasure:
Getting upgraded on flights! hahaha.
*Favorite (or loved) Project (past or present):
Hmmm….I don’t even know where to begin with this one. I have had so many wonderful projects I have done-all very different and yet all so wonderful. Always love doing voices for video games of course, but I also really enjoy my interpreting work. A few days ago I did the hosting/interpreting for the amazing anime director, Makoto Shinkai. It was for the world premiere screening of his new film, “Your Name”, at Anime Expo. And it was absolutely incredible! The movie was one of the best anime I have seen in a long time, and he was so wonderful to work with. I was able to get 3 standing ovations for him! And there were no dry eyes in the audience. It was a really incredible event. And I walked away afterwards, knowing that everyone in the room, including Shinkai san, had an unforgettable experience. That is when I know that I did my job and did it right. THAT is one of my favorite things about my work.
*Night owl or morning person:
Actually I have gone through stages as both…I don’t really think I have a preference.
*What makes you “twitch” (take that as you will):
When someone actually pronounces my name right THE FIRST TIME!!!! My whole life I have had to deal with people butchering my name…even little trips to Starbucks to get a coffee can turn disastrous! lol So when someone actually pronounces it correctly, I am immediately suspicious! hahaha. And for those of you that don’t know…my name originally came from the musical, “The Sound Of Music”. The oldest daughter’s (the one that sings “I am 16, going on 17) name is Liesl. Growing up, I hated my name. But now I love it and am very proud of having a unique name. Everyone still gets it wrong all the time, but I don’t mind anymore. I look at it as just a part of who I am:)
*Favorite Color:
Purple…and it is all because of my love for his royal Purple highness, Prince. He was a huge influence in my life. If there is one artist/celebrity that has helped shape my life, it would be Prince.
I still remember where I was and what I was doing when I first heard him…I was 12 years old, and I was listening to the Top 40 Countdown with Casey Kasem.
Growing up in Tokyo during that time, there were very few ways that we could get American music. But every Sunday I would tune in to the Armed Forces Radio (the radio station run by the bases in Japan) and listen to Casey Kasem. One Sunday I had just finished doing bowling with my family, and ran back to the car because I knew the countdown was on. I quickly turned it on before my parents came (and told me to turn it off!), and I remember Casey Kasem talking about this incredible ingenue 18 year old artist who wrote, sang, produced all his own music and also played over 18 instruments. And that artist was… Prince. And the song was “I Wanna Be Your Lover”. After that, of course, the world came to know much more about Prince…and he came out with some of the best records in the 80’s…such as 1999, Purple Rain, etc.
*Something that is considered “odd” about you that also might be cool, weird or disturbing, maybe something that the majority of people don’t know, but also won’t get you arrested if we publicly talk about it here:
Hahahaha. Hmmm…so I have a cat who I adore, Princess Genki. And she has a bit of a licking fetish. When I take a shower, she ALWAYS comes over to the bedroom to wait for me to dry myself off, and then she starts licking me. EVERY SINGLE TIME. So it has become a routine…I will take a shower, then I will call for her (if she isn’t already there waiting). And I will always have to wait for about 5 min or so while she starts licking my legs and feet.
*What projects are you working on we can promote for Lisle-chan! I am right now trying to get my podcast off the ground. It is called “The( Mis)Adventures of the Blonde Geisha” and is going to be about my time growing up and working in Japan, etc. Should be fun when I finally get it up and running! I have a few more things that I am working on, but unfortunately I can’t really talk about them right now. Don’t want to jinx myself! hahaha
I am right now trying to get my podcast off the ground. It is called “The( Mis)Adventures of the Blonde Geisha” and is going to be about my time growing up and working in Japan, etc. Should be fun when I finally get it up and running! I have a few more things that I am working on, but unfortunately I can’t really talk about them right now. Don’t want to jinx myself! hahaha
Thank you, Lisle-chan for sharing part of you with all of us <3