Rika Matsumoto

Abstract is: Rika Matsumoto (松本 梨香, Matsumoto Rika, born November 30, 1968) is a Japanese actress, voice actress and singer who was born in Yokohama, Japan. Her name is also sometimes romanized as Rica Matsumoto. She was one of the founders of the anison band JAM Project. After early stage work, she began both voice acting and singing careers. The most popular role by Rica is Satoshi (Ash Ketchum in English translations), the main character of the anime series Pokémon. She also had a role in the Yu-Gi-Oh series as Ryo Bakura and Yami Bakura. As such, Matsumoto has taken on roles for young boys. Matsumoto also performs the songs for many of the openings for the Japanese Pokémon anime. Matsumoto has had lead or supporting roles in dozens of series. She has also had a radio show in Japan and does some dubbing work for translations of American films and TV series into Japanese. She announced in April 2008 she was taking time off from the group and her solo work.