Horie, Yui

Birth place: Katsushika, Tokyo
Height: 155 cm
Blood type: B

Her real name is Horie Yoshiko (堀江 由子), and she is sometimes affectionately nicknamed "Hocchan" by her Japanese fans.

She hosts a radio show called "Horie Yui no Tenshi no Tamago" and is the founding member of the singing group, Aice⁵. She is also a member of the band Kurobara Hozonkai, with the name Yuiel. Her hobbies include shoulder massage, reading and cooking.

As a child, she was a huge fan of the anime series Dirty Pair and has later stated that the series was her first inspiration to become a voice artist.

She debuted in 1997 in a video game Voice Fantasia and for several years had minor roles in various anime. She landed her first leading role as Haruka in Kurogane Communication. The turning point in her career wasn't till the year 2000, when she won the role of Narusegawa Naru in the popular anime Love Hina. Other notable and defining career moments were taking the role of Honda Tooru in the anime Fruits Basket in 2001, and releasing her 1st music album (Mizutamari ni Utsuru Sekai) in 2000. She has since become one of the most popular anime voice actresses in Japan.

Horie formed a temporary unit called Yamato Nadeshiko with the popular seiyuu Tamura Yukari in 2001. They released two singles, Mou Hitori no Watashi and Merry Merrily—the latter of which was an insert song in the Love Hina Christmas Special: Silent Eve.

In October, 2005 she founded Aice⁵, a J-Pop group consisting of 4 other seiyuu, to help launch their careers. Aice⁵ was officially disbanded on September 20, 2007.

She has collaborated with a few other artists, such as Unscandal in 2005 and Kurobara Hozonkai, a Japanese Goth band, in 2007.

She was employed by Arts Vision until mid-2007 due to a scandal within the agency's top management, at which point she left to become a freelance seiyuu unaffiliated with any talent management firm.

She has published 6 independent musical albums. Nearly all of them incorporate at least one track from an anime she has worked with. She currently releases music under the Starchild label (a subdivision of King Records).

(Source: AniDB)

A member of Aice⁵ with:
- Akemi Kanda (神田 朱未)
- Chiaki Takahashi (たかはし 智秋)
- Masumi Asano (浅野 真澄)
- Madoka Kimura (木村 まどか)

Twitter (staff): @horieyui_staff
Youtube: @YuiHorieJP
Instagram: @yuihorie_official
Blog: http://ameblo.jp/horieyui-blog/