Rei Matsuzaki

Rei Matsuzaki was born on 31 May[1] 1985[2] in the city of Fukuoka[3] and was educated at Fukuoka Jogakuin Junior & Senior High School[4] and later at the Tokyo University of Science.[5]

After being separated from her childhood friends during the transition to junior high school, she decided to make new friends and later met them at the school's anime and manga club.[6] She regained her interest in anime and manga during that time, and later visited an Animate shop.[6] After listening to the radio shows hosted by Manami Komori and Megumi Hayashibara, she thought of the idea of being a radio show host, and became aware of the voice acting industry.[6] She later entered the broadcasting department, performed readings and announcements, and participated in the NHK Cup's creative radio drama section.[6] After several auditions, Matsuzaki passed the Aniplex presents Super Voice Audition in August 2006 and debuted with Gurren Lagann.[6] Two years later, she joined Mausu Promotion.[1]

In 2015, she was cast as Kirari Moroboshi in The Idolmaster Cinderella Girls, and her character single, which features the song Marshmallow☆Kiss, was released on 8 August 2012. It charted on the Oricon Singles Chart for seven weeks and topped at #10 on 20 August.[7] She subsequently reprised the role in both seasons of the anime adaptation and the Theater spinoff.[8] In other video games, she has voiced Jam Kuradoberi in Guilty Gear Xrd,[9] Mani in The Witch and the Hundred Knight, and Rosa Thunberg in Arcana Heart.[8]

After voicing Catherine in Jewelpet Twinkle, she was later cast as Kanon Mizushiro in Jewelpet Sunshine, and she later voiced a schoolgirl in Jewelpet Happiness[8] and a fairy in Jewelpet: Attack Travel.[10] She has also voiced Niina in Haitai Nanafa,[11] Nagahide Niwa in The Ambition of Oda Nobuna, Ayame Reikadō in Noucome, Botan Ichige in Tenshi no Drop,[8] Nina Tachibana in Citrus,[12] Yoriko Fujiwara in Tachibanakan To Lie Angle,[13] and Eldry in Interspecies Reviewers.[14] She has had minor roles in Fate/Zero, Naruto, Nichijou, Okami-san and Her Seven Companions, and Puella Magi Madoka Magica.[8] She also voiced Nao Komatsu in all three episodes of the 2014 OVA adaptation of Futari Ecchi.[8]

Matsuzaki is a fan of the Tokyo Yakult Swallows, a professional baseball team in the Central League.[15] She was a columnist for Sankei Sports' edition on the team.[15] She and kabuki actor Bandō Hikosaburō IX made an appearance at a Swallows fan meeting in Kabuki-za on 19 February 2019.[16] She hosts Rei & Yui no Bunkahōsō Home Run Radio! (a radio show on Nippon Cultural Broadcasting's Chō! A&G+ internet radio service) with fellow voice actress Yui Watanabe, who is a fan of the Hanshin Tigers.[17][18]

On 24 December 2019, Matsuzaki announced her marriage to a male Swallows fan.[19] Matsuzaki said that she and her husband bonded over baseball.[15][19]