Lenne Hardt

Last updated
Lenne Hardt
Born (1963-05-10) May 10, 1963 (age 60)
Other namesLenne Hardt
Occupation(s) Voice actress, ring announcer
Agent Aoni Production
SpouseMalcolm Mahs
Website www.lennehardt.com

Lenne Hardt (born May 10, 1963) is an American voice actress and ring announcer for Japanese mixed martial arts organizations. Her resume includes PRIDE Fighting Championships, DREAM, ONE Championship [1] and Glory World Series and she currently works in Rizin Fighting Federation. She is also the official announcer for Japanese idol group Momoiro Clover Z, and was the official athlete announcer for the 2022 ADCC World Championship hosted by Seth Daniels from F2W

Contents

Biography

Hardt was the youngest of six children and an Air Force brat. Although she was born in Alaska she spent much of her childhood in Idaho. [2] Hardt and her siblings were home-schooled. At the age of 17, Hardt lived in Japan for a year with her brother and sister-in-law, who were already long-time residents of the country. Hardt returned to the U.S. and attended New York University to study the Japanese language and arts before permanently moving to Japan in 1988. While in Tokyo she met her future-husband, a New Zealander. In addition to working as a disc jockey and announcer for television and radio, she has worked as a voice actress for the English dubs of Japanese anime and video games. She also performs as a theater actor and comedian. [3]

Ring announcing

Hardt entered into a career as an English language announcer for mixed martial arts events in 2000 at PRIDE's first Grand Prix. PRIDE officials needed an announcer fluent in English and Japanese. Although she had no experience with the sport, her agent contacted her about the job and she took it simply because it fit into her schedule. Hardt became a self-described fan of the sport and continued as the English announcer for PRIDE until its final event. When the former staff of PRIDE created DREAM, Hardt was carried over as well. Hardt has also worked with Japanese pro wrestling organization New Japan Pro-Wrestling as a special guest English language ring announcer for their January 4 Tokyo Dome shows, announcing both Wrestle Kingdom 8 in 2014 and Wrestle Kingdom 9 in 2015.

Hardt's energetic style, which usually includes high-pitched screeching and long alveolar trills, has earned her notoriety within the promotion. Fans have dubbed her "Crazy PRIDE Lady" and many fighters admit to getting "pumped up" by her introductions. [4] She uses singing techniques to prevent damage to her throat rather than take measures to mitigate the damage. [5]

In 2022, Hardt was the announcer for the ADCC Worlds No-Gi grappling championship and performed the ceremonial fighters' presentation.

Filmography

Anime roles

Television Drama roles

Video game roles

YearTitleRoleNotesSource
2000 Shenmue Tao Lin Xia [6]
2001 Bloody Roar 3 Shina [6]
2002 Gitaroo Man U-1 [6]
2002 Virtua Fighter 4 Sarah Bryant, Menu AnnouncerIn-Game Battle Voice Archive as Sarah in Virtua Quest until Virtua Fighter 5 , including Dead or Alive 5 ( Ultimate / Last Round ) [7]
2002 Shenmue II Guixiang Lee [6]
2003 Mega Man X7 Axl [6]
2003 Glass Rose Youko Yoshinodou, Marie Yoshinodou [6]
2004 Boktai 2: Solar Boy Django Zazie, Duneyrr [6]
2004 Rumble Roses Bloody Shadow / Judgment [6]
2004 Tekken 5 Anna Williams In-Game Battle Voice Archive in Tekken 6 (2007, last in-game battle dialogue role) until Tekken 7 (Season 2/2018, grunts only) [8]
2005 Cobra the Arcade The Executioners, Ironhead, Sandra [6]
2005 Musashi: Samurai Legend Musashi [6]
2005 Shining Force Neo Rebecca [6]
2011Little Charo Travels in English!Margherita [9]

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References

  1. "Legendary MMA Announcer Lenne Hardt Joins ONE FC". ONE. 2012-03-05. Retrieved 2014-04-21.
  2. Kapp, Ed (2012-12-21). "Lenne Hardt's Gift Idea for Hardcore Fight Fans". Bleacher Report. Retrieved 2014-04-21.
  3. Kenrick, Vivienne (2004-05-01). "Lenne Hardt". The Japan Times . Retrieved 2014-04-21.
  4. "Lenne Hardt's 'Crazy Pride Lady' Ring Announcing Was Born Out of Boredom". MMA Fighting.com. 4 November 2010. Retrieved 2014-04-21.
  5. TheFightNationTV (2007-02-24). "Up Close and Personal: Lenne Hardt". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2016-03-07. Retrieved 2014-04-21.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 "Lenne Hardt (visual voices guide)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved 2019-06-06. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its opening and/or closing credits and/or other reliable sources of information.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
  7. Doi, Hitoshi. "Search results for "Lenny Hardt" in ALL database". Hitoshi Doi's Seiyuu Database. Retrieved September 1, 2019.
  8. Hardt, Lenne [@lennehardt] (February 6, 2023). "I voiced Anna Williams in Tekken 5 though" (Tweet). Retrieved 2023-12-08 via Twitter.
  9. "マルゲリータ - 『えいごで旅する リトル・チャロ』:キャラクター". nintendo.co.jp (in Japanese). Retrieved 2022-01-29.