Diana Garnet

D.C. native Diana Garnet grew up watching anime w/ her father, an avid anime fan himself. Influenced by the music used in anime, she dreamed of becoming a singer in Japan & dedicated her life to studying Japanese culture as well as the language. The opening theme to CLAMP's "Magic Knights Rayearth", Naomi Tamura's "Yuzurenai Negai", was a huge influence. From the age of 7, she made up her mind to sing & voice act in Japanese for her favorite anime titles. She first learned Japanese by mimicking what she heard in anime, learning to read mainly by manga. After several years in high school & studying abroad in various Japanese cities such as Kochi, Tokushima, Kobe, she graduated from The Evergreen State College in Olympia, W.A., settling in Tokyo, Japan. Initially an English teacher, she auditioned for various music labels & TV shows, eventually becoming the Spring 2013 champion of NTV's hit TV show, "Nodojiman the World!", a show dedicated to finding the best foreign singer of Japanese songs. From there, she was scouted & officially debuted in October 2013 w/ Sony Music Records, featuring a cover of "Mata Kimi ni Koishiteru". She followed up w/ a cover album "Cover Girl" in November. She later began contributing songs to various anime an games such as "Spinning World," for the international hit series, "Naruto Shippuden" in 2015. Not satisfied w/ only providing theme songs to anime & games, she branched out in various fields in the entertainment industry. In addition to providing voices for anime, games & educational materials, she began appearing on many TV as well as radio programs highlighting Japanese culture or niche otaku culture. She started hosting NHK ETV's weekly "Igo Focus" in April 2017, a show dedicated to teaching the ancient game of Go, as well as the daily English educational program "Kiso Eigo 1" for NHK Radio in 2018. She also voiced in 2 of the English dub Shimajiro films Shimajiro and the Rainbow Oasis 2017 and Shimajirou the Movie: Great Adventure on Magic Island 2018.