Career
Kamiya made his debut on Mahou no Mako-chan in 1970 while working for Theater Echo. He went on to have a regular role on Akaki Chi no Eleven as Sasuke Yatsume and later co-starred with Kei Tomiyama in Fushigi na Merumo.
In 1973 he played the title character in Babel II, and then went on to play the lead role in many Super Robot anime, such as Ryoma Nagare in Getter Robo, Akira Hibiki in Yuusha Raideen, Jimmy Orion in Mechander Robo, and Takuma Ichimonji in Wakusei Danguard Ace. Because of his tendency to shout dramatically, he earned the nickname Sakebi no Kamiya (叫びの神谷?, Screaming Kamiya).
Kamiya has also played many playboy lady-killer types, including pretty-boy pitcher Satoru Satonaka in Dokaben, Godai's tennis-coach rival Shun Mitaka in Maison Ikkoku, and rich and arrogant characters such as Shinnosuke Kazamatsuri in Yawara! and Mendou Shuutaro in Urusei Yatsura. (When Urusei Yatsura creator Rumiko Takahashi's later work Ranma 1/2 was adapted to anime, Takahashi had Kamiya in mind for the role of another rich and arrogant playboy character, Tatewaki Kuno, but the directors chose Hirotaka Suzuoki for the role instead.) In addition to this he has also played goofier roles, like Tosaka-senpai in Kyuukyoku Choujin R and Nyarome in Mouretsu Atarou. Until 2009, he was playing the lazy, washed-up private detective Kogoro Mori in the long running Detective Conan anime.
The 1980s would see a string of memorable performances from Kamiya, including Shutaro Mendou in Urusei Yatsura, Suguru Kinniku in Kinnikuman, Kenshirou in Hokuto no Ken (Fist of the North Star), Roy Focker in Macross and Ryo Saeba in City Hunter.
Apart from anime, Kamiya has done some dub work, most notably dubbing Pierce Brosnan in Remington Steele and 2 James Bond movies (GoldenEye and Tomorrow Never Dies).
In recent years, he has lectured at the Nihon Kogakuin Vocational School. Some of his students include Megumi Toyoguchi, Ryoko Shintani, and Ai Shimizu.
Read more about this topic: Akira Kamiya
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