Yumi Ochiai (actress)


 * This article is about the actress. For the character based on the actress, see Yumi Ochiai.

Yumi Ochiai (落合　由美), also known by her unofficial name Yumi Baillairgé (ユミ・バイヤルジェ), is a Cuban-born Japanese voice actress known for her roles in productions by Drillimation Studios.

History
Ochiai was born in Havana, Cuba to Japanese parents Hideo and Kisumi Ochiai. She was born during their vacation in the country. Her older sister Kagami Ochiai (born 1979) is known for her career as a singer.

Personal life
Before becoming a voice actor, Ochiai moved from Tokyo to Nagasaki right after graduating from elementary school, and alongside her elder sister Kagami, worked as a miko at a shrine near her junior high and senior high school.

Ochiai later attended the University of Montréal in Montréal, Québec, Canada, where she began studying her second language, that being French, and received a major in it. Ochiai later met her future husband Jean-François Baillairgé (b. 1983), a member of the Mohawk First Nation of Canada who was adopted from South Korea at a young age during her sophomore year.

Around two years after graduating, Ochiai and Baillairgé founded the Canadian division of Drillimation Studios in Montréal and they married in 2009. Unlike her older sister, she kept her maiden name upon marriage. She was the first Drillimation Studios employee to marry a non-Japanese person. They have homes in Takamatsu, Kagawa, Japan and Kahnawake, Québec, Canada. Ochiai's experiences in Canada eventually led to becoming the basis for one of her brother-in-law's, Susumu Takajima's games, The Canada Odyssey.

Ochiai later went on to become a localizer for games distributed in Canada; Lucky Star: Phantasmagorial Judgement was the first Drillimation game to be translated into Québec French, though it still retained the English voice acting in the game and can only be understood with subtitles. Ochiai also later went on to translate later games for the province. She has also done localization for games by Drillimation divisions XTek and Seymour Games, and for some games by Drillimation's Japan-based rival Bombtoon Studios.

Despite having a home in Canada, Ochiai has no plans to apply for Canadian citizenship.

Behind the Scenes

 * Ochiai once stated in an interview in GameInformer that she wanted to voice Flandre Scarlet, and she was one of the many young girls who auditioned for the role. However, the role of Flandre was given to her older sister Kagami. Additionally, an Anime Atrocities short film has Ochiai herself voicing Flandre.