Youji Matsuda

He was born in Setagaya, Tokyo. His older brother is Naoyuki Matsuda, a musical translator and professor at Komazawa University. After studying at Aoyama Gakuin High School, he dropped out of Aoyama Gakuin University's Faculty of Letters and Department of Education. Among his classmates is a member of the Diet and the House of Councilors Renhō (his classmate from high school to university). He joined the Himawari Theatre Group at age five and made his child debut in the TV drama Mother's Suzu in 1974.

He gained attention as an actor in the 1983 TBS television drama Family Game (as Shigeyuki Numata). He appeared in Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind in 1984, and, in 1987, portrayed the main character Shuna in Shuna's Journey. In 1997, he voiced Ashitaka in the anime movie Princess Mononoke, and voiced Leonardo DiCaprio's role Jack Dawson in the American film Titanic to raise his profile. In 2006, he taught acting as a lecturer at Tokyo Animation College. He became active around the stage, working with directors such as Yukio Ninagawa and Yoji Aoi. He appeared in the drama From the North Country.