Megumi Ogata

Ogata was born into a musical family and was given singing lessons from a young age.

Ogata attended Tokai University, studying oceanography but later dropped out due to her lack of interest. Following this, she attended the Tokyo Seisen Music School, taking a musical theater course.

After graduation, Ogata began working as a musical actress, attending the same classes alongside Rumi Kasahara and Shiho Niiyama in the Neverland Musical Community troupe. While working in musical theater, Ogata developed a reputation for playing male roles.

Following the disbandment of the troupe, Ogata decided to pursue voice acting as a career. Also around this time, Ogata broke her hip, which influenced her decision to leave musical theater. Due to her reputation of playing male roles, it was suggested she try to do the same in voice acting.

Ogata began attending a cram school associated with Aoni Production following her decision to become a voice actor. Following her graduation from the school, she debuted with the role of Kurama in YuYu Hakusho. Early in Ogata's career, she was affiliated with Aoni Production.

Ogata left Aoni Productions in 1998. In 2000, she had planned to take a hiatus from voice acting. However, due to a family emergency in which she had to pay off significant amounts of debt, she returned to voice acting soon after.

Ogata initially pursued a musical career singing idol-like music. After switching labels to Lantis in 1999, Ogata began pursuing different kinds of music. Due to Ogata's status as a popular voice actor, she was given freedom at Lantis to make music suited to her own taste.

In 2015, Ogata mentioned that the screaming she often does for roles has had negative effects on her health, including voice strain and headaches.

In 2021, Ogata contracted COVID-19, requiring her to pause her active recordings to recover. That same year, she published her autobiography.

While attending Aoni Production's cram school, Ogata's father started suffering from a heart condition. To ensure that her father would see her as a bride before he died, Ogata married her then-boyfriend. Following her debut as a voice actor, she had less time to spend with her family, which strained her relationship with her husband. Six months after debuting as a voice actor, Ogata and her husband ended their relationship in divorce.

Ogata married for a second time in 2004. Ogata has chosen to remain private about this second relationship.

In 2022, speaking at the Seiyu Awards after winning the Best Lead Actress Award, Ogata spoke about her stance on gender and self-identity. She called for the Seiyu Awards to abolish gendered categories. She also said, "I have never really thought of myself as actress, per se. These days, we live in what's called a gender-free society, and in the world there are people who have come out [as LGBTQ+]. There are also many people, like me, who hardly think of themselves as 'women' at all as they live their daily lives." For this reason, she considered turning down the Best Lead Actress Award. However, she decided to accept it, believing that being given the platform to speak on the issue was more important.