Karen Fukuhara

Fukuhara was born to Japanese parents in Los Angeles. Her first language was Japanese, and she attended a Japanese language school on Saturdays for 11 years. She has a younger brother. Fukuhara began practicing karate in middle school, and became a brown-striped belt before leaving for college. She is a lifetime fan of the Pokémon franchise and enjoyed playing her Game Boy growing up.

Fukuhara attended University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) while working as a reporter for a sports show on NHK in Japan. She was a part of the Cultural Affairs Commission. She was a member of the a cappella group Medleys, whose alumni include fellow actress Kelly Marie Tran. Fukuhara graduated from UCLA in 2014 with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and a minor in Theater.Fukuhara got her start in the entertainment industry in middle school when she was cast as a host for Movie Surfers, a short-form entertainment news program on the Disney Channel.

Before her acting debut, Fukuhara worked various part-time jobs, including translator, subtitle editor, and waitress at a reggae-themed sushi restaurant.

In 2016, Fukuhara made her film debut as Katana in the DC Comics superhero film Suicide Squad, which was released in August 2016. Although she had martial arts experience, Fukuhara trained for about two months to learn to wield a sword.

In 2019, Fukuhara appeared in Stray, alongside Christine Woods, Miyavi, and Ross Partridge.

Fukuhara voiced the characters Sewer Queen and Alexis in the Cartoon Network series Craig of the Creek. In 2018, she began voicing Glimmer in She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, a reboot of the 1985 animated television series.

In 2019, she began starring as Kimiko Miyashiro / The Female in the Amazon Prime series The Boys, based on the comic book of the same name.

In 2020, she voiced the titular lead character of Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts, a series based on the short-lived webcomic Kipo.

In 2023, Netflix announced that Fukuhara would voice Haru, the titular character of Pokémon Concierge.