Minori Chihara (茅原 実里, Chihara Minori; born November 18, 1980) is a Japanese voice actress and singer who has had roles in several anime series. She is well known for her voice role as Yuki Nagato in The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and Leon in The iDOLM@STER, while in her musical career, she has been signed under King Records and Lantis. She was born in the city of Utsunomiya, Tochigi and was raised in Saitama. She was affiliated with the talent agency HoriPro International.
From April to September, Chihara served as the assistant to Mariko Kōda's OBC radio program Kōda Mariko no GM, a position she gained through an audition. She won first place at the Seiyū Grand Prix Club and the right to work in the avex artist academy.
In October, she was chosen as one of the top 4 finalists for Pony Canyon, Inc.'s Voice Artist & Singer Audition「VSオーディション2003」 sponsorship contest, but did not win the grand prize.
From April to September, debuted her voice acting career as Aya Natsume in Tenjho Tenge.
In December, she began her blog "minorhythm" and at the same time, released her album Heroine
In April, she began work as a host personality for the internet radio program Oshiyaberi Yattemasu along with Masaya Onosaka and Miyu Matsuki as the Thursday group.
In May, she began hosting both radio programs Avex presents Chihara Minori no Makenai Radio and Avex presents Chihara Minori no Ikenai Radio.
Her book minorhythm, based on her blog of the same name, is published in March.
Chihara voiced the role of Yuki Nagato in The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya for the first time.
On July 8, she performed with Aya Hirano and Yūko Gotō at Animelo Summer Live 2006 Outride concert.
In July, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya's ending theme single "Hare Hare Yukai" sung with Aya Hirano and Yūko Gotō reached gold status.
In November, received the Radio Kansai Award along with Yūko Gotō
On January 24, released the single "Junpaku Sanctuary", ending a two-year hiatus from her personal singing career.
On March 18, performed in the Suzumiya Haruhi no Gekisou concert.
In May, began the radio program in conjunction to her blog called Radio Minorhythm on Wednesdays as part of the Lantis web radio lineup.
On June 6, released the single "Kimi ga Kureta Anohi".
From June 29 to July 2, appeared at Anime Expo 2007 along with Aya Hirano and Yūko Gotō at Long Beach, California as a guest of honor.
On July 7, performed in the Animelo Summer Live 2007 Generation-A concert.