My journey, from Tokyo to Agen
Jean-François Raynaud is a French actor and voice actor. After two years of study in Japan and seventeen years in Quebec, where he trained in acting with Marie Danielle Boucher and at L'inis, he is now based in Agen. There he runs Jeffu Studio and records in French, English and Japanese.
Biography
I was born in south-west France and discovered Japan at twenty: two years of university exchange in Beppu, between 2006 and 2008, from which I came back fluent. I then completed a master's degree in performing arts, film track, at Université Montpellier III, awarded with honours.
In 2009 I moved to Quebec with one fixed idea: to work on film sets. I started as a production assistant, then third assistant director, then production manager. I learned cinema from behind the scenes before stepping in front of the camera.
In 2014 I wanted to be on the other side. Marie Danielle Boucher mentored me for three years and passed on the Stanislavski and Uta Hagen approaches; Robert Favreau and Rachel Verdon trained me for on-camera work at L'inis. I rounded this out with continuing-education workshops from UDA and ACTRA, where I am an active member.
Singing came next: private classical voice lessons with Philippe Bolduc, then several lead roles in operettas with Productions Belle Lurette. Vocal technique — Estill Voice Training levels 1 and 2 — became the foundation of my voice-over work. I also lived and worked in Tokyo: theatre, commercials, TV documentaries, music videos.
I'm back in France, in Agen, where I've built Jeffu Studio. Since 2020 I've been recording commercials, corporate contents, narrations and character voices for animation and video games.
