Tōru Furusawa

Born in a Tokyo Electric Power Company company housing in Iwagami-machi,^[2] Maebashi,^[3][4] Gunma Prefecture,^[5][6] he resided there until the second year of junior high school,^[7][2] though some sources claim Kumamoto Prefecture as his birthplace.^[10]

He graduated from Maebashi City Iwagami Elementary School, Maebashi City Daisan Junior High School, Gunma Prefectural Shibukawa High School, and the Department of Political Science in the School of Political Science and Economics at Meiji University.^[4][2]

He got into acting in high school when the head of the drama club scouted him.^[7]

After attending the 11th class of the Seinenza Theater Institute^[5][4] and the En Theater Research Institute,^[2] he joined the Gekidan Nakama.^[5][2]

Back then, he struggled to get by. With nothing but rehearsals and performances, he didn't even have time for a part-time job, so he snuck into a subcontracting company working for Shimizu Corporation, where actors from the Seinenza Theater Company would routinely go to do part-time work.^[2] However, at the site, he fell from the scaffolding, tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee and suffered a meniscus tear.^[2] At that time, remembering that his close friend Tomoyuki Dan had said, "Lately I started a well-paying part-time job as a voice actor," he cried to Dan, who then introduced him to Kazuya Tatekabe.^[2][11] Tatekabe watched Furusawa’s performance at The Suzunari Theatre and judged, "He seems capable enough of acting, so I suppose it's fine."^[2] Furusawa became Tatekabe’s apprentice on the spot and began his career as a voice actor.^[2][11]

In 1994, Furusawa made his voice acting debut The Brave Police J-Decker as the voice of Deckerd.^[4] Afterwards, he was previously affiliated with Production Baobab,^[10] Kenyu Office,^[5] Bell Production,^[6] and Office Kaifu.

Starting April 2021, he changed the kanji spelling of his stage name from "Tōru Furusawa" (古澤徹), like his birth name, to "Tōru Furusawa" (古澤融).^[12] He changed his stage name after consulting his wife, deciding to "give himself a name" in order to commemorate overcoming stage fright^[2] and that the name was chosen with 'Yū' from yūwa and Minamoto no Tōru in mind.^[2]