<Tr> <Th> Voiced by </Th> <Td> Nakamura Shidō (Japanese, anime and films) Jun Fukushima (Japanese, TV drama) Brian Drummond (English, anime and films) Willem Dafoe (American film) </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Portrayed by </Th> <Td> Kōtarō Yoshida (musical) </Td> </Tr> <P> Ryuk (Japanese: リューク, Hepburn: Ryūku) is a fictional character in the manga series Death Note, created by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata . He is a bored Shinigami that drops a Death Note, a notebook that allows you to kill anyone simply by knowing their name and face, into the human world in order to have fun . It is picked up by Light Yagami, a young intelligent boy who uses it in an attempt to create and rule a utopia cleansed of evil, with him at the helm as a "god". </P> <P> In the anime adaptation, Ryuk is voiced by Nakamura Shidō in Japanese and by Brian Drummond in the English version . Both actors reprise their roles for voicing the computer - generated version of the character in the live - action films, with Jun Fukushima voicing the CG version in the live - action television drama . In the musical, Ryuk was portrayed by Kōtarō Yoshida . Willem Dafoe provided the voice acting and facial motion capture in the American live - action film adaptation . </P>

Can ryuk's name be written in the death note