Yu Shimamura is a Japanese voice actress born in Tokyo on April 18, 1985. She began her career in 2005 after being selected for a role in the original net animation The Wings of Rean, a project based on a light novel by director Yoshiyuki Tomino. From 2005 to 2008, she was affiliated with the talent agency Office Kaoru, after which she joined her current agency, Ken Production.

Her early years in the industry involved voicing numerous minor and supporting characters, which allowed her to build a foundation of experience across various series. A significant turning point in her career came in 2013 when she was cast as Annie Leonhart in the globally popular anime Attack on Titan. Her portrayal of the stoic and skilled fighter, a role she has reprised across multiple seasons, films, and OVAs including Attack on Titan: The Final Season Part 2 and Attack on Titan: Junior High, brought her widespread recognition. In 2015, she took on the lead role of Haruka Haruno, also known as Cure Flora, in the magical girl series Go! Princess Precure. This role made her a central figure in the long-running Precure franchise and showcased her ability to voice a more energetic and hopeful character, a contrast to her work in Attack on Titan.

Throughout her career, Shimamura has demonstrated considerable range, taking on a wide variety of roles across different genres. She voices the intelligent and formidable physician Akiko Yosano in the long-running series Bungo Stray Dogs, a role she has played since 2016, including in the film Bungo Stray Dogs: Dead Apple and the spin-off Bungo Stray Dogs Wan!. In 2021, she brought energy to the role of the digital partner Jellymon in Digimon Ghost Game. She has also voiced characters like the spider monster girl Aranya Trantella Alakunida in Monster Girl Doctor, Chartreux Westia in Boarding School Juliet, and Yayoi Uenoyama in the music-themed anime Given. In 2022, she took over the role of Ichi Mezato in Mob Psycho 100 III. Her work extends to web anime as well, including voicing Blake Belladonna in RWBY: Ice Queendom and Tina Hurst in Hero Mask.

Her talent is not limited to anime television series. Shimamura has voiced numerous characters in films, such as Sakurako in The Stranger by the Shore. She has also had a significant presence in video games, where she is perhaps best known for voicing Princess Zelda in acclaimed titles like The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and its sequel, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Her other notable game roles include Cindy Aurum in Final Fantasy XV and Jane Doe in Zenless Zone Zero. In addition to original animation, she is active in dubbing foreign films and television series for Japanese audiences, providing voices for characters such as Negasonic Teenage Warhead in the Deadpool film series and Dina in The Last of Us Part II.

Her career has continued steadily into the 2020s, with roles in series such as The Fire Hunter as Kiri, Mecha-Ude as Aki Murasame, and Kana in Tower of God: Workshop Battle. Through her extensive filmography, which includes main roles in series like Our Home's Fox Deity and Tanken Driland, as well as supporting parts in Aldnoah.Zero and Gundam Reconguista in G, Yu Shimamura has established herself as a versatile and sought-after talent in the Japanese voice acting industry.