Wakana Yamazaki is a prominent Japanese voice actress and narrator born on March 21, 1965, in Yokohama, Japan, and raised in Kyoto. She is affiliated with the talent management firm Aoni Production. Her journey to becoming a voice actor was unique; she graduated from Doshisha University with a degree in industrial chemistry. While working as a company employee, she pursued her childhood dream of performing by attending the Aoni Production training school on weekends. After two years of training, she moved to Tokyo and began her career in entertainment, initially taking on minor roles and narration work.

Yamazaki's professional voice acting debut came in 1991 with the television anime "Kinkyū Hasshin Saver Kids," where she played the role of Ran Tenjinbayashi. Throughout the early 1990s, she established herself with recurring roles in popular series, including Koan in "Sailor Moon R," Meiko Akizuki in "Marmalade Boy," Maria in "Ghost Sweeper Mikami," and the title role in the 1998 version of "Himitsu no Akko-chan".

In 1996, Yamazaki was cast as Ran Mouri in the long-running anime adaptation of "Detective Conan" (also known as "Case Closed"). This role became the defining performance of her career, a character she has voiced continuously for decades across the television series, numerous specials, and all theatrical films. She has described Ran Mouri as a special character who has become a part of her life, allowing her to perform with a natural voice. Her dedication to the role involved taking up activities like sword fighting and tai chi to better understand the character's martial arts skills.

Beyond "Detective Conan," Yamazaki's career includes a wide variety of other notable performances. She is known for voicing Nojiko in "One Piece," and famously substituted for Akemi Okamura to voice Nami for several episodes while Okamura was on maternity leave. Her other prominent roles include Ayane in the "Dead or Alive" video game series, Arukenimon in "Digimon Adventure 02," Mao Ran in "Fighting Beauty Wulong," and Sophia Forrester in "Last Exile". In 2023, she took on the role of Ikuko Tsukino in the films "Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Cosmos The Movie".

In 2015, Yamazaki formed the music unit "backdrops" with fellow voice actresses and long-time friends Hiromi Tsuru and Saeko Matsui. On February 16, 2026, it was announced that Yamazaki would be taking a temporary hiatus from her voice acting activities due to health concerns. For the television anime "Detective Conan," the role of Ran Mouri will be temporarily performed by Akemi Okamura. Yamazaki had already completed her recording for the 2026 theatrical film "Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway," which will feature her performance as originally planned.