Hekiru Shiina is a Japanese voice actress and singer born on March 12, 1974, in Tokyo, Japan. Her real name is Makiko Shiina. As of February 2021, she is affiliated with the agency Voice Kit, having previously been with Arts Vision for 28 years. She is known for her work across numerous anime series, films, and video games since her debut in the early 1990s.

Shiina began her career after passing an audition held by the Japan Narration Acting Institute in 1991. She first gained attention as a member of the voice acting idol group Cristal A before going solo. Her early voice roles included parts in OVAs such as Idol Defense Force Hummingbird, where she played Mina Toreishi, and Sonic Soldier Borgman II: New Century 2058. Her debut in television animation came in 1992 with a role in K.O. Beast.

Shiina rose to prominence in the mid-1990s with several iconic roles. She was cast as the energetic protagonist Hikaru Shidou in the beloved magical girl series Magic Knight Rayearth, a role that remains one of her most famous. During this period, she also voiced Alpha Hatsuseno in the atmospheric Yokohama Kaidashi Kikō OVAs and Fam in Ruin Explorers. Her work extended to video games, where she provided the voice for the character Pastel in the TwinBee series and for Mega Man in the arcade fighting games Mega Man: The Power Battle and Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters. She also voiced Kotomi Takanashi in the series DNA².

In addition to her voice acting, Shiina has maintained a successful parallel career as a singer. She made her solo musical debut in 1994 with the album Shiena under Sony Music Records. She achieved several milestones as a singer, becoming the first female voice actor to hold a solo concert at the prestigious Nippon Budokan in 1997. Over her career, she has released numerous singles and albums, moving between record labels including Lantis and Warner Music Japan. Her musical style evolved from idol pop to incorporate pop-rock elements, and she collaborated with musician Naoto Kine.

Throughout the 2000s and 2010s, Shiina continued to take on diverse and notable roles. She voiced Yamawaro in the Hell Girl series, including Hell Girl: Three Vessels. A major later role was Nene Todoroki in the long-running comedy series Seitokai Yakuindomo, a part she played from 2010 onwards across its various seasons and OVAs. She also gained a new generation of fans with her performance as the gambling-obsessed Celestia Ludenberg in the popular Danganronpa: The Animation and its video game source material, Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc. Other significant roles from this era include Ami Chono in Girls und Panzer and a macrophage cell in Cells at Work! Code Black.

In 2024, to commemorate the 30th anniversary of her voice acting debut, Shiina released her first self-cover album titled Harmony Star, which featured new versions of songs from her career. Her filmography demonstrates a long and varied career, with recent roles in series such as Ayaka: A Story of Bonds and Wounds and Jellyfish Can't Swim in the Night.