Yū Shimaka was a Japanese actor and voice actor born on May 6, 1949, in Nagano Prefecture. He passed away on July 28, 2019, at the age of 70 due to a myocardial infarction. During his career, he was affiliated with the talent agencies Production Baobab and later Production Aigumi. Standing approximately 183 cm tall, he possessed a distinctive baritone to bass vocal range known for its dignity and depth, a quality that led to him frequently being cast in roles for well-built male characters and intimidating villains.

Shimaka's career was extensive, particularly within the mecha and science fiction genres, making him a familiar presence in robot anime from the 1980s onward. His notable roles in television animation included Bob Floyd in Powered Armor Dorvack, Zol in The Brave Fighter of Sun Fighbird, Cerberus in Sonic Soldier Borgman, Crest Giscar in Sōkō Kyoshin Z-Knight, Miki's Father in Mama wa Poyopoyo-Saurus ga Osuki, and Shadow in Kikou Keisatsu Metal Jack. His other prominent anime roles spanned decades, including Ben Rooner and Gol in Metal Armor Dragonar, Nick in Zillion, Tekkaman Axe in Tekkaman Blade, various characters in YuYu Hakusho, Genbu and Butajiri, as well as roles in Crayon Shin-chan, Cowboy Bebop as Piccaro Calvino, Ryoga Senba in Code Geass, and Kakukaku in Sgt. Frog.

In addition to his work in original Japanese animation, Shimaka was highly active in the field of dubbing foreign films and television series. He was the official Japanese voice actor for the Disney character Goofy. His extensive dubbing credits included providing the Japanese voice for characters such as Biff Tannen in the Fuji TV edition of Back to the Future, Luther Stickell in the Mission: Impossible film series, Valentin Zukovsky in GoldenEye, Walter Skinner in The X-Files, and Sallah in a television broadcast of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. He also voiced numerous characters in animated series, including Doctor Octopus in Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends and Fat Cat in Chip 'n Dale's Rescue Rangers.

Shimaka’s work extended to video games, where he voiced Goofy in the Kingdom Hearts series, Master Mikado in The Bouncer, and Papu Papu in Crash Team Racing. In the realm of film, he appeared in an acting role as Hara Jingorō in Akira Kurosawa’s Kagemusha. Beyond performing, he also contributed to the industry as a lecturer at Tokyo Announce Gakuin and taught at his own private school, Goof Troop.