Akiko Takeguchi is a veteran Japanese actress and voice actress born on November 6, 1942, in Hiroshima Prefecture. She is affiliated with the talent agency Production Baobab. Her birth name is Kinue Takeguchi. She began her career in the 1960s and was previously associated with the theatre troupe Gekidan Gendai and the office Office O. Beyond acting, her hobbies include Tai Chi, traveling, and reading.

Takeguchi has built an extensive career spanning several decades, with a prolific body of work in anime, where she is often cast in supporting roles such as mothers, grandmothers, and other maternal or elderly characters. Her voice can be heard in a wide range of anime television series and films from the 1980s through the 2020s. As specified, she voiced the character Ireia Kitty in the 2009 television series The Book of Bantorra, also known as Armed Librarians: The Book of Bantorra. Another notable role is Kane Yasui in the 1991 original video animation Ageman to Fukuchin.

Her other prominent anime roles include Sister Yolanda in the Black Lagoon series and its sequel Roberta's Blood Trail, the Housemother in Haibane Renmei, Sheryl in Trigun, and a Circus Master in The Twelve Kingdoms. In film, she has contributed to works by renowned directors, with roles in Ponyo as Noriko, Tokyo Godfathers, and Nasu: Summer in Andalusia as Carmen's mother. She also has a long-running association with the detective anime Case Closed, known as Detective Conan in some regions, providing voices for numerous characters across many episodes. As recently as 2021, she voiced a character in the series Otherside Picnic.

In addition to her anime work, a significant portion of Takeguchi's career is dedicated to voice-over work for foreign films and television series, a field known as fukikae. She has provided the Japanese voice for a vast array of actresses in numerous Hollywood and international films. Examples of her dubbing work include voicing Bette in The War of the Roses (played by Jessica Lange), Tillie in Yes Man (Fionnula Flanagan), Catherine Langford in Stargate (Viveca Lindfors), and various characters in films such as Apollo 13, Jurassic Park, and Interview with the Vampire. Her work also extends to video games, such as playing Kelly Lhant in Tales of Graces and Medi in Dragon Quest VIII.