Kaori Yamagata is a Japanese actress, voice actress, and screenwriter born on February 27, 1963, in Osaka Prefecture. She began her career in theatre, joining the Bungakuza Theatre Company's research institute in 1983 and making her stage debut in 1985, before becoming a company member in 1988. Her voice acting career gained momentum after she was cast as the Japanese voice of Susan Lewis in the American television series ER. She departed from the Bungakuza Theatre Company in 2017.

Yamagata has portrayed a wide range of characters in anime. She voiced Lily in the 2010 series Rainbow - Nisha Rokubō no Shichinin. In the Pretty Cure franchise, she played the villain Anacondy in Yes! Precure 5 GoGo! and later voiced the role of The Queen in the 2015 film Go! Princess Pretty Cure the Movie Go! Go!! Gorgeous Triple Feature!!!. She also took on the part of Miu's mother in the 2010 project Bungaku Shōjo Memoir II - Sora-Mau Tenshi no Requiem. In mecha anime, she provided the female voice for the dual-gendered antagonist Baron Ashura in Mazinger Edition Z: The Impact!. Her other anime roles include Anna Williams in Tekken: The Motion Picture, Elexis Sinclaire in the anime adaptation Sin: The Movie, and Medhram in the 2011 film Tibetan Dog. Beyond these, her extensive anime credits include characters such as Bella in Yokai Ningen Bem, Coach Hanamura in Initial D, and Coach Kachidoki in The Gymnastics Samurai.

In addition to her performance work, Yamagata is an accomplished screenwriter, working under the pen name Akino Sakurako. She has written scripts for stage plays and web dramas, and notably penned the screenplay for the theatrical anime film Go! Princess Precure the Movie Go! Go!! Gorgeous Triple Feature!!!. Her work as a playwright has earned recognition, including the Excellence Award at the 16th Japan Playwrights Association New Script Awards for her play Monkey. She has also been active in theatre production, co-founding the performance group Hagoromo 1011 with fellow voice actress Misa Watanabe and later forming the theatre group Watermelon Sugar.