Runa Akiyama was a Japanese voice actress born on April 17, 1954, in Tokyo, Japan. Her real name was Teruko Akiyama. She began her career in the mid-1970s and was active in the industry for nearly four decades until her passing in 2014. At the time of her death, she was affiliated with the talent management group 81 Produce. Akiyama passed away on March 8, 2014, due to acute heart failure.

Akiyama's interest in voice acting was sparked during her中学 years by watching foreign films, and she was particularly inspired by the work of actor Nachi Nozawa. After initially training in acting, she shifted her focus to voice acting upon enrolling in the Tokyo Broadcasting Academy, which marked the official start of her professional path.

Throughout her extensive career, Akiyama became known for voicing a wide variety of characters, often playing young boys or petite female roles. One of her most recognized and long-running parts was Yumeko Kawai, the heroine in the popular long-running television series Ninja Hattori-kun, which aired from 1981 to 1987. She also played the recurring role of Pench Iliza across the Ginga Hyōryū Vifam franchise, first in the 1983 television series and later in the 1998 series Ginga Hyōryū Vifam 13. Another prominent role was as the title character in the NHK educational puppet theater program Zawazawa Mori no Ganko-chan.

Her filmography includes many other notable credits that span several decades. In the 1980s, she voiced Maya in The New Adventures of Honeybee Maya, Tsukubō Natsuyama (Corky) in The Flying House, Sunny in Attacker You!, and the Milk Boy in Soreike! Anpanman. She was also part of several original video animations (OVAs) and films, such as playing Klee in Cool Cool Bye, Ignasia in The Humanoid, and Dole in The Story of Fifteen Boys. Later in her career, she took on roles in long-running series like Detective Conan and Yawara! A Fashionable Judo Girl.

While there is no prominent record of recurring collaborations with a specific director or studio, her consistent work across multiple productions by studios like Shin-Ei Animation, Nippon Animation, and Sunrise demonstrates her standing as a reliable and versatile performer in the anime industry. Following her death in 2014, her role in Zawazawa Mori no Ganko-chan was taken over by voice actress Keiko Nemoto. Runa Akiyama's body of work left a lasting impression on Japanese animation, particularly through her iconic roles in beloved series for children and families.