Kyusaku Shimada is a Japanese actor and voice actor born on April 24, 1955, in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture. He originally worked as part of the avant-garde Tokyo Grand Guignol theater group, staying with the company until its dissolution in 1986. His stage name was chosen from suggestions by the group's leader, inspired by author Kyusaku Yumeno.

Shimada made his film debut in 1988 playing the role of Yasunori Kato in the live-action film Tokyo: The Last Megalopolis. He reprised this character in the sequel Tokyo: The Last War in 1989. This performance is particularly notable as the author of the original novel, Hiroshi Aramata, was so impressed with Shimada's portrayal that he rewrote the character's description in later editions to resemble the actor. Shimada later provided the voice for the same character in the anime adaptation Doomed Megalopolis.

Beyond his iconic role as Yasunori Kato, Shimada has taken on several other voice acting parts in anime and video games. He is the Japanese voice of Hades in the Kingdom Hearts video game series, including Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, and Kingdom Hearts III. He also voiced Reiji Kageyama in Inazuma Eleven and Kinetarou Itou in Shura no Toki: Age of Chaos. In dubbing foreign works, he provided the Japanese voice for Hades in the Disney film Hercules.

Shimada has appeared in a wide range of live-action productions, including films such as The Princess Blade as Byakurai, Dragon Head as Minila, Devilman as a Subway Passenger, Cutie Honey as the Police Chief, Shin Godzilla as Shuichi Katayama, and Shin Ultraman as Taishi Okuma. His television work includes roles in NHK taiga dramas such as Yae's Sakura, Naotora: The Lady Warlord, and What Will You Do, Ieyasu. His career has continued steadily from the late 1980s to the present day.