Shūichi Ikeda is a veteran Japanese actor and narrator who has been active in the entertainment industry since the late 1950s. Born on December 2, 1949, in Tokyo, he began his career as a child actor in live-action television and film before transitioning to voice acting in the 1970s. He is affiliated with the Tokyo Actor's Consumer's Cooperative Society.

Ikeda is widely recognized for his deep and charismatic vocal performances, with his most iconic and enduring role being that of Char Aznable, the masked "Red Comet," in the original 1979 series Mobile Suit Gundam. This role became a cornerstone of his career, and he has reprised it numerous times across the franchise, including in Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam, the film Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack, and the prequel OVA Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin, as well as in the 2022 film Mobile Suit Gundam: Cucuruz Doan's Island. His portrayal of the complex anti-hero has made him a legendary figure in anime.

Beyond Gundam, Ikeda has voiced a vast array of prominent characters across several decades. He is the voice of the red-haired pirate captain Shanks in the long-running series One Piece, a role he has played since 1999 and in the 2022 film One Piece Film Red. In Detective Conan, he is known for his role as the FBI agent Shuichi Akai, a character he has voiced in numerous television episodes and theatrical films such as Detective Conan: The Scarlet Bullet and Detective Conan: Black Iron Submarine. His other significant anime roles include Scorpio Milo in Saint Seiya, Hiko Seijūrō XIII in Rurouni Kenshin, Kite in Hunter x Hunter (2011), Gilbert Durandal in Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny, and Masayoshi Shido in Persona 5 the Animation. More recently, his work includes roles in Birdie Wing -Golf Girls' Story- as Leo Millafoden, Hortensia Saga as Didier Vialdo, Gibiate as Dr. Yoshinaga, and Thermae Romae Novae as Kuniyoshi Utagawa.

In addition to anime, Ikeda has a substantial body of work in video games, lending his voice to characters such as Marluxia in the Kingdom Hearts series, Lahabrea in Final Fantasy XIV, and Xu Shu in the Dynasty Warriors series. He is also the official Japanese dubbing voice for actor Jet Li.

For his long-standing contributions and distinguished performance, Ikeda was a recipient of the Best Supporting Actor Award at the 17th Seiyu Awards in 2023.