Shigeru Izumiya was born on May 11, 1948 in Aomori Prefecture, Japan and grew up in Meguro, Tokyo. While he is a multifaceted artist known as a folk singer, musician, actor, and poet, his work as a voice actor includes several notable anime and animated film roles.

Izumiya began his entertainment career as a folk singer, making his debut with the album Izumiya Shigeru Appears in 1971. He later co-founded the record company For Life Records in 1975 alongside Takuro Yoshida, Yosui Inoue, and Hitoshi Komuro. His acting career gained significant attention after he won the TV Grand Prize and the Arts Festival Excellence Award for his role in the 1979 drama The Yoshinobu-chan Case: The Biggest Kidnapping of the Postwar Period. Over the decades, he has built an extensive resume in live-action film and television, appearing in numerous dramas such as Dr. Koto's Clinic and the Three Old Men series, as well as the film Godzilla: Final Wars.

Within the realm of voice acting, Izumiya is known for providing the voice of Gonta in the 1994 animated film Pom Poko, produced by Studio Ghibli. He also voiced the character Nekojara in the 2004 film Doraemon: Nobita in the Wan-Nyan Spacetime Odyssey. In the television series Angel, he played the role of Tano. His other voice work includes the role of the drunken old man in the series Densha Otoko, which is a live-action drama based on a popular internet story. Beyond acting, Izumiya has also worked as a film director and art director, winning the Blue Ribbon Art Design Award for the.