Horikawa Ryou is a veteran voice actor born on February 1, 1958 in Osaka, Japan. He is married to fellow voice actress Oikawa Hitomi, whose natal name is also Horikawa. His former stage name was also Horikawa Ryou, albeit written 堀川亮 (same as his given name, Horikawa Makoto, but pronounced as Ryo). He changed the writing of his name to the present on April 3, 2001. He is the current representative director of talent agency Aslead Company.

Horikawa started out as a child actor in elementary school. He made his debut in voice acting as the protagonist of the 1984 anime Yume Senshi Wingman. From there, he became famous for his roles as Andromeda Shun in Saint Seiya, Vegeta in Dragon Ball Z, Heiji Hattori (Harley Hartwell) in Detective Conan (Case Closed), and Reinhard in Legend of the Galactic Heroes. During his early years as voice actor he belonged to Aoni Production and later アーク・ライツ before joining with Aslead Company where he became representative director.