Sheva Alomar is a fictional character in the Resident Evil horror video game series by Capcom. She was introduced in 2009 in Resident Evil 5 in which she is a native African operative of an anti-bioterrorism group and the new partner of the series' veteran Chris Redfield. Sheva is controlled by the game's artificial intelligence (AI) when playing with a single player, and is controlled by a second player in the game's cooperative mode.
Designed to symbolize "the bond of partnership" within the game, the character's physical design was modeled off Australian actress Michelle Van Der Water, while her voice acting and motion capture were performed by American actress Karen Dyer. The character was met with mostly positive reception from video game journalists, who praised her strength and attractiveness, though her AI in-game received mixed to negative reviews. The character's depiction did, however, receive criticism from several sources for adhering to racial and gendered stereotypes. Sheva has not returned for any further installments of the series.
Sheva made her first and only appearance in Resident Evil 5. According to the character's backstory, her parents died when she was eight years old in an apparent factory accident and she was taken in by her uncle. Eventually, Sheva ran away and was found by a truck driver who was part of a rebel militia group. She later joined the group and soon learned that the factory accident her parents had died in was actually a test of a bio-organic weapon (BOW) by the pharmaceutical company Umbrella Corporation. With the help of the local government, Umbrella destroyed Sheva's village and its inhabitants after the test was complete. When Sheva was 15, she was contacted by U.S. operatives to sabotage Umbrella's attempt to sell a BOW. With Sheva's help, the deal was stopped and she was offered a chance to start a new life in America. Sheva accepted, was speaking fluent English within months and enrolled at a university two years later. After graduation, her benefactor recruited her to join the Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance (BSAA). While Umbrella had dissolved years before this, Sheva's hatred of Umbrella and others like them led her to join. She was assigned to a unit for eight months of training, in which she excelled and was chosen to become an agent assigned to the BSAA's West African department. When BSAA agent Chris Redfield is sent to intercept a black market BOW sale in the fictional African country Kijuju, Sheva is assigned to be his partner and guide.
In Resident Evil 5, the primary player controls Chris Redfield, whom Sheva follows throughout the game as an ally controlled by artificial intelligence (AI). In the game's co-operative gameplay mode, a second player will control Sheva. When the game has been completed once, there is an option to make Sheva the primary character. During the events of the game, Sheva and Chris stop the Tricell corporation, who were continuing Umbrella's work, from infecting the world with a new BOW. In the end, they kill the series' villain Albert Wesker.
Pre-order bonuses for Resident Evil 5 included a sand globe of Sheva and Redfield. Various action figures of the character have been released by the National Entertainment Collectibles Association, Hot Toys, Square Enix, and SomaliCraft. Karen Dyer posed as Alomar for a 2009 calendar she made available to download from her website.