Sheva Alomar

Lore & Background

According to the character's backstory, Sheva's 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.

Reader's Guide

Sheva appears in Resident Evil 5 wearing a form-fitting purple singlet, beige pants and knee-high boots. She also carries a tactical belt and pistol holster, and wears leather forearm guards and traditional African jewellery. Alternate costumes are a staple within the Resident Evil series that let players dress playable characters in "silly, cool, and even embarrassing" outfits; the series also has a reputation for making their alternate costumes for women sexualised. Sheva's alternate costumes are a "Clubbin'" outfit consisting of a gold lamé bikini, micro-miniskirt and blonde wig, and a "Tribal" outfit consisting of a leopard print bikini and tribal body paint. Sheva has not returned for any further installments of the series, though she appears in the 2022 video game Dead by Daylight as an optional playable character.

Did You Know?

• Karen Dyer went through weeks of firearms training for the role, learning with both hands because Sheva is left-handed.
• In Dead by Daylight, Sheva was voiced by Kayla Dixon.
• Pre-order bonuses for Resident Evil 5 included a sand globe of Sheva and Redfield.
• Karen Dyer posed as Alomar for a 2009 calendar she made available to download from her website.