Tadanobu Asano

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Tadanobu Asano as Kakihara in the film Ichi the Killer

Tadanobu Asano (浅野忠信 Asano Tadanobu), born Tadanobu Sato (佐藤忠信 Satō Tadanobu, born November 27, 1973 in Yokohama) is a charismatic and versatile Japanese actor who has been described by critics as that country's answer to Johnny Depp.

Born to a half-Native American mother, his fair complexion and lighter-than-black eyes drew him qualifiably different attentions from his male and female schoolmates. His father, an actors' agent, suggested he take on what became his first role, in the TV show "Kinpachi Sensei", at the age of 16. His film debut was in the 1990 Swimming Upstream (Bataashi Kingyo; 1990), though his first major critical success was in Shunji Iwai's Fried Dragon Fish (1993). His first critical success internationally was Hirokazu Koreeda's Maboroshi no hikari (1995), in which he played a man who inexplicably throws himself in front of a train, widowing his wife and orphaning his infant son. His best known works internationally are the samurai films Gohatto (1999) and Zatoichi (2003), as well as the critically acclaimed film Akarui Mirai ("Bright Future"). It was on the set of Iwai's Picnic (1996) that he met and fell in love with J-Pop idol Chara. They married soon after learning she was pregnant with their first child, Sumile (Sumire- violet, or 'smile').

While best known for characters who are psychologically offbeat, if not downright psychotic; e.g. Kakihara in Ichi the Killer (2001), Asano is described by those who know him as a down-to-earth family man. He has directed commercial TV spots for Chara, and manages to find time to take Sumile and his son, Himi, to the zoo. Hesitant to identify himself as an actor, he most readily describes himself as a vocalist, referring to Mach 1.67, the band he has with director Sogo Ishii. He is also an artist, and a model, most notably for Japanese fashion designers Jun Takahashi and Takeo Kikuchi, for whom he filmed a series of commercial spots directed by Wong Kar-wai, one released under the name wkw/tk/1996@7′55″hk.net.

He appeared as the lead actor in Last Life in the Universe (2003), by Thai director Pen-Ek Ratanaruang, and starred in a followup film by Pen-Ek, Invisible Waves, in 2006.

He won the Most Popular Performer award at the 1997 Japanese Academy Awards for Acri, and was nominated in the Best Supporting Actor category in 2004 for his performance in Zatôichi.

The profligacy of his film career is due in part to the fact that he no longer appears in TV programmes, which in Japan are more lucrative than film work.

[edit] Filmography

[edit] Actor

Tôkyô zonbi (2006) - Fujio
Invisible Waves (2006) - Kyôji
Ranpo jigoku (2005) - Kogorô Akechi; A man; Masaki
Taga tameni (2005) - Tamio Murase
Takeshis' (2005) - ?
Eli, Eli, lema sabachitani? (2005) - Mizui
Umoregi (2005) - San-chan
Naisu no mori: The First Contact (2005) - Masaru Tanaka
Chichi to kuraseba (2004) - Kinoshita
Survive Style 5+ (2004) - Aman
Vital (2004) - Hiroshi Takagi
Cha no aji (The Taste of Tea) (2004) - Ayano, the Uncle
Tori (2004) - ?
Kôhî jikô (Café Lumière) (2003) - Hajime Takeuchi
Zatôichi (The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi) (2003) - Hattori Genosuke
Ruang rak noi nid mahasan (Chikyû de saigo no futari, Last Life in the Universe) (2003) - Kenji
Watashi no guranpa (My Grandpa) (2003) - Shinichi Nakafuji
Akarui mirai (Bright Future) (2003) - Mamoru Arita
Dead End Run (2003) - ?
Mizu no onna (Woman of Water) (2002) - Yusaku
Koroshiya 1 (Ichi the Killer) (2001) - Kakihara
Distance (2001) - Sakata
Electric Dragon 80.000 V (2001) - Dragon Eye Morrison
Party 7 (2000) - Okita Souji
Kaza-hana (2000) - Sawaki
Gojoe reisenki (Gojoe: Spirit War Chronicle) (2000) - Shanao
Gohatto (Taboo) (1999) - Samurai Hyozo Tashiro
Jirai wo fundara sayônara (One Step on a Mine, It's All Over) (1999) - Ichinose, Taizo
Hakuchi (1999 film) (Hakuchi: The Innocent) (1999) - Isawa
Sôseiji (Gemini) (1999) - Man with Sword
San tiao ren (Kujaku, Away with Words) (1999) - Asano
Samehada otoko to momojiri onna (Shark Skin Man and Peach Hip Girl) (1998) - Kuroo Samehada
Neji-shiki (Screwed) (1998) - Tsube
Love & Pop (1998) - Captain XX
Tokyo biyori (1997) - ?
Yume no ginga (Labyrinth of Dreams) (1997) - Tatsuo Niitaka
Focus (1996) - Kanemura
Swallowtail (Swallowtail & Butterfly) (1996) - Customer in club
Acri (The Legend of Homo-Aquarellius) (1996) - Hisoka
Helpless (1996) - Kenji
PiCNiC　(1996) - Tsumuji
Wkw/tk/1996@7'55"hk.net (1996) - Man
Maboroshi no hikari (Maborosi) (1995) - Ikuo
Yonshimai monogatari (1995) - Akira Higuchi
119 (Quiet Days of Firemen) (1994) - Satoshi Matsumoto
Fried Dragon Fish (1993) (TV) - Natsuro
Seishun dendekedekedeke (The Rocking Horsemen) (1992) - Seiichi Shirai
Aitsu (Waiting for the Flood) (1991) - Sadahito Iwata
Bataashi kingyo (Swimming Upstream) (1990) - Ushi
San-nen B-gumi Kinpachi sensei 3 (1988) (TV) - Masahiro Azuma(as Sato Tadanobu)