Yakusho Kôji

«Born Hashimoto Koji in 1956 in Nagasaki, 'Yakusho' was a 20-year old working at a municipal ward office (yakusho, geddit?!) in Tokyo when a visit to see the Gorky play The Lower Depths convinced him that he wanted to pursue an acting career. He was one of 4 chosen out of 800 applicants to the Mumeijyuku acting studio. While at the school he met actress Kawatsu Saeko, the woman who would become his wife. He became popular in 1983 after appearing in an NHK period drama and began to establish a solid career as a TV and stage actor. He also had a part in the popular Itami Juzo hit Tampopo (1986). But it was in 1996-7 that Yakusho's career really took off. It was a massive year for him by any standard: the romantic comedy Shall We Dance? was a huge hit that caught the public imagination and started a social dance craze (and was later re-made in Hollywood, with Richard Gere in Yakusho's lead role); The Eel (Unagi), a darker, more intense movie, won critical plaudits and the Palme d'Or prize at Cannes; Lost Paradise (Shitsurakuen) gained instant cult status in Japan with its sexually-charged portrayal of middle-aged forbidden love and also made a star of actress Kuroki Hitomi; Cure was an intelligent thriller; and another lesser-known film, Bouncing Young Girls (Bounce Kogyals), while less successful showed his ability to play a darker, more sinister character. Suddenly Yakusho was everywhere, advertising Kirin beer and curry, appearing in Shakespeare and adorning every magazine cover. You might have expected this kind of success and workload to take its toll but that hasn't been the case. 1997's hits were followed up by critical successes in Charisma (Karisuma 1999), Spellbound (Kinkyu Fushoku Retto: Jubaku, 1999), Dora Heita (1999), Eureka (2000) and Seance (Korei, 2000) which brought even more awards to this talented and versatile actor. He made his Hollywood debut in the movie adapatation of the bestselling novel "Memoirs of a Geisha" in 2005.»

«Born Hashimoto Koji in 1956 in Nagasaki, 'Yakusho' was a 20-year old working at a municipal ward office (yakusho, geddit?!) in Tokyo when a visit to see the Gorky play The Lower Depths convinced him that he wanted to pursue an acting career. He was one of 4 chosen out of 800 applicants to the Mumeij...» (show all)

«Koji Yakusho was born in Isahaya city, Nagasaki Prefecture on January 1st, 1956, as the youngest of five brothers. His name was then Koji HASHIMOTO. After graduating from Nagasaki Prefectural High School of Technology (in 1974), he found employment in Tokyo at a KUYAKUSHO or a municipal ward office. In the summer of 1976, he happened to see a stage play by Maxim Gorky, called THE LOWER DEPTHS, and was very impressed by it. Having thus become interested in stage dramas, Koji started seeing lots of plays; and in due course he decided to become an actor. In the spring of 1978, he challenged a test organized by Mumei-juku, an actors & actresses training studio, led by a well known actor called Tatsuya Nakadai. Koji passed his audition and was selected as one of only four lucky ones out of about 800 candidates. In 1983, he won fame when he played a major role-namely that of ODA NOBUNAGA -in a year-long TV drama entitled TOKUGAWA IEYASU ( Japan's famous early 17th-century Shogun). The next year,1984, he appeared in the NHK�fs year-long samurai drama, MIYAMOTO MUSASHI, performing the title role and thereby securing his standing with the general public as a popular star. Since then he has appeared in various stage plays and some movies, as well as in TV dramas and commercials. Koji�fs stage plays may interest you. He has performed major roles in productions of: Machiavelli's MANDRAGOLA (as Callimaco), Shakespeare's HAMLET (as Laertes), Lanford Wilson's BURN THIS (as Pale), and Martin Sherman's BENT (as Max). As for his private life, in 1982 he married Saeko Kawazu, a trainee actress from Mumei-juku. The couple have a son born in 1985. In 1996, he won a total of 14 awards as best actor for his performance of roles in SHALL WE DANCE?, SLEEPING MAN, and SHABU GOKUDO. In 1997, he played the lead in Shohei Imamura's THE EEL, which won the Golden Palm at the 50th Cannes Film Festival. In the same year, Koji won the Best Actor Award for his performance in THE EEL at the Asian Pacific Film Festival. In 1997 too, he was awarded the Best Actor Award for CURE directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa at the Tokyo International Film Festival. In 1998 Koji received a special award from the Japanese Minister of Education, Science, Sports and Culture in the category of Cinema. »

«Koji Yakusho was born in Isahaya city, Nagasaki Prefecture on January 1st, 1956, as the youngest of five brothers. His name was then Koji HASHIMOTO. After graduating from Nagasaki Prefectural High School of Technology (in 1974), he found employment in Tokyo at a KUYAKUSHO or a municipal ward offic...» (show all)