Tadanobu Asano

Tadanobu Asano
浅野 忠信

Tadanobu Asano, December 7, 2007
Born Tadanobu Sato
佐藤 忠信

November 27, 1973 (1973-11-27) (age 38)
Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan
Occupation Actor, musician
Years active 1988–present
Spouse Chara (1995–2009)

Tadanobu Asano (浅野 忠信 Asano Tadanobu?), born Tadanobu Sato (佐藤 忠信 Satō Tadanobu?, born November 27, 1973) is a Japanese actor. He is known for his roles as Dragon Eye Morrison in Electric Dragon 80.000 V, Kakihara in Ichi the Killer, Mamoru Arita in Bright Future, Hattori Genosuke in Zatoichi, Kenji in Last Life in the Universe, Aman in Survive Style 5+, Ayano in The Taste of Tea, and Temudjin in Mongol. Most recently, Asano appeared as Hogun in the film Thor, based on the Marvel Comics character.

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Early life

Asano was born in Yokohama to a Japanese father and a mother of Japanese and Navajo ancestry (his maternal grandfather was a Navajo from Kentucky) by the name of Jim Owens, though it is unknown whether or not this is his real name.[1][2][3]

Career

His father, an actors' agent, suggested he take on his first acting role in the TV show Kinpachi Sensei at the age of 16. His film debut was in the 1990 Swimming Upstream (Bataashi Kingyo), 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. He also worked with Koreeda in the pseudo-documentary Distance in 2001. 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).

He acted in Katsuhito Ishii's 2003 film The Taste of Tea, which premiered at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival. He appeared as the lead actor in Last Life in the Universe (2003) by Thai director Pen-Ek Ratanaruang and starred in a follow-up film by Pen-Ek, Invisible Waves, in 2006. In 2007 he starred as the young Genghis Khan in Sergei Bodrov's Oscar-nominated film Mongol..[4] In "Villon's Wife" (2009), he played the part of an alcoholic writer, though he has since stated that since he doesn't actually drink alcohol, he based his performance on people he knows, a lot of whom drink.[5]

The extensive range of Asano's film career is due in part to his decision no longer to appear in television programmes, even though TV work in Japan is generally more lucrative than film acting.

In addition to his acting career, Asano directed commercial TV spots for his wife, Chara.[3] He is a musician; he formed the band MACH-1.67 with director Sogo Ishii in 1996 and, from time to time, plays in the bands Peace Pill and Safari.[6] He is 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.

Asano and his father run the actor's agency Anore Inc. which represents Japanese actors like Ryō Kase and Rinko Kikuchi.[7]

Personal life

Asano met J-Pop idol Chara on the set of Iwai's Picnic (1994). They were married in March 1995 and Chara became pregnant with their first child, Sumire. In 1999, they also had a son. In July 2009, Chara announced on her website that the two would be getting a divorce. She received custody of both their children.[8]

Awards

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. He also received the Upstream Prize for Best Actor at the 2003 Venice Film Festival for his role in Last Life in the Universe.[9]

Filmography

Year Film Role Notes
1988 San-nen B-gumi Kinpachi sensei 3 Masahiro Azuma (as Sato Tadanobu) TV series
1990 Bataashi kingyo (Swimming Upstream) Ushi
1991 Aitsu (Waiting for the Flood) Sadahito Iwata
1992 Seishun dendekedekedeke (The Rocking Horsemen) Seiichi Shirai
1993 Fried Dragon Fish Natsuro TV movie
1994 119 (Quiet Days of Firemen) Satoshi Matsumoto
1995 Yonshimai monogatari Akira Higuchi
Maborosi Ikuo
1996 Wkw/tk/1996@7'55"hk.net Man
Picnic Tsumuji
Helpless Kenji
Acri (The Legend of Homo-Aquarellius) Hisoka
Swallowtail Butterfly Customer in club
Focus Kanemura
1997 Yume no ginga (Labyrinth of Dreams) Tatsuo Niitaka
Tokyo biyori
1998 Love & Pop Captain XX
Neji-shiki (Screwed) Tsube
Shark Skin Man and Peach Hip Girl Kuroo Samehada
1999 Away with Words Asano
Gemini Man with Sword
Hakuchi (Hakuchi: The Innocent) Isawa
Jirai wo fundara sayônara (One Step on a Mine, It's All Over) Taizo Ichinose
Gohatto (Taboo) Samurai Hyozo Tashiro
2000 Gojoe reisenki (Gojoe: Spirit War Chronicle) Shanao
Kaza-hana Sawaki
Party 7 Okita Souji
2001 Electric Dragon 80.000 V Dragon Eye Morrison
Distance Sakata
Ichi the Killer Kakihara
2002 Mizu no onna (Woman of Water) Yusaku
2003 Bright Future Mamoru Arita
Watashi no guranpa (My Grandpa) Shinichi Nakafuji
Last Life in the Universe Kenji
Zatoichi (The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi) Hattori Genosuke
Dead End Run
Kôhî jikô (Café Lumière) Hajime Takeuchi
2004 Tori
The Taste of Tea Ayano, the Uncle
Vital Hiroshi Takagi
The Face of Jizo Kinoshita
Survive Style 5+ Aman
2005 Umoregi San-chan
Eli, Eli, lema sabachitani? Mizui
Taga Tameni Tamio Murase
Funky Forest Masaru Tanaka
Ranpo Jigoku Kogorô Akechi; A man; Masaki
Tokyo Zombie Fujio
2006 Invisible Waves Kyôji
Hana Jubei Kanazawa
2007 Mongol Temudjin/Genghis Khan
Sad Vacation Kenji Shiraishi
2008 Kabei: Our Mother Yamazaki Toru
2009 Tsurugidake: Ten no Ki Shibasaki
Dumbeast Dekogawa
Redline Frisbee
Villon's Wife Otani
Snow Prince
2010 The Great Khan Temudjin/Genghis Khan
2011 Thor Hogun also Japanese dub voice
Once in a Blue Moon
2012 Battleship[10] Nagata
47 Ronin Kira Yoshinaka[11]

References

  1. ^ "Bringing Genghis Khan back to life". Otago Daily Times. Los Angeles Times-Washington Post. 2 August 2008. http://www.odt.co.nz/entertainment/film/15955/bringing-genghis-khan-back-life. Retrieved 16 November 2011. 
  2. ^ "As if that’s not cool enough, he’s one quarter Navajo and married to quirky, chic J-pop star Chara", www.brooklynrail.org
  3. ^ a b Donat, Begoña (January 30, 2004). "Johnny Depp tiene un primo japonés (Johnny Depp has a Japanese Cousin)" (in Spanish). El Mundo. http://www.elmundo.es/laluna/2004/254/1075311376.html. Retrieved October 28, 2008. 
  4. ^ Golovnina, Maria (January 25, 2008). "Mongol actress from soldier dreams to Oscar buzz". The San Diego Union-Tribune. http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/features/20080125-0356-oscars-kazakhstan-chuluun.html. Retrieved 10 November 2008. 
  5. ^ Hadfield, James (July 7, 2011). "Tadanobu Asano: The Interview". Time Out Tokyo. http://www.timeout.jp/en/tokyo/feature/3938/Tadanobu-Asano-the-interview. Retrieved 7 July 2011. 
  6. ^ Mes, Tom (June 24, 2002). "Tadanobu Asano". Midnight Eye. http://www.midnighteye.com/interviews/tadanobu_asano.shtml. Retrieved October 28, 2008. 
  7. ^ Wallace, Bruce (June 13, 2008). "12th century leader, 21st century ideas". Los Angeles Times. http://articles.latimes.com/2008/jun/13/entertainment/et-mongol13. Retrieved October 28, 2008. 
  8. ^ "Tadanobu Asano, Chara divorce". Tokyograph. July 24, 2009. http://www.tokyograph.com/news/id-5061. Retrieved 17 October 2009. 
  9. ^ Riggs, Thomas (2007). Contemporary Theatre, Film & Television. Gale Cengage Learning. pp. 7. ISBN 0787690503. 
  10. ^ Cast Of 'Battleship' MTV.com 27 July 2010
  11. ^ Keanu's 47 Ronin has A-List Japanese Cast Japan-Zone.com 2 March 2011

Bibliography

External links