| Tadanobu Asano 浅野 忠信 |
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|---|---|
Tadanobu Asano, December 7, 2007 |
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| Born | Tadanobu Sato 佐藤 忠信 November 27, 1973 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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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]
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]
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]
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]
| 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] |
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