Naoko Mori

Naoko Mori 森 尚子
Mori at the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con International.
Born	(1971-11-19) 19 November 1971 Nagoya, Japan
Residence	London, England
Nationality	Japanese
Education	Royal Russell School
Occupation	Actress, singer[1]
Years active	1992–present
Notable work(s)	Absolutely Fabulous Casualty Doctor Who Torchwood
Religion	Japanese Buddhism

Naoko Mori (森 尚子, Mori Naoko)^[2] (born 19 November 1971)^[3] is a Japanese actress who lives and works mainly in the UK. Mori is best known for her roles in the television series Absolutely Fabulous, Casualty, Doctor Who, and Torchwood.

Early life

Mori was born in Nagoya, Japan. When Mori was four years old, she moved to New Jersey due to her father's work. She returned to Japan when she was ten and moved to London two years later. When her parents were posted back to Japan, Mori was given the choice of either moving back to Japan with her parents or remaining in London on her own.^[4] She chose to stay in London, partly because she wanted to finish her GCSEs and gain some qualifications.^[4] She attended the Royal Russell School. Mori's father opened a bank account for her, handed her a cheque book and told her to find a flat or a bed sit for herself to live in. Mori said that being on her own at such a young age helped her to be a very independent person, although it was still a scary world to be faced so young.^[4]

Acting career

Mori at Comic Con 2008.

From 1993–1994, Mori had a regular role on the hospital drama Casualty as the hospital receptionist Mie Nishikawa. Film roles followed, including appearances in Spiceworld: The Movie (1997) and Topsy-Turvy (1999), and a leading role in Running Time (2000).^{[citation needed]} Mori also appeared in the television programmes Thief Takers (1997), Judge John Deed (2001), Spooks (2002), Mile High (2003)^[5] and Powers (2004).^[6] In 1995, she had a small role as a Japanese computer hacker in the film Hackers. Mori had a major role in the 2005 BBC docu-drama Hiroshima, which contained dramatic re-enactments of the 1945 atomic bombing. Mori also provided the voice acting for the villainess Mai Hem for the game Perfect Dark Zero. She also played Mia, hostess of the short-lived game show Hot Tub Ranking the same year. The programme ran for 6 episodes.^{[citation needed]}

Also in 2005, Mori had a small role as Dr Sato in the Doctor Who episode "Aliens of London". Producer Russell T Davies took note of her performance and decided to bring the character back as a regular in the first two series of the Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood.^[7] Mori's Torchwood character, Toshiko Sato, was killed in "Exit Wounds", the final episode of Torchwood’s second series, but has not ruled out the possibility of returning to the show at a later date.^{[citation needed]} She returned to the West End on 20 November 2006, when she took over the role of Christmas Eve from Ann Harada in the London production of Avenue Q, a role which she played until 14 April 2007.^[8] Mori portrayed Yoko Ono in the BBC Four production Lennon Naked, which aired in the UK on Wednesday 23 June 2010.^[9] The film reunited her with Christopher Eccleston, who played John Lennon, opposite whom she played Dr Sato in her Doctor Who appearance. Before joining Torchwood, Mori acted as Kim in Miss Saigon alongside future co-star John Barrowman as Chris.

Personal life

Mori is a Japanese Buddhist.^[10] She wanted to become a singer before she was an actress.^[11]

Filmography

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Naoko Mori.

• Naoko Mori at the Internet Movie Database
• Naoko Mori on Twitter
• Digital Spy interview with Naoko Mori, 4 Apr 2008