Mari Natsuki

Junko Nakajima (中島 淳子, Nakajima Junko, born 2 May 1952), more commonly known by her stage name Mari Natsuki (夏木 マリ, Natsuki Mari), is a Japanese singer, dancer and actress. Born in Tokyo, she started work as a singer from a young age. In 2007 she announced her engagement to percussionist Nobu Saitō, with their marriage taking place in Spring 2008.

She has participated in musical theatre, including that of Yukio Ninagawa. She provided the voice of Yubaba in Spirited Away, played the young witch's mother in the Japanese TV remake of Bewitched, and has twice been nominated for a Japanese Academy Award. She plays the character Big Mama in the Japanese version of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.^[1] She has also acted in television dramas, such as the 2005 series Nobuta o Produce, in which she played the Vice Principal, Katharine.

Filmography

Films

1983 Satomi Hakkenden (Legend of the Eight Samurai)

1984 Kita no Hotaru

1986 Jittemai

1986 Death Powder

1989 Otoko wa Tsurai yo: Boku no Ojisan

1995 The Hunted

1998 Samurai Fiction

2001 Spirited Away

2001 Shōjo

2002 Ping Pong

2004 Okusama wa Majo

2006 Sugar and Spice

2007 Sakuran

2013 Girl In The Sunny Place

Television

• Carnation (2011)

Video Games

• Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (Big Mama) (2008)

External links

• Natsuki Mari Official homepage (Japanese)
• List of roles on allcinema.net (Japanese)
• Mari Natsuki at the Internet Movie Database

References