is a Japanese film actress.

Notable highlights of her career were an appearance in Akira Kurosawa

Akira Kurosawa

was a Japanese film director, producer, screenwriter and editor. Regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema, Kurosawa directed 30 filmsIn 1946, Kurosawa co-directed, with Hideo Sekigawa and Kajiro Yamamoto, the feature Those Who Make Tomorrow ;...

's Stray Dog

Stray dog

Stray dog or stray dogs may refer to:Dogs:* Any sort of feral dog such as free-ranging urban dogs or canines without owners running lose in rural areas or around villages or small communities* Pariah dog, a specific type of feral dog...

, and a role as Kimiko in The Bridges at Toko-Ri

The Bridges at Toko-Ri

The Bridges at Toko-Ri is a 1954 film based on a novel by James Michener about a naval aviator assigned to bomb a group of heavily defended bridges during the Korean War. It was made into a motion picture by Paramount Pictures and won the Special Effects Oscar at the 28th Academy Awards...

, where she appeared alongside William Holden

William Holden

William Holden was an American actor. Holden won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1954 and the Emmy Award for Best Actor in 1974...

 and Mickey Rooney

Mickey Rooney

Mickey Rooney is an American film actor and entertainer whose film, television, and stage appearances span nearly his entire lifetime. He has won multiple awards, including an Honorary Academy Award, a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award...

.

Her first husband was Filipino musician and actor Rodrigo "Bimbo" Danao

Bimbo Danao

Bimbo Danao was a pre-war Filipino actor. He was married to actress Isa Delgado with three daughters and two sons with Keiko Awaji. Danao was LVN's lead actor on the post-war years and he was a famous Filipino crooner...

; they had two children together. Their eldest is actor Etsuo Shima (島英津夫)

Her second husband was Japanese actor Yorozuya Kinnosuke

Yorozuya Kinnosuke

was a Japanese kabuki actor. Born , son of kabuki actor Nakamura Tokizō III, he entered kabuki and became the first in the kabuki tradition to take the name Nakamura Kinnosuke. He took on his guild name Yorozuya as his surname in 1971.In addition to his kabuki activity, Kinnosuke had an extensive...

, but they divorced in 1987. Their eldest son Akihiro died in a car crash in 1990. In 2004, their youngest son Kichinosuke Yorozuya (Satoshi Ida) was arrested for breaking into her home and served six months in prison. On June 16, 2010, Kichinosuke committed suicide by jumping off his apartment in Shinjuku.

The actress is apparently a big fan of the Dragon Quest

Dragon Quest

, published as Dragon Warrior in North America until 2005,Due to the inconsistent usage by sources since Square Enix obtained the naming rights to Dragon Quest in North America. Dragon Quest has been used by sources to refer to games released solely under the Dragon Warrior titles...

 games, even going so far as to say it is her dream to play one last game before she dies.

Partial filmography

She played in more than 160 movies since 1949:

• Stray Dog
  Stray Dog (film)
  is a 1949 film noir police procedural directed by Akira Kurosawa and starring frequent collaborators Toshirō Mifune and Takashi Shimura.-Plot:Action takes place during a heatwave in a bombed-out, post-war Tokyo...
  
  　(1949)
• The Bridges at Toko-Ri
  The Bridges at Toko-Ri
  The Bridges at Toko-Ri is a 1954 film based on a novel by James Michener about a naval aviator assigned to bomb a group of heavily defended bridges during the Korean War. It was made into a motion picture by Paramount Pictures and won the Special Effects Oscar at the 28th Academy Awards...
  
  　（1955）
• The Badger Palace
  The Badger Palace
  aka The Princess of Badger Palace is a 1958 color Japanese film directed by Kozo Saeki.Production designer was Kazuo Okawa, sound recordist was Kanji Nakano and lighting technician was Kazuo Shimomura.- Cast :* Hibari Misora...
  
  (大当り狸御殿 Oatari tanukigoten) aka The Princess of Badger Palace (1958)