Tadanobu Asano
Encyclopedia
, born is a Japanese actor. He is known for his roles as Dragon Eye Morrison in Electric Dragon 80.000 V
Electric Dragon 80.000 V
Electric Dragon 80.000 V is a 2001 Japanese film written and directed by Sogo Ishii. The comic-book style story stars Tadanobu Asano and Masatoshi Nagase as electricity wielding super-heroes.-Plot:...

, Kakihara in Ichi the Killer, Mamoru Arita in Bright Future, Hattori Genosuke in Zatoichi
Zatoichi (2003 film)
is a 2003 Japanese samurai drama and action film, directed, written, co-edited, and starring Takeshi Kitano as his eleventh film. Kitano plays the role of the blind swordsman....

, Kenji in Last Life in the Universe, Aman in Survive Style 5+
Survive Style 5+
Survive Style 5+ is a 2004 Japanese film directed by Gen Sekiguchi. It stars Tadanobu Asano, Kyōko Koizumi, Reika Hashimoto, Jai West, Sonny Chiba and Vinnie Jones.-Synopsis:...

, Ayano in The Taste of Tea
The Taste of Tea
is the third film by Japanese writer and director Katsuhito Ishii. The film has been referred to as a "surreal" version of Ingmar Bergman's Fanny and Alexander. It was a selection of the Cannes Film Festival.-Synopsis:...

, and Temudjin in Mongol
Mongol (film)
Mongol is a 2007 semi-historical film directed by Sergei Bodrov. The storyline was conceived from a screenplay written by Bodrov and Arif Aliev. Producers for the film comprised Bodrov, Sergei Selyanov and Anton Melnik. The film is based on the early life of Temüjin, who later came to be known as...

. Most recently, Asano appeared as Hogun in the film Thor
Thor (film)
Thor is a 2011 American superhero film based on the comic book character of the same name published by Marvel Comics. It is the fourth film released as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe...

, based on the Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...

 character.

Early life

Asano was born in Yokohama to a Japanese father and a mother of Japanese and Navajo
Navajo people
The Navajo of the Southwestern United States are the largest single federally recognized tribe of the United States of America. The Navajo Nation has 300,048 enrolled tribal members. The Navajo Nation constitutes an independent governmental body which manages the Navajo Indian reservation in the...

 ancestry (his maternal grandfather was a Navajo from Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...

) by the name of Jim Owens, though it is unknown whether or not this is his real name.

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
Shunji Iwai
is a Japanese film director/video artist, writer and documentarian.-Life and career:Iwai was born in Sendai, Japan, Miyagi prefecture. He attended Yokohama National University, graduating in 1987....

's Fried Dragon Fish (1993). His first critical success internationally was Hirokazu Koreeda
Hirokazu Koreeda
is a Japanese film director, producer, screenwriter and editor. His films explore themes of memory, death, and coming to terms with loss.Koreeda originally planned to be a novelist, but after graduating from Waseda University instead worked as an assistant director on documentaries for TV Man Union...

's Maboroshi no Hikari
Maborosi
Maborosi, known in Japan as Maboroshi no Hikari is a 1995 Japanese film by director Hirokazu Koreeda starring Makiko Esumi, Tadanobu Asano and Takashi Naitō...

(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
Distance (film)
Distance is a 2001 film by Japanese director Koreeda Hirokazu, starring Arata, Tadanobu Asano, Iseya Yusuke, Terajima Susumu, and Natsukawa Yui.-Plot:...

in 2001. His best known works internationally are the samurai films Gohatto
Taboo (1999 film)
is a 1999 Japanese film directed by Nagisa Ōshima. It shows life in a samurai training school during the bakumatsu period, the end of the samurai era in the mid-19th century, specifically concentrating on the issue of homosexuality in the shudō tradition in the partially-closed environment.-Plot...

(1999) and Zatoichi
Zatoichi (2003 film)
is a 2003 Japanese samurai drama and action film, directed, written, co-edited, and starring Takeshi Kitano as his eleventh film. Kitano plays the role of the blind swordsman....

(2003), as well as the critically acclaimed film Akarui Mirai
Bright Future
is a 2003 Japanese film written and directed by Japanese director Kiyoshi Kurosawa, starring Tadanobu Asano and Joe Odagiri. It was entered into the 2003 Cannes Film Festival.- Plot :...

(Bright Future).
He acted in Katsuhito Ishii's 2003 film The Taste of Tea
The Taste of Tea
is the third film by Japanese writer and director Katsuhito Ishii. The film has been referred to as a "surreal" version of Ingmar Bergman's Fanny and Alexander. It was a selection of the Cannes Film Festival.-Synopsis:...

, which premiered at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival
2004 Cannes Film Festival
The 2004 Cannes Film Festival started on May 12 and ran until May 23. The Palme d'Or went to the American film Fahrenheit 9/11 by Michael Moore.-Jury:* Quentin Tarantino, President * Emmanuelle Béart * Edwidge Danticat * Tilda Swinton...

. He appeared as the lead actor in Last Life in the Universe
Last Life in the Universe
Last Life in the Universe is a 2003 Thai film directed by Pen-Ek Ratanaruang. The film is notable for being trilingual; the two main characters flit from Thai to Japanese to English as their vocabulary requires...

(2003) by Thai director Pen-Ek Ratanaruang
Pen-Ek Ratanaruang
Pen-Ek Ratanaruang is a Thai film director and screenwriter. He is best known for his arthouse work, Last Life in the Universe, and is considered to be one of Thai cinema's leading "new wave" auteurs, alongside Wisit Sasanatieng and Apichatpong Weerasethakul...

 and starred in a follow-up film by Pen-Ek, Invisible Waves
Invisible Waves
Invisible Waves is a 2006 crime film by Thai director Pen-Ek Ratanaruang, with screenplay by Prabda Yoon, cinematography by Christopher Doyle, and starring Tadanobu Asano – all people that Pen-Ek had worked with on his previous film, Last Life in the Universe...

,
in 2006. In 2007 he starred as the young Genghis Khan
Genghis Khan
Genghis Khan , born Temujin and occasionally known by his temple name Taizu , was the founder and Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, which became the largest contiguous empire in history after his death....

 in Sergei Bodrov
Sergei Bodrov
Sergei Vladimirovich Bodrov is a two-time Academy Award-nominated Russian-American film director, screenwriter, and producer.Bodrov was born in Khabarovsk, Russian SFSR, USSR . In the post-Soviet period he emigrated to the United States. His son, actor Sergei Bodrov, Jr...

's Oscar-nominated film Mongol
Mongol (film)
Mongol is a 2007 semi-historical film directed by Sergei Bodrov. The storyline was conceived from a screenplay written by Bodrov and Arif Aliev. Producers for the film comprised Bodrov, Sergei Selyanov and Anton Melnik. The film is based on the early life of Temüjin, who later came to be known as...

.
. In "Villon's Wife
Villon's Wife
is a 2009 Japanese film directed by Kichitaro Negishi.-Synopsis:Sachi is the long-suffering wife of popular novelist Otani in post-World War II Japan. Brilliant but self-destructive, Otani spends his days drinking, running up debts, and looking for inspiration with other women...

" (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.

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. He is a musician; he formed the band MACH-1.67 with director Sogo Ishii
Sogo Ishii
', formerly is a Japanese filmmaker known for his striking visuals and sometimes outlandish subject matter.Ishii was born in Fukuoka City, Fukuoka Prefecture, and is a graduate of Fukuoka Prefectural Fukuoka High School and Nihon University College of Art....

 in 1996 and, from time to time, plays in the bands Peace Pill and Safari. He is an artist and a model, most notably for Japanese fashion designers Jun Takahashi and Takeo Kikuchi
Takeo Kikuchi
is a famous Japanese industrial and fashion designer. He designs such things as spectacle frames and chronographs in addition to clothing.In 2004 he bowed out from designing his own self-named brand, entrusting creative direction to Taishi Nobukuni, a graduate of London's St. Martin's College...

, for whom he filmed a series of commercial spots directed by Wong Kar-wai
Wong Kar-wai
Wong Kar-wai BBS is a Hong Kong Second Wave filmmaker, internationally renowned as an auteur for his visually unique, highly stylized, emotionally resonant work, including Days of Being Wild , Ashes of Time , Chungking Express , Fallen Angels , Happy Together and 2046...

: 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
Ryo Kase
is a Japanese actor. He grew up in Bellevue, Washington until he was seven. He portrayed Shimizu, one of the lower-ranked Japanese soldiers, in Clint Eastwood's Letters from Iwo Jima. He starred in Masayuki Suo's film I Just Didn't Do It.-Filmography:...

 and Rinko Kikuchi
Rinko Kikuchi
, born , January 6, 1981, is a Japanese actress. Kikuchi is the first Japanese actress to be nominated for an Academy Award in 50 years. She is currently Japan's only living female Academy Award nominee in acting categories...

.

Personal life

Asano met J-Pop
J-pop
, an abbreviation for Japanese pop, is a musical genre that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the 1990s. Modern J-pop has its roots in 1960s music, such as The Beatles, and replaced kayōkyoku in the Japanese music scene...

 idol Chara
Chara (singer)
, better known by her stage name Chara, is a Japanese singer-songwriter, actress and video jockey. She debuted in 1991 with the single Heaven...

 on the set of Iwai
Shunji Iwai
is a Japanese film director/video artist, writer and documentarian.-Life and career:Iwai was born in Sendai, Japan, Miyagi prefecture. He attended Yokohama National University, graduating in 1987....

'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.

Awards

He won the Most Popular Performer award at the 1997 Japanese Academy Awards
Japanese Academy Awards
The , often called the Japan Academy Awards or the Japanese Academy Awards, is a series of awards given annually since 1978 by the Nippon Academy-shō Association for excellence in Japanese film...

 for Acri
ACRI
Acri can refer to:*Acri, a town in the province of Cosenza, southern Italy*The Association for Civil Rights in Israel*ACRI, acronym of the African Contingency Operations Training and Assistance*ACRI, acronym of the American Committee for Relief in Ireland...

and was nominated in the Best Supporting Actor category in 2004 for his performance in Zatôichi
Zatoichi (2003 film)
is a 2003 Japanese samurai drama and action film, directed, written, co-edited, and starring Takeshi Kitano as his eleventh film. Kitano plays the role of the blind swordsman....

.
He also received the Upstream Prize for Best Actor at the 2003 Venice Film Festival
Venice Film Festival
The Venice International Film Festival is the oldest international film festival in the world. Founded by Count Giuseppe Volpi in 1932 as the "Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica", the festival has since taken place every year in late August or early September on the island of the...

 for his role in Last Life in the Universe
Last Life in the Universe
Last Life in the Universe is a 2003 Thai film directed by Pen-Ek Ratanaruang. The film is notable for being trilingual; the two main characters flit from Thai to Japanese to English as their vocabulary requires...

.

Filmography

Year Film Role Notes
1988 San-nen B-gumi Kinpachi sensei 3
Kinpachi-sensei
is a Japanese television drama.Kinpachi-sensei is the story of a 3rd year junior high school class in Japan; its teacher is Kinpachi Sakamoto , played by Tetsuya Takeda...

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
Maborosi
Maborosi, known in Japan as Maboroshi no Hikari is a 1995 Japanese film by director Hirokazu Koreeda starring Makiko Esumi, Tadanobu Asano and Takashi Naitō...

Ikuo
1996 Wkw/tk/1996@7'55"hk.net Man
Picnic Tsumuji
Helpless Kenji
Acri (The Legend of Homo-Aquarellius) Hisoka
Swallowtail Butterfly
Swallowtail Butterfly (film)
Swallowtail , also known as Swallowtail Butterfly or Yentown, is a 1996 movie by Japanese film director Shunji Iwai, starring Hiroshi Mikami, pop-singer Chara, and Ayumi Ito....

Customer in club
Focus
Focus (film)
Focus is a 2002 movie, starring William H. Macy, Laura Dern, David Paymer, and Meat Loaf based on a 1945 novel by playwright Arthur Miller.-Plot:...

Kanemura
1997 Yume no ginga (Labyrinth of Dreams) Tatsuo Niitaka
Tokyo biyori
Tokyo Biyori
is the fourth solo single from J-pop vocalist Tomiko Van, released on June 18, 2008. The track "Hum a Tune" is a cover of a song by Japanese band Original Love. "Message." is said to be Van's first musical composition, and "Tokyo Biyori" is said to be composed by Kazuo Zaitsu of Tulip.-Track...

1998 Love & Pop
Love & Pop
' is director Hideaki Anno's first live action film, an adaptation of Ryū Murakami's novel, Topaz II. Released in 1998, it somewhat follows the film Tokyo Decadence, an adaptation of Topaz I filmed by Murakami himself...

Captain XX
Neji-shiki (Screwed) Tsube
Shark Skin Man and Peach Hip Girl
Shark Skin Man and Peach Hip Girl
is a 1999 Japanese film directed by Katsuhito Ishii and starring Tadanobu Asano. It is based on a manga of the same name by Minetaro Mochizuki which was originally serialized in Mister Magazine circa 1993 under the title "Daisharin"...

Kuroo Samehada
1999 Away with Words
Away with words
Away with Words is a 1999 auteur trilingual film by Christopher Doyle co-scripted by Doyle and Tony Rayns and starring Tadanobu Asano and Mavis Xu...

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
Electric Dragon 80.000 V
Electric Dragon 80.000 V is a 2001 Japanese film written and directed by Sogo Ishii. The comic-book style story stars Tadanobu Asano and Masatoshi Nagase as electricity wielding super-heroes.-Plot:...

Dragon Eye Morrison
Distance
Distance (film)
Distance is a 2001 film by Japanese director Koreeda Hirokazu, starring Arata, Tadanobu Asano, Iseya Yusuke, Terajima Susumu, and Natsukawa Yui.-Plot:...

Sakata
Ichi the Killer
Ichi the Killer
is a 2001 Japanese film directed by Takashi Miike, based on Hideo Yamamoto's manga series of the same name.- Plot : While alone with a prostitute, crime lord Anjo is brutally murdered...

Kakihara
2002 Mizu no onna (Woman of Water) Yusaku
2003 Bright Future
Bright Future
is a 2003 Japanese film written and directed by Japanese director Kiyoshi Kurosawa, starring Tadanobu Asano and Joe Odagiri. It was entered into the 2003 Cannes Film Festival.- Plot :...

Mamoru Arita
Watashi no guranpa (My Grandpa) Shinichi Nakafuji
Last Life in the Universe
Last Life in the Universe
Last Life in the Universe is a 2003 Thai film directed by Pen-Ek Ratanaruang. The film is notable for being trilingual; the two main characters flit from Thai to Japanese to English as their vocabulary requires...

Kenji
Zatoichi
Zatoichi (2003 film)
is a 2003 Japanese samurai drama and action film, directed, written, co-edited, and starring Takeshi Kitano as his eleventh film. Kitano plays the role of the blind swordsman....

(The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi)
Hattori Genosuke
Dead End Run
Dead End Run
Dead End Run is a 2003 film directed by Japanese cult film director Sogo Ishii, notable for Ishii's trademark flashy visual style.The film has little plot to speak of, but is instead divided into three short episodes, each of which opens with a man desperately running away before being trapped in a...

Kôhî jikô (Café Lumière) Hajime Takeuchi
2004 Tori
The Taste of Tea
The Taste of Tea
is the third film by Japanese writer and director Katsuhito Ishii. The film has been referred to as a "surreal" version of Ingmar Bergman's Fanny and Alexander. It was a selection of the Cannes Film Festival.-Synopsis:...

Ayano, the Uncle
Vital
Vital (film)
Vital is a Japanese film made in 2004. It was directed by Shinya Tsukamoto and stars Tadanobu Asano as Hiroshi Takagi, a man whose girlfriend dies and who loses his memory in a car accident....

Hiroshi Takagi
The Face of Jizo
The Face of Jizo
is a Japanese play written by Hisashi Inoue.-Plays:* It was performed by Komatsuza as their 34th Play, from September 3 to September 18 in 1994, directed by Hitoshi Uyama, starring by Masayo Umezawa and Kei Suma. Then has been is performed frequently not only all over Japan but also overseas...

Kinoshita
Survive Style 5+
Survive Style 5+
Survive Style 5+ is a 2004 Japanese film directed by Gen Sekiguchi. It stars Tadanobu Asano, Kyōko Koizumi, Reika Hashimoto, Jai West, Sonny Chiba and Vinnie Jones.-Synopsis:...

Aman
2005 Umoregi San-chan
Eli, Eli, lema sabachitani? Mizui
Taga Tameni Tamio Murase
Funky Forest
Funky Forest
Funky Forest: The First Contact, also known as Naisu no mori: The First Contact or Funky Forest: The First Encounter is a 2005 Japanese movie written and directed by Katsuhito Ishii, Hajimine Ishimine and Shunichiro Miki...

Masaru Tanaka
Ranpo Jigoku Kogorô Akechi; A man; Masaki
Tokyo Zombie
Tokyo Zombie
is a manga written in 1999 by Yusaku Hanakuma. It was subsequently made into a 2005 Japanese film written and directed by Sakichi Sato. The films stars Tadanobu Asano, Show Aikawa, and Erika Okuda. The movie was released in North America, UK and later Australia and New Zealand in 2009.-Story:Fujio...

Fujio
2006 Invisible Waves
Invisible Waves
Invisible Waves is a 2006 crime film by Thai director Pen-Ek Ratanaruang, with screenplay by Prabda Yoon, cinematography by Christopher Doyle, and starring Tadanobu Asano – all people that Pen-Ek had worked with on his previous film, Last Life in the Universe...

Kyôji
Hana
Hana (film)
Hana - the Tale of a Reluctant Samurai, known in Japan as , is a 2006 Japanese black comedy by director Hirokazu Koreeda.-Story:The story takes place in the year 1702. It concerns a young samurai, Sozaemon, who has come from Matsumoto to Edo to take his revenge against his father's killer and...

Jubei Kanazawa
2007 Mongol
Mongol (film)
Mongol is a 2007 semi-historical film directed by Sergei Bodrov. The storyline was conceived from a screenplay written by Bodrov and Arif Aliev. Producers for the film comprised Bodrov, Sergei Selyanov and Anton Melnik. The film is based on the early life of Temüjin, who later came to be known as...

Temudjin/Genghis Khan
Genghis Khan
Genghis Khan , born Temujin and occasionally known by his temple name Taizu , was the founder and Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, which became the largest contiguous empire in history after his death....

Sad Vacation
Sad Vacation
is a 2007 Japanese drama film written and directed by Shinji Aoyama, adapted from his own novel. It was named after the Johnny Thunders song.The film concerns a Japanese man, Kenji, who is involved in the human trafficking of illegal immigrants from China. When one of the children is left behind by...

Kenji Shiraishi
2008 Kabei: Our Mother
Kabei: Our Mother
-Reception:The film received several nominations at the 32nd Japan Academy Prize, including for Best Film, Best Director, Best Actress for Sayuri Yoshinaga, Best Supporting Actor for Tadanobu Asano and Best Supporting Actress for Rei Dan....

Yamazaki Toru
2009 Tsurugidake: Ten no Ki Shibasaki
Dumbeast Dekogawa
Redline Frisbee
Villon's Wife
Villon's Wife
is a 2009 Japanese film directed by Kichitaro Negishi.-Synopsis:Sachi is the long-suffering wife of popular novelist Otani in post-World War II Japan. Brilliant but self-destructive, Otani spends his days drinking, running up debts, and looking for inspiration with other women...

Otani
Snow Prince
Snow Prince
is a 2009 Japanese film adapted from the novel A Dog of Flanders and inspired by the 1971 film A Small Love Melody. It is directed by Joji Matsuoka and written by Kundo Koyama—the scriptwriter for the film Departures...

2010 The Great Khan Temudjin/Genghis Khan
Genghis Khan
Genghis Khan , born Temujin and occasionally known by his temple name Taizu , was the founder and Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, which became the largest contiguous empire in history after his death....

2011 Thor
Thor (film)
Thor is a 2011 American superhero film based on the comic book character of the same name published by Marvel Comics. It is the fourth film released as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe...

Hogun
Hogun
Hogun the Grim is a fictional character and a charter member of the Warriors Three, a trio of Asgardian adventurers and supporting cast of Thor in the .Writer Stan Lee envisioned him as sharing several traits with characters played by actor Charles Bronson....

also Japanese dub voice
Once in a Blue Moon
Once in a Blue Moon (2011 film)
is a 2011 Japanese comedy film directed by Kōki Mitani.-Cast:* Eri Fukatsu* Toshiyuki Nishida* Hiroshi Abe* Kiichi Nakai* Yūko Takeuchi* Tadanobu Asano...

2012 Battleship
Battleship (film)
Battleship is an upcoming 2012 science fiction naval war film based on the game of the same name. The film is being directed by Peter Berg and will be released by Universal Pictures...

Nagata
47 Ronin Kira Yoshinaka

External links

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