Biography

Yakusho was born in Isahaya, Nagasaki, the youngest of five brothers. After graduation from the Nagasaki Prefectural High School of Technology in 1974, he worked at the Chiyoda municipal ward office, or yakusho, in Tokyo, from which he later took his stage name. In 1976, he saw a production of Maxim Gorky's The Lower Depths and was inspired, first to watch, and then later to take part in, as many plays as possible.

In the spring of 1978 he auditioned for Tatsuya Nakadai's the Mumeijuku (Studio for Unknown Performers) acting studio, and was one of four chosen out of 800 applicants. While at the school he met actress Saeko Kawatsu, whom he married in 1982. Their son was born in 1985.

In 1983, he landed the role of Oda Nobunaga in the year-long NHK drama Tokugawa Ieyasu and was catapulted to fame. He also appeared in a TV version of Miyamoto Musashi from 1984 to 1985. For several years, he played Kuji Shinnosuke (or "Sengoku"), one of the title characters in the jidaigeki Sambiki ga Kiru!. He played a major character in Juzo Itami's 1986 Tampopo.

In 1988, he was given a special award for work in cinema by the Japanese Minister of Education, Science, Sports and Culture and continued to appear in films and in a number of TV shows through the '90s.

In 1996 and 1997, Yakusho enjoyed several major successes. The Eel, directed by Shohei Imamura, in which he played the eel-loving lead, won the Palme d'Or at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival. Lawrence Van Gelder in the New York Times called his performance "unerring." A Lost Paradise, about a double-suicide, was second only to Princess Mononoke at the Japanese box office.

International breakthrough: Shall We Dance?

Shall We Dance? was a major hit in Japan that inspired a domestic dance craze. Ballroom groups and dance schools multiplied in the country after the film's release, and people who previously would never admit to taking lessons announced that they did with pride. Director Masayuki Suo said of his lead, until that point was known mostly for playing good-looking samurai, "we thought he could play this overworked, tired Japanese businessman, and he did.... e pulled everything off and took his dance training so seriously."

The film also was one of Japan's highest-grossing movies outside the country. It earned $9.5 million in the US and inspired a remake starring Jennifer Lopez with Richard Gere playing Yakusho's role.

Yakusho next won the Hochi Film Award for Best Actor for Bounce Ko Gals, a film which dealt with high school prostitution specifically, and money worship in general. He collaborated with horror director Kiyoshi Kurosawa in Cure, License to Live, Seance, Charisma, Pulse, Doppelganger, Retribution, and Tokyo Sonata. Yakusho found further recognition with international audiences to some extent with roles in such films as Memoirs of a Geisha and Babel. In the latter, directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, he played the father of the deaf-mute played by Rinko Kikuchi.

Further evolution

In 2009, he debuted as director and writer of Toad's Oil. In 2010 and 2011 he was part of both ensemble casts in Takashi Miike's samurai films, 13 Assassins and Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai. The latter was in 3D and the first 3D film to be in competition at the Cannes Film Festival.

In the 2011 war drama film Rengō Kantai Shirei Chōkan: Yamamoto Isoroku, Yakusho portrayed Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto. Yakusho was reportedly the only actor considered for the role, and that had he not accepted it, the film would have been canceled.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1979	Hunter in the Dark	Kuwano
1979	The Last Game
1980	Twelve Months	Young soldier	Voice
1981	Willful Murder	Journalist
1982	Onimasa	Kondō
1982	Eternal Monument	Otaka
1982	The Legend of Sayo	Hatsutaro
1985	Tampopo	Man in White Suit
1987	The Great Department Store Robbery	Cello player
1988	Another Way: D-Kikan Joho	Naoto Sekiya
1990	Under Aurora	Genzo Tamiya
1993	Gurenbana	Kenzo Nakada
1993	Drug Connection	Ryosuke Kano
1994	Osaka Gokudo Senso: Shinoidare	Ippei Yoshikawa
1995	Kamikaze Taxi	Kantake
1996	Shall We Dance?	Shohei Sugiyama
1996	Sleeping Man	Kamimura
1996	Shabu gokudo	Makabe
1997	Lost Paradise	Shoichiro Kuki
1997	The Eel	Takuro Yamashita
1997	Bounce Ko Gals	Oshima
1997	Cure	Kenichi Takabe
1998	Bonds	Takaaki Ise/Tetsuro Haga
1998	Tadon to chikuwa	Kida
1999	License to Live	Fujimori	Asia Pacific Film Festival Award for Best Supporting Actor
1999	Charisma	Goro Yabuike
1999	Spellbound	Hiroshi Kitano
2000	Swing Man
2000	Dora-heita	Koheita Mochizuki, aka Dora-heita
2000	Eureka	Makoto Sawai
2000	Seance	Sato	TV movie
2001	Pulse	Ship captain
2001	Warm Water Under a Red Bridge	Yosuke Sasano
2002	The Choice of Hercules	Atsuyuki Sassa
2003	Doppelganger	Michio Hayasaki
2003	Fireflies: River of Light	Mr. Takiguchi
2004	The Hunter and the Hunted	Detective Jin
2004	Tōkyō genpatsu	The Governor of Tokyo
2004	Lakeside Murder Case	Shunsuke Namiki
2004	University of Laughs	Mutsuo Sakisaka
2005	Lorelei: The Witch of the Pacific Ocean	Masami Shin'ichi
2005	Memoirs of a Geisha	Nobu
2006	The Uchōten Hotel	Heikichi Shindo
2006	Babel	Yasujiro Wataya
2006	Retribution	Noboru Yoshioka
2007	I Just Didn't Do It	Masayoshi Arakawa
2007	Argentine Baba	Satoru Wakui
2007	Kokoro
2007	Silk	Hara Jubei
2007	Walking My Life	Yukihiro Fujiyama
2008	Paco and the Magical Book	Onuki
2008	Tokyo Sonata	The Robber
2009	Mt. Tsurugidake	Morisaku Furuta
2009	Gelatin Silver Love	Client
2009	Toad's Oil	Takuro Yazawa	Also director and writer
2010	13 Assassins	Shinzaemon Shimada	Nominated Asian Film Award for Best Actor
2010	The Last Ronin	Magozaemon Senoo
2011	Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai	Kageyu Saito
2011	Rengo Kantai Shirei Chōkan: Yamamoto Isoroku	Isoroku Yamamoto
2011	Chronicle of My Mother
2011	The Woodsman and the Rain	Katsuhiko
2012	A Terminal Trust	Shinzo Egi
2013	The Kiyosu Conference	Shibata Katsuie
2014	The World of Kanako	Akikazu Fujishima
2014	A Samurai Chronicle	Shūkoku Toda
2015	The Emperor in August	Korechika Anami
2015	Defending The Enemy	Masaharu Homma
2015	The Boy and the Beast	Kumatetsu	Voice

Television

Year	Title	Role	Network	Notes
1980	Natchan no shashinkan	Kayama	NHK	Asadora
1980	Shishi no Jidai	Murakami Taiji	NHK	Taiga drama
1981	Onna Taikōki	Oda Nobutaka	NHK	Taiga drama
1983	Tokugawa Ieyasu	Oda Nobunaga	NHK	Taiga drama
1984	Miyamoto Musashi	Miyamoto Musashi	NHK
1986	Inochi	Hamamura	NHK	Taiga drama
1987-1995	Sanbiki ga Kiru!	Kuji Shin'nosuke	EX
1991	Takeda Shingen	Takeda Shingen	TBS
1994	Hana no Ran	Ibuki Saburo Nobutsuna	NHK	Taiga drama
2000	Aikotoba wa Yūki	Jintaro Akatsuki	CX
2010	Wagaya no Rekishi	Narrator	CX
2014	Oyaji no Senaka	Sōsuke Aoki	TBS	ep. 2 "Wedding Match"

Dubbing roles

• Astro Boy - Dr. Tenma
• Band of Brothers - Richard Winters (Damian Lewis)
• Over the Hedge - RJ

Awards and honors

Awards

Year	Award	Category	Film	Result
1984	28th Elan d'or Awards	Newcomer of the Year	Tokugawa Ieyasu (TV)	Won
1996	50th Mainichi Film Award	Best Actor	Kamikaze Taxi	Won
	21st Hochi Film Award	Best Actor	Shall We Dance?, Sleeping Man, Shabu gokudo	Won
	9th Nikkan Sports Film Award	Best Actor		Won
1997	18th Yokohama Film Festival	Best Actor		Won
	51st Mainichi Film Award	Best Actor		Won
	70th Kinema Junpo Award	Best Actor		Won
	39th Blue Ribbon Awards	Best Actor		Won
	6th Japanese Film Critics Awards	Best Actor		Won
	20th Japan Academy Prize	Best Actor	Shall We Dance?	Won
	22nd Hochi Film Award	Best Actor	The Eel, Lost Paradise, Bounce ko GALS	Won
	10th Tokyo International Film Festival	Best Actor	Cure	Won
1998	42nd Asia-Pacific Film Festival	Best Actor	The Eel	Won
	21st Japan Academy Prize	Best Actor		Won
	40th Blue Ribbon Awards	Best Actor	The Eel, Lost Paradise, Cure	Won
	71st Kinema Junpo Award	Best Actor	The Eel, Cure	Won
1999	22nd Japan Academy Prize	Best Actor	Kizuna	Nominated
2000	23rd Japan Academy Prize	Best Actor	Spellbound	Nominated
2001	24th Japan Academy Prize	Best Actor	Dora-heita	Nominated
	Chicago International Film Festival	Best Actor	Warm Water Under a Red Bridge	Won
2002	25th Japan Academy Prize	Best Actor		Nominated
2003	26th Japan Academy Prize	Best Actor	The Choice of Hercules	Nominated
2005	28th Japan Academy Prize	Best Actor	University of Laughs	Nominated
	26th Yokohama Film Festival	Best Actor	University of Laughs, Yudan Taiteki, Tokyo Genpatsu	Won
2007	30th Japan Academy Prize	Best Actor	The Uchōten Hotel	Nominated
2008	31st Japan Academy Prize	Best Actor	Walking My Life	Nominated
2009	32nd Japan Academy Prize	Best Actor	Paco and the Magical Book	Nominated
2011	8th Dubai International Film Festival: Muhr AsiaAfrica Feature	Best Actor	The Woodsman and the Rain	Won
	34th Japan Academy Prize	Best Actor	13 Assassins	Nominated
2012	35th Japan Academy Prize	Best Actor	The Last Ronin	Nominated
	JAPAN CUTS: Festival of New Japanese Film	CUT ABOVE Award for Excellence in Film		Won
2013	36th Japan Academy Prize	Best Actor	Chronicle of My Mother, Rengō Kantai Shirei Chōkan: Yamamoto Isoroku	Nominated
2014	47th Sitges Film Festival	Best Actor	The World of Kanako	Won
	1st Kyoto International Art and Film Festival	Toshiro Mifune Award		Won
2015	38th Japan Academy Prize	Best Actor	A Samurai Chronicle	Nominated
2016	58th Blue Ribbon Awards	Best Actor	The Emperor in August	Nominated
	39th Japan Academy Prize	Best Actor		Nominated

Honors

Year	Honor
2012	Medal with Purple Ribbon

[ Source: Wikipedia ]