(February 16, 1962 – May 24, 2002) was a Japanese actor and member of the Tokyo Sunshine Boys

theatrical Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The performers may communic ...

troupe Troupe may refer to: General *Comedy troupe, a group of comedians *Dance troupe, a group of dancers **Fire troupe, a group of fire dancers *Troupe system, a method of playing role-playing games *Theatrical troupe, a group of theatrical performers ...

. He was born on February 16, 1962, in Niigata, Japan.

Biography

He performed on stage, and on television in series such as '' Trick'' and '' Furuhata Ninzaburō''. His trademark was his large, thick-rimmed

glasses Glasses, also known as eyeglasses (American English), spectacles (Commonwealth English), or colloquially as specs, are vision eyewear with clear or tinted lenses mounted in a frame that holds them in front of a person's eyes, typically u ...

, which he used solely for comic effect, as he actually had

20/20 vision Visual acuity (VA) commonly refers to the clarity of vision, but technically rates an animal's ability to recognize small details with precision. Visual acuity depends on optical and neural factors. Optical factors of the eye influence the sha ...

. Ito joined the Tokyo Sunshine Boys in 1983, while he was a student. When he graduated from university he continued acting but took a full-time job as a standard

salaryman The term is a Japanese word for salary, salaried workers. In Japanese popular culture, it is portrayed as a white-collar worker who shows unwavering loyalty and commitment to his employer, prioritizing work over anything else, including family. ...

until his career in acting picked up. He was married in 2000 to a stylist that he met while filming the TV drama ''

Shomuni (also called Power Office Girls) is a comedic TV drama serial based on the Japanese manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the f ...

'', after dating her for less than six months. He died two years later, just before inclusion of the TV drama ''Shomuni FINAL''. They had no children. He died on May 24, 2002, from a

spinal cord The spinal cord is a long, thin, tubular structure made up of nervous tissue that extends from the medulla oblongata in the lower brainstem to the lumbar region of the vertebral column (backbone) of vertebrate animals. The center of the spinal c ...

infection caused by a

subarachnoid hemorrhage Subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is bleeding into the subarachnoid space—the area between the arachnoid (brain), arachnoid membrane and the pia mater surrounding the human brain, brain. Symptoms may include a thunderclap headache, severe heada ...

Film

* 1995 ''Salaryman Senka'' * 1996 ''Tomoko no Baai'' * 1997 '' Marutai no Onna'' * 1999 '' GTO''

Television

* 1993 ''Furikaereba Yatsu ga Iru'' * 1994 '' Furuhata Ninzaburō'' * 1995 ''Oosama no Restaurant'' * 1996 '' Imaizumi Shintaro'' * 1996 ''Konna Watashi ni Dare ga Shita'' * 1997 '' Odoru Daisosasen'' * 1998 ''

'' * 1999 ''Omizu no Hanamichi'' * 2001 ''Gakko no Sensei'' * 2002 ''Nurseman'' * 2002 '' Trick 2''

Selected theatre

* ''Nobody Else But You'' * ''Vamp Show'' (Parco Produce)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ito, Toshihito People from Niigata (city) 20th-century Japanese male actors Japanese male stage actors 1962 births 2002 deaths 21st-century Japanese male actors Japanese male film actors Deaths from subarachnoid hemorrhage