(February 16, 1962 – May 24, 2002) was a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

and member of the Tokyo Sunshine Boys

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

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 perform ...

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

Biography

He performed on stage, and on television in series such as ''

Trick Trick(s) may refer to: People * Trick McSorley (1852–1936), American professional baseball player * Armon Trick (born 1978), retired German international rugby union player * David Trick (born 1955), former Ontario civil servant and univers ...

'' and ''

Furuhata Ninzaburō is a Japanese television series that ran periodically on Fuji Television from 1994 until its final episodes (specials) in 2006. It was written by Japanese playwright Kōki Mitani and is often referred to as the Japanese version of ''Columbo'' ...

''. His trademark was his large, thick-rimmed

glasses Glasses, also known as eyeglasses or spectacles, are vision eyewear, with lenses (clear or tinted) mounted in a frame that holds them in front of a person's eyes, typically utilizing a bridge over the nose and hinged arms (known as temples ...

, 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 examinee's ability to recognize small details with precision. Visual acuity is dependent on optical and neural factors, i.e. (1) the sharpness of the retinal ...

. 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 In Japan, a is a salaried worker. In Japanese popular culture, this is embodied by a white-collar worker who shows overriding loyalty and commitment to the corporation where he works. Salarymen are expected to work long hours, to put in addit ...

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 Manga ( Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the la ...

'', 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, which extends from the medulla oblongata in the brainstem to the lumbar region of the vertebral column (backbone). The backbone encloses the central canal of the sp ...

infection caused by a subarachnoid hemorrhage.

Film

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

Television

* 1993 ''Furikaereba Yatsu ga Iru'' * 1994 ''

'' * 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 ''

2''

Selected theatre

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

Sources

* {{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