better known by his stage name is a Japanese actor, director, and musician, who has had an extensive career working in both Japanese and international cinema. He has been nominated for five

Japan Academy Film Prizes The , often called the Japan Academy Prize, the Japan Academy Awards, and the Japanese Academy Awards, is a series of awards given annually since 1978 by the Japan Academy Film Prize Association (日本アカデミー賞協会, ''Nippon Akademii- ...

, twice for Best Actor and three times for Best Supporting Actor, and winner of its Most Popular Performer award. Among his best-known roles are in

Hirokazu Kore-eda is a Japanese film director, producer, screenwriter, and editor. He began his career in television and has since directed more than a dozen feature films, including '' Nobody Knows'' (2004), '' Still Walking'' (2008), and '' After the Storm'' ( ...

's '' Maboroshi no Hikari'' (1995) and ''

Distance Distance is a numerical or occasionally qualitative measurement of how far apart objects, points, people, or ideas are. In physics or everyday usage, distance may refer to a physical length or an estimation based on other criteria (e.g. "two co ...

'' (2001), Hyozo Tashiro in '' Gohatto'' (1999), Kakihara in '' Ichi the Killer'' (2001), Hattori Genosuke in ''

Zatoichi is a fictional character created by Japanese novelist Kan Shimozawa. He is an itinerant blind masseur and swordsman of Japan's late Edo period (1830s and 1840s). He first appeared in the 1948 essay ''Zatoichi Monogatari'', part of Shimozawa's '' ...

'' (2003), Kenji in ''

Last Life in the Universe ''Last Life in the Universe'' () is a 2003 Thai romantic crime 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. The fil ...

'' (also 2003), and

Temujin Genghis Khan (born Temüjin; August 1227), also known as Chinggis Khan, was the founder and first khan of the Mongol Empire. After spending most of his life uniting the Mongol tribes, he launched a series of military campaigns, conquerin ...

in ''

Mongol Mongols are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, China (Inner Mongolia and other 11 autonomous territories), as well as the republics of Buryatia and Kalmykia in Russia. The Mongols are the principal member of the large family of M ...

'' (2007). He has also appeared in Hollywood films, notably as

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in the

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, Lord

Kira Yoshinaka (October 5, 1641 – January 30, 1703) was a Japanese ''kōke'' (master of ceremonies). His court title was ''Kokushi (officials), Kōzuke no suke (上野介)''. He is famous as the adversary of Asano Naganori in the events of the forty-seven ...

in ''

47 Ronin 47, 47 or forty-seven may refer to: *47 (number) * 47 BC * AD 47 *1947 *2047 * '47 (brand), an American clothing brand * ''47'' (magazine), an American publication * 47 (song), a song by Sidhu Moose Wala *47, a song by New Found Glory from the a ...

'' (2013)'',''Keanu's 47 Ronin has A-List Japanese Cast
Japan-Zone.com March 2, 2011 the Interpreter in ''

Silence Silence is the absence of ambient hearing, audible sound, the emission of sounds of such low sound intensity, intensity that they do not draw attention to themselves, or the state of having ceased to produce sounds; this latter sense can be exten ...

'' (2016),

Rear Admiral Rear admiral is a flag officer rank used by English-speaking navies. In most European navies, the equivalent rank is called counter admiral. Rear admiral is usually immediately senior to commodore and immediately below vice admiral. It is ...

Tamon Yamaguchi was a rear admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy who served during the Second Sino-Japanese War, and in the Pacific War during World War II. Yamaguchi′s carrier force was part of the attack on Pearl Harbor. He subsequently participated in the B ...

in '' Midway'' (2019), and Raiden in ''

Mortal Kombat ''Mortal Kombat'' is an American media franchise centered on a series of fighting game, fighting video games originally developed by Midway Games in 1992. The original ''Mortal Kombat (1992 video game), Mortal Kombat'' arcade game spawned Lis ...

'' (2021), based on the fighting video game of the same name. He gained additional recognition in 2024 for his portrayal of Lord Kashigi Yabushige on the American television series ''

Shōgun , officially , was the title of the military rulers of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, except during parts of the Kamak ...

'', based on the

James Clavell James Clavell (born Charles Edmund Dumaresq Clavell; 10 October 1921 – 7 September 1994) was a British and American writer, screenwriter, director, and World War II veteran and prisoner of war. Clavell is best known for his ''Asian Saga'' nov ...

novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...

, for which he won the

Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film The Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries, or Television Film is a Golden Globe Award presented annually by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA). It is given in honor of an actor who has delivered an outst ...

. Asano has worked with some of the most prominent and acclaimed directors in Japanese cinema, including Hirokazu Kore-eda,

Takeshi Kitano , also known as in Japan, is a Japanese comedian, actor, and filmmaker. While he is known primarily as a comedian and TV host in his native Japan, he is better known abroad for his work as a filmmaker and actor as well as TV host. During hi ...

Nagisa Ōshima was a Japanese filmmaker, writer, and left-wing activist who is best known for his fiction films, of which he directed 23 features in a career spanning from 1959 to 1999. He is regarded as one of the greatest Japanese directors of all time, and ...

Takashi Miike is a Japanese film director, film producer and screenwriter. He has directed over 100 feature film, video, and television productions since his debut in 1991. His films span a variety of different genres, ranging from violent and surrealism, b ...

Nobuhiko Obayashi was a Japanese film director, director, screenwriter and film editing, editor of films and television advertisements. He began his filmmaking career as a pioneer of Japanese experimental films before transitioning to directing more mainstream m ...

and

Kiyoshi Kurosawa is a Japanese film director, screenwriter, film critic, author, actor, and a former professor at Tokyo University of the Arts (2005-2023). Noted for his psychological films that often focus on ambiguous narratives and on their characters' i ...

, along with international directors like

Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November17, 1942) is an American filmmaker. One of the major figures of the New Hollywood era, he has received List of awards and nominations received by Martin Scorsese, many accolades, including an Academ ...

Kenneth Branagh Sir Kenneth Charles Branagh ( ; born 10 December 1960) is a British actor and filmmaker. Born in Belfast and raised primarily in Reading, Berkshire, Branagh trained at RADA in London and served as its president from 2015 to 2024. List of award ...

Wong Kar-wai Wong Kar-wai (born 17 July 1958) is a Hong Kong film director, screenwriter, and producer. His films are characterised by nonlinear narratives, atmospheric music, and vivid cinematography involving bold, saturated colours. A pivotal figure o ...

Roland Emmerich Roland Emmerich (; born 10 November 1955) is a German-American filmmaker. Emmerich is widely known for his science fiction and disaster films and has been called a "master of disaster" within the movie industry. His films, most of which are Eng ...

, Pen-ek Ratanaruang and

Sergei Bodrov Sergei Vladimirovich Bodrov ( rus, Серге́й Влади́мирович Бодро́в, p=sʲɪrˈɡʲej bɐˈdrof; born 28 June 1948) is a Russian film director, screenwriter, and producer. In 2003 he was the president of the jury at the ...

. Among other accolades, he has twice won the Best Actor Award at the

Yokohama Film Festival The is an annual awards ceremony held in Yokohama, Japan. Ten films are chosen as the best of the year and various awards are given to personnel. The first festival, held on February 3, 1980, was a small affair by fans and film critics. In 1994, ...

, the Upstream Prize for Best Actor at the

Venice Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival (, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival held in Venice, Italy. It is the world's oldest film festival and one of the ...

'','' and the Best Actor Award at the

Moscow International Film Festival The Moscow International Film Festival (, Transliteration, translit. ''Moskóvskiy myezhdunaródniy kinofyestivál''; abbreviated as MIFF) is a film festival first held in Moscow in 1935 and became regular since 1959. From its inception to ...

Early life

Asano was born in the Honmoku area of

Yokohama is the List of cities in Japan, second-largest city in Japan by population as well as by area, and the country's most populous Municipalities of Japan, municipality. It is the capital and most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a popu ...

, to artist and mother Junko (順子). Through his mother, Asano is of one-quarter

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

ancestry. His maternal grandfather was Willard Overing, a U.S. citizen of Norwegian descent, whom Asano never met. Asano has an older brother, Kujun Satō, born in 1971, who is a musician and a partner in Anore Inc. (now Adonis A), a talent agency Asano and their father Yukihisa Satō founded.

Career

Asano's 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 is a Japanese filmmaker, video artist, writer and documentary maker. Life and career Iwai was born in Sendai, Miyagi, Japan. He attended Yokohama National University, graduating in 1987. In 1988, he started out in the Japanese entertainment ...

's ''Fried Dragon Fish'' (1993). His first critical success internationally was

's '' Maboroshi no Hikari'' (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 Kore-eda in the

pseudo-documentary A pseudo-documentary or fake documentary is a film or video production that takes the form or style of a documentary film but does not portray real events. Rather, scripted and fictional elements are used to tell the story. The pseudo-documentary, ...

'' in 2001. His best known works internationally are the samurai films '' Gohatto'' (aka ''Taboo'', 1999) and ''

'' (2003), as well as the critically acclaimed '' Bright Future''. Asano acted in Katsuhito Ishii's 2003 film ''

The Taste of Tea ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

'', which premiered at the

2004 Cannes Film Festival The 57th Cannes Film Festival took place from 12 to 23 May 2004. American filmmaker Quentin Tarantino served as jury president for the main competition. While American filmmaker Michael Moore won the Palme d'Or for the documentary film '' Fahrenh ...

. He appeared as the lead actor in ''

'' (2003) by Thai director Pen-Ek Ratanaruang and starred in Ratanaruang's 2006 follow-up film, '' Invisible Waves''. In 2007, he starred as the young

Genghis Khan Genghis Khan (born Temüjin; August 1227), also known as Chinggis Khan, was the founder and first khan (title), khan of the Mongol Empire. After spending most of his life uniting the Mongols, Mongol tribes, he launched Mongol invasions and ...

's Oscar-nominated film ''

''. In '' Villon's Wife'' (2009), he played the part of an alcoholic writer, stating that, since he doesn't drink alcohol, he based his performance on people he knows. In 2011, he starred in the

Marvel Studios Marvel Studios, LLC, formerly known as Marvel Films, is an American film and television production company. Marvel Studios is the creator of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), a media franchise and shared universe of films and television ser ...

film ''

Thor Thor (from ) is a prominent list of thunder gods, god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding æsir, god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology, sacred g ...

'' as the Asgardian warrior

, a member of the

Warriors Three The Warriors Three are a group of fictional characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The characters served as supporting cast members in ''Thor (Marvel Comics), Thor''. The Warriors Three are the Asgard (comics), As ...

and companion to

. He reprised the role in 2013's '' Thor: The Dark World'' and 2017's '' Thor: Ragnarok''. Asano appeared in the 2021 ''

'' reboot as Raiden. In September 2021, Asano was announced as part of the cast of the FX limited series ''

'', adapted from the

. In addition to his acting career, Asano directed commercial TV spots for his then-wife, Chara. He formed the band MACH-1.67 with director

Sogo Ishii is a department store chain with a significant presence in Japan. It operates a network of branches in various countries and has a long history dating back to 1830 when it was founded in Osaka by Ihei Sogō. The company is known for its retail ...

in 1996 and has also played 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 is a Japanese industrial and fashion designer. Career Kikuchi is best known for his eponymous brand, "Takeo Kikuchi," (founded in 1984) which has significantly influenced Japanese men's fashion. He designs objects such as spectacle frames a ...

, for whom he filmed a series of commercial spots directed by

, including the short film '' wkw/tk/1996@7'55"hk.net''. Asano and his father left the actors' agency Anore Inc. (now Adonis A) in 2022. After leaving the agency, he continued to give it his support.

Personal life

Asano met

J-pop J-pop (often stylized in all caps; an abbreviated form of "Japanese popular music"), natively known simply as , is the name for a form of popular music that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the 1990s. Modern J-pop has its roots in trad ...

singer Chara on the set of Iwai's ''

Picnic A picnic is a meal taken outdoors (Al fresco dining, ''al fresco'') as part of an excursion, especially in scenic surroundings, such as a park, lakeside, or other place affording an interesting view, or else in conjunction with a public event su ...

'' (1994). They were married in March 1995 while Chara was pregnant with their first child, a daughter named Sumire, who was born on July 4 that same year. In 1999, they had a son named Himi. In July 2009, Chara announced on her website that the couple was divorcing. She received custody of both their children. In August 2022, Asano announced through his

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

and

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

accounts that he had married model and actress Kurumi Nakata who is eighteen years younger than him ( 1991). The two had reportedly been in a relationship for over six years.

Awards

Asano won the Most Popular Performer award at the 1997

Japanese Academy Awards The , often called the Japan Academy Prize, the Japan Academy Awards, and the Japanese Academy Awards, is a series of awards given annually since 1978 by the Japan Academy Film Prize Association (日本アカデミー賞協会, ''Nippon Akademii- ...

for ''Acri'' and was nominated in the Best Supporting Actor category in 2004 for his performance in '' Zatôichi.'' He also received the Upstream Prize for Best Actor at the 2003

for his role in ''

''. In 2014, he won the award for Best Actor at the

36th Moscow International Film Festival The 36th Moscow International Film Festival took place from 19 to 28 June 2014. Russian film director Gleb Panfilov was the head of the main jury. Gabe Polsky's ''Red Army'' was selected to open the festival with Matt Reeves' ''Dawn of the Planet ...

for his role in '' My Man''. In 2024, he was nominated Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series in

76th Primetime Emmy Awards The 76th Primetime Emmy Awards honored the best in American prime time television programming from June 1, 2023, until May 31, 2024, as chosen by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. The awards ceremony was held live on September 15, 202 ...

for his performance in

, his first nomination for the

Primetime Emmy Awards The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Owned and operated by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the P ...

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

References

Bibliography

* Morris, Jerome C. "I'm Not as Whacked Out as Dragon Eye Morrison" (interview), in ''Asian Cult Cinema'', #54.

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Asano, Tadanobu 1973 births Living people Japanese male film actors Japanese male television actors Japanese male voice actors Japanese people of American descent Japanese people of Norwegian descent Male actors from Yokohama People from Naka, Yokohama 20th-century Japanese male actors 21st-century Japanese male actors Best Actor Asian Film Award winners Best Supporting Actor Asian Film Award winners