Eijiro Ozaki (尾崎英二郎; born 31 March 1969) is a Japanese actor. To English-speaking audiences he is known for playing Lieutenant Okubo in ''

Letters from Iwo Jima is a 2006 Japanese-language American war film directed and co-produced by Clint Eastwood, starring Ken Watanabe and Kazunari Ninomiya. The film portrays the Battle of Iwo Jima from the perspective of the Japanese soldiers and is a companion ...

'', Kaito Nakamura as a younger man in ''

Heroes Heroes or Héroes may refer to: * Hero, one who displays courage and self-sacrifice for the greater good Film * ''Heroes'' (1977 film), an American drama * ''Heroes'' (2008 film), an Indian Hindi film Gaming * ''Heroes of Might and Magic'' ...

'' Season 2, Masao Kume in ''

Little Boy Little Boy was a type of atomic bomb created by the Manhattan Project during World War II. The name is also often used to describe the specific bomb (L-11) used in the bombing of the Japanese city of Hiroshima by the Boeing B-29 Superfortress ...

'', and Admiral Inokuchi in ''

The Man in the High Castle ''The Man in the High Castle'' is an alternative history novel by Philip K. Dick, first published in 1962, which imagines a world in which the Axis Powers won World War II. The story occurs in 1962, fifteen years after the end of the war in 1 ...

'' Seasons 3 & 4.

Career

1990s

At the age of 20, he spent one year at the

University of Nebraska, Lincoln A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

as an exchange student. That was when he had his first acting experience in front of the cameras for an American televised educational program and gave him hint of his potential as an actor. He made his first professional stage debut in 1994 playing Jim, the lead role in ''

Rebel Without A Cause ''Rebel Without a Cause'' is a 1955 American coming-of-age melodrama film, directed by Nicholas Ray. The film stars James Dean, Natalie Wood, Sal Mineo, Jim Backus, Ann Doran, Corey Allen and William Hopper. It is also the film debut of ...

'', performed entirely in English, and dived into his full-time acting career. He started learning

Sanford Meisner Sanford Meisner (August 31, 1905 – February 2, 1997) was an American actor and acting teacher who developed an approach to acting instruction that is now known as the Meisner technique. While Meisner was exposed to method acting at the Group ...

's techniques under

Yoko Narahashi is a Japanese casting director, film producer and lyricist. She gained prominence due to her involvement with ''The Last Samurai'', '' Babel'', and '' Memoirs of a Geisha''. ''The Japan Times'', the only independent English-language newspaper i ...

at the United Performers' Studio, Tokyo in 1994. In 1995, he was coached by

Frank Corsaro Frank Corsaro (December 22, 1924, New York City, New York – November 11, 2017, Suwanee, GeorgiaRobert ViagasNight of the Iguana Director Frank Corsaro Is Dead at 92/ref>) was one of America's foremost stage directors of opera and theatre. His Br ...

, a former

Actors Studio The Actors Studio is a membership organization for professional actors, theatre directors and playwrights located on West 44th Street in Hell's Kitchen in New York City. The studio is best known for its work refining and teaching method actin ...

, New York artistic director, in his drama training. In 1997, he was singled out to play opposite a popular actress in the National Television drama series ''Agri''. This TV debut gave him more chances to appear in the New Year special drama '' Uesugi Yozan'' (1998) and the prime time historical epic '' Genroku Ryoran'' (1999). His breakthrough came as Lt. Yamamoto in the Elle Company production '' The Winds Of God'', one of Japan's most popular straight plays. In 1998, the play was performed for one month at the Judith Anderson Theater, on

Off-Off-Broadway Off-off-Broadway theaters are smaller New York City theaters than Broadway theatre, Broadway and off-Broadway theaters, and usually have fewer than 100 seats. The off-off-Broadway movement began in 1958 as part of a response to perceived commerc ...

in New York. In 1999, the troop went on the National Tour in Japan and gave a 2-month run in New York again at

the American Place Theater The American Place Theatre was founded in 1963 by Wynn Handman, Sidney Lanier, and Michael Tolan at St. Clement's Church, 423 West 46th Street in Hell's Kitchen, New York City, and was incorporated as a not-for-profit theatre in that year. Tennesse ...

Off Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

. With its total estimated viewing audience of nearly 40,000, ''The Winds Of God'' became an excellent opportunity for Ozaki to gain maximum exposure to theater fans. Playing the 3rd lead role, Lieutenant Yamamoto, a

Kamikaze , officially , were a part of the Japanese Special Attack Units of military aviators who flew suicide attacks for the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, intending to d ...

pilot. Ozaki showed his potential in both comedy and tragedy. Then he won acclaim by New York critics in 5 reviews of papers and magazines such as ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'', '' Daily News'', ''

Newsday ''Newsday'' is a daily newspaper in the United States primarily serving Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, although it is also sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The slogan of the newspaper is "Newsday, Your Eye on LI" ...

'' and more.

2000s

In 2003, he appeared in

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

' period epic ''

The Last Samurai ''The Last Samurai'' is a 2003 American epic period action drama film directed and produced by Edward Zwick, who also co-wrote the screenplay with John Logan and Marshall Herskovitz from a story devised by Logan. The film stars Tom Cruise, ...

''. Ozaki was marked by the film's stunt coordinator

Nick Powell Nicholas Edward Powell (born 23 March 1994) is an English professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or as a striker for Stockport County. He began his career at Crewe Alexandra, initially as a forward, making his debut at ...

and selected as one of the Battle Corps ( Battle Core) actors. Battle Core was composed of the best 100 Japanese actors possessing accurate swordplay technique, for the key battle sequences set in the mountains of Japanese war fields. Ozaki performed as a High Ranking Samurai of Katsumoto (

Ken Watanabe is a Japanese actor. He is best known for playing tragic hero characters, such as General Tadamichi Kuribayashi in '' Letters from Iwo Jima'' and Lord Katsumoto Moritsugu in ''The Last Samurai'', for which he was nominated for the Academy Awa ...

)'s troop in the last great sword-wielding charge against forces armed with the first Western weapons of mass destruction. After this production, he earned his membership in

Taurus World Stunt Awards The Taurus World Stunt Awards is a yearly award ceremony held midyear that honors stunt performers in movies. It is held each year in Los Angeles. The first awards were given out in 2001. The deciding committee has been around since the year 2000. ...

Academy. The film project, in which he literally devoted his life, was the most prominent one to date in his filmography. It is Warner Bros.' Iwo jima battle epic ''

Letters From Iwo Jima is a 2006 Japanese-language American war film directed and co-produced by Clint Eastwood, starring Ken Watanabe and Kazunari Ninomiya. The film portrays the Battle of Iwo Jima from the perspective of the Japanese soldiers and is a companion ...

'', directed by

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

winner

Clint Eastwood Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western (genre), Western TV series ''Rawhide (TV series), Rawhide'', Eastwood rose to international fame with his role as the "Ma ...

and produced by

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg ( ; born December 18, 1946) is an American filmmaker. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, Spielberg is widely regarded as one of the greatest film directors of all time and is ...

( DreamWorks) starring

. Besides Watanabe, only 7 actors were selected from the mainland of Japan as his supporting roles. Ozaki received the honor to be one of the 7 principal actors. He played as Lieutenant Okubo, Baron Nishi's deputy, who takes the lead of the men, when Nishi dies in a battle. Okubo's courage sacrifices his life to save his troop in the crossfire against the US Marines. The film won numerous awards including an

for Best Sound Editing,

Golden Globe Award The Golden Globe Awards are awards presented for excellence in both international film and television. It is an annual award ceremony held since 1944 to honor artists and professionals and their work. The ceremony is normally held every Janua ...

for Best Picture in Foreign Language and

National Board of Review The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures is a non-profit organization of New York City area film enthusiasts. Its awards, which are announced in early December, are considered the first major harbinger of the film awards season that ...

's Best Film of The Year. After Ozaki moved his base to the US in 2007, he landed the guest star role in

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

TV series ''

'', Young Kaito Nakamura, father of Hiro Nakamura, in 1977. Young Kaito stops

Adam Monroe This is a list of fictional characters in the television series ''Heroes (American TV series), Heroes'', the List of Heroes graphic novels, ''Heroes'' graphic novels, and the ''Heroes'' webisodes. Main characters Character duration In i ...

(

David Anders David Anders Holt (born March 11, 1981), known professionally as David Anders, is an American television and stage actor. He is best known for his roles as Julian Sark on '' Alias'', as Adam Monroe on '' Heroes'', as John Gilbert in the TV serie ...

) who tries to unleash a virus that could kill billions of innocent people. In 2011, he played Mr. Sato in '' Lil Tokyo Reporter'', a 1930s period film about Civil Rights Activist Sei Fujii, played by Academy Award-Winner

Chris Tashima Christopher Inadomi Tashima (born March 24, 1960) is a Japanese American actor and director. He is co-founder of the entertainment company Cedar Grove Productions and Artistic Director of its Asian American theatre company, Cedar Grove OnStage. ...

. The film received over 20 festival awards, and was presented at several U.S. Embassies around the globe. 2015 through 2016, Metanoia Films' ''

'' opened nationally in the US, Mexico, Japan and worldwide. The film won 2016 Premios Luminus Awards' Best Picture, Best Director, Best Young Actor. 2017 through 2019, he landed a recurring guest star role, Admiral Inokuchi in ''

'' season 3 and 4. Also played as

Ishirō Honda was a Japanese filmmaker who directed 46 feature films in a career spanning five decades. He is acknowledged as the most internationally successful Japanese filmmaker prior to Hayao Miyazaki and one of the founders of modern disaster film, wit ...

in DC's ''

Legends of Tomorrow ''DC's Legends of Tomorrow'', or simply ''Legends of Tomorrow'', is an American Time travel in fiction, time travel superhero fiction, superhero television series developed by Greg Berlanti, Marc Guggenheim, Andrew Kreisberg, and Phil Klemmer, ...

'' and as Old Night in ''

The OA The Oa ( ) () is a rocky peninsula in the southwest of the island of Islay, in Argyll, Scotland. It is an RSPB nature reserve. Area The area is roughly circular, with a radius of about 4 km, and connects with the rest of the island at a neck ...

''. Other TV credits include a Chief scientist in ''

Extant Extant or Least-concern species, least concern is the opposite of the word extinct. It may refer to: * Extant hereditary titles * Extant literature, surviving literature, such as ''Beowulf'', the oldest extant manuscript written in English * Exta ...

'', a Hydra prisoner in

Marvel Marvel may refer to: Business * Marvel Entertainment, an American entertainment company ** Marvel Comics, the primary imprint of Marvel Entertainment ** Marvel Universe, a fictional shared universe ** Marvel Music, an imprint of Marvel Comics ...

's ''

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. ''Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'' is an American television series created by Joss Whedon, Jed Whedon, and Maurissa Tancharoen for ABC based on the Marvel Comics organization S.H.I.E.L.D. (Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, ...

'', and ''

Touch The somatosensory system, or somatic sensory system is a subset of the sensory nervous system. The main functions of the somatosensory system are the perception of external stimuli, the perception of internal stimuli, and the regulation of bo ...

'', ''

How I Met Your Mother ''How I Met Your Mother'' (often abbreviated as ''HIMYM'') is an American sitcom created by Craig Thomas (screenwriter), Craig Thomas and Carter Bays for CBS. The series, which aired from September 19, 2005, to March 31, 2014, follows main char ...

'', ''

FlashForward A flashforward (also spelled flash-forward, and more formally known as prolepsis) is a scene that temporarily takes the narrative forward in time from the current point of the story in literature, film, television and other media. Flashforwards a ...

'', '' The Game''. He recently played as a young Yakuza boss, Kojiro in film '' Yakuza Princess'', directed by Vicente Amorim entirely shot in Brazil. Voiced two roles: General Kato and young detective Hiroshi in animation ''

Hit-Monkey Hit-Monkey is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Daniel Way and Dalibor Talajić, the character first appeared in ''Hit-Monkey'' #1 (April 2010). Publication history Hit-Monkey debuted in the di ...

'', directed by Josh Gordon and Will Speck.

Filmography

Film roles

Television roles

Video games roles

Stage

Awards

In 2013, Best Supporting Actor Award for his role in short film ''Lil Tokyo Reporter'' at Asians On Film Festival – Winter Award In 2009, Best Actor Award for his role in AFI Production short ''The 8th Samurai'' at Show Off Your Shorts Film Festival, USA. The film also won Best of Fest Award at

LA Shorts Fest The LA Shorts International Film Festival (LA Shorts) founded by Robert Arentz in 1997 is one of the largest international short film festivals in the world with more than 300 films screening annually. In order to qualify for a short film award at ...

2009.

References

Heroes Wiki

External links

* * ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PW7ACuzeYLg The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena / Yoto's monologue
Syndicate (2012 video game) / Agent Tatsuo Hamilton's fight

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ozaki, Eijiro 1970s births Living people Japanese male film actors Japanese expatriates in the United States Year of birth missing (living people)