(born 9 August 1935) is a Japanese actress,
voice actress and essayist.
Biography
Early life
Kazuko was born in Tokyo as a first daughter of
Eisuke Yoshiyuki, a writer, and Aguri. She has an older brother,
Junnosuke Yoshiyuki, a novelist, and a sister,
Rie Yoshiyuki, a poet. A lifelong sufferer of
asthma
Asthma is a common long-term inflammatory disease of the airways of the lungs. It is characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and easily triggered bronchospasms. Symptoms include episodes of wh ...
since she was two years old, she was frequently taken as a child to
Okayama
is the prefectural capital, capital Cities of Japan, city of Okayama Prefecture in the Chūgoku region of Japan. The Okayama metropolitan area, centered around the city, has the largest urban employment zone in the Chugoku region of western J ...
, where her grandparents lived, for a change of air. She graduated from Joshigakuen Girls High school in Tokyo in 1954.
Career
She started her career as an actress with theatre troupe
Gekidan Mingei in 1955, appearing in the role of Sophie in
Junji Kinoshita's ''
A Japanese Called Otto'' in 1966. Her major breakthrough on the stage came when she played
Anne Frank
Annelies Marie Frank (, ; 12 June 1929 – February or March 1945)Research by The Anne Frank House in 2015 revealed that Frank may have died in February 1945 rather than in March, as Dutch authorities had long assumed"New research sheds new li ...
in ''
The Diary of a Young Girl
''The Diary of a Young Girl'', commonly referred to as ''The Diary of Anne Frank'', is a book of the writings from the Dutch language, Dutch-language diary kept by Anne Frank while she was in hiding for two years with her family during the Neth ...
'' in 1977.
She made her debut on the screen in 1955 and has appeared in more than 60 films since then. She won Best Supporting Actress award in 1959
Mainichi Film Award, then won Best Actress in 1978
Japan Academy Prize for her role in the film ''
Empire of Passion''.
She has also appeared in more than a hundred different
Japanese television drama
, also called or J-drama, are television programs that are a staple of Television in Japan, Japanese television and are broadcast daily.
Format
All major Television networks, TV networks in Japan produce a variety of Drama (genre), drama serie ...
s.
Selected filmography
Film
* ''
My Second Brother'' (1959) - as Kanako Hori
* ''
Foundry Town'' (1962) - as a factory worker
* ''
Lady Snowblood'' (1974) - as Aya Tokunaga
* ''
Empire of Passion'' (1978) - as Seki
* ''
Kaerazaru hibi'' (1978)
* ''
Chizuko's Younger Sister'' (1991)
* ''
Kikujiro'' (1999) - as a grandmother of Masao
* ''
Taboo
A taboo is a social group's ban, prohibition or avoidance of something (usually an utterance or behavior) based on the group's sense that it is excessively repulsive, offensive, sacred or allowed only for certain people.''Encyclopædia Britannica ...
'' (1999) - as Matsu
* ''
Lily Festival'' (2001) - as Rie Miyano
* ''
Tsuribaka Nisshi 15'' (2004) - as Nobuko Fukumoto
* ''
J-Horror Theater Yogen'' (2004) - as Satoko Mikoshiba
* ''
Kamataki'' (2005) - as Kariya Sensei
* ''
Wool 100%'' (2006) - as Kame
* ''
Maiko Haaaan!!!'' (2007) - as Satsuki
* ''
Glory to the Filmmaker!'' (2007)
* ''
Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea'' (2008) - as Toki (voice actress)
* ''
Cyborg She'' (2008) - as a grandmother of Jiro
* ''
Departures'' (2008) - as Tsuyako Yamashita
* ''
20th Century Boys'' (2008) - as mother of Moroboshi
* ''
Koitanibashi'' (2011)
* ''
Yuriko, Dasvidaniya'' (2011) - as Yoshie Chujyo
* ''The Love and Death of Kaoru Mitarai'' (2013) - as Kaoru Mitarai
* ''
Tokyo Family'' (2013) - as Tomiko Hirayama
* ''
When Marnie Was There'' (2014) - as Nanny (voice actress)
* ''The Firefly Summers'' (2016)
* ''The Book Peddler'' (2016) - as Tome Miyoshi
* ''
What a Wonderful Family!'' (2016)
* ''
What a Wonderful Family! 2'' (2017)
* ''
Miracles of the Namiya General Store'' (2017)
* ''
Ajin: Demi-Human'' (2017) - as Yamanaka
* ''Destiny: The Tale of Kamakura'' (2017)
* ''
What a Wonderful Family! 3: My Wife, My Life'' (2018)
* ''
A Forest of Wool and Steel'' (2018) - as Kiyo Tomura
* ''The Landlady'' (2019)
* ''
Photograph of Memories'' (2021)
* ''The Cinematic Liars of Asahi-za'' (2021) - as Hideko Matsuyama
* ''Somebody's Flowers'' (2022)
* ''Life in Bloom'' (2022)
* ''
Yudo: The Way of the Bath'' (2023)
* ''Ai no Komuragaeri'' (2023)
* ''Push Pause'' (2024)
* ''Diamonds in the Sand'' (TBA)
Television
* ''
Kaze to Kumo to Niji to'' (1976) - as Kera
* ''
Tokugawa Ieyasu
Tokugawa Ieyasu (born Matsudaira Takechiyo; 31 January 1543 – 1 June 1616) was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, which ruled from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was the third of the three "Gr ...
'' (1983) - as
Nene
* ''Aguri'' (1997) - as Masako Hirayama
* ''The Sniffer'' (2016)
Honours
*Kinuyo Tanaka Award (2002)
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yoshiyuki, Kazuko
1935 births
Living people
Japanese film actresses
Actresses from Tokyo
Japanese television actresses