is a Japanese actress.

Early life

Sawaguchi was born in

Sakai is a city located in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. It has been one of the largest and most important seaports of Japan since the medieval era. Sakai is known for its '' kofun'', keyhole-shaped burial mounds dating from the fifth century. The ''kofun ...

Osaka is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...

on June 11, 1965. In early 1984, the Japanese movie studio

Toho Company Ltd. is a Japanese entertainment company that primarily engages in producing and distributing films and exhibiting stage plays. It is headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is one of the core companies of the Osaka-based Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group. T ...

held their first " Toho Cinderella Audition", and Yasuko, almost 19 at the time, was chosen as the first Toho Cinderella, beating out the other 30,000 contestants.

Career

Shortly after, she made her film debut in the film ''Karate Cop III: Song of the Sea'', before co-starring as the heroine Naoko Okumura in ''

The Return of Godzilla , is a 1984 Japanese ''kaiju'' film directed by Koji Hashimoto, with special effects by Teruyoshi Nakano. Distributed by Toho and produced under their subsidiary Toho Pictures, it is the 16th film in the ''Godzilla'' franchise, the last film ...

'', which was the grand comeback film for the famous movie monster ''

Godzilla is a fictional monster, or ''kaiju'', that debuted in the eponymous 1954 film, directed and co-written by Ishirō Honda. The character has since become an international pop culture icon, appearing in various media: 33 Japanese films p ...

''. She appeared in the next Godzilla film 5 years later, 1989's '' Godzilla vs. Biollante'', but as another character (Erika Shiragami, who later becomes Godzilla's titular adversary). At the Toho Cinderella beauty contest that same year, she took place with the 2nd Toho Cinderella, 1987 winner

Megumi Odaka is a former Japanese idol, actress and singer. She is best known for the role of Miki Saegusa in six Godzilla films from 1989 to 1995. Biography Megumi Odaka was born on May 9, 1972, in Yokohama is the List of cities in Japan, second ...

(who was also in ''Biollante'', starting her Miki Saegusa character). She has since appeared in numerous movies and television (her TV show debut was ' in 1985), and is considered one of Japan's most beautiful and talented actresses. She has played scientific criminal investigator Mariko Sakaki, the lead role in the television show ''Kasōken no Onna'' (and its successor ''Shin Kasōken no Onna''), which have aired on

TV Asahi JOEX-DTV (channel 5), branded as , and better known as , is a Japanese television station serving the Kanto region as the flagship station of the All-Nippon News Network. It is owned-and-operated by the a subsidiary of , itself controlled by ...

since 1999. In

NHK , also known by its Romanization of Japanese, romanized initialism NHK, is a Japanese public broadcasting, public broadcaster. It is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television licence, television license fee. NHK ope ...

Taiga drama is the name NHK gives to the annual year-long historical drama television series it broadcasts in Japan. Beginning in 1963 with the black-and-white ''Hana no Shōgai'', starring kabuki actor Onoe Shoroku II and Awashima Chikage, the network regul ...

s she has portrayed Iroha-hime in the ''

Dokuganryū Masamune is a 1987 Japanese historical television series. It is the 25th NHK ''taiga'' drama. The broadcast received an average viewer rating of 39.7 percent in the Kanto area with the highest viewing rating of 47.8%. The drama was adapted from the novel ...

'' (1987), Akahashi Tōko in ''

Taiheiki The (Chronicle of Great Peace) is a medieval Japanese historical epic (see '' gunki monogatari'') written in the late 14th century and covers the period from 1319 to 1367. It deals primarily with the Nanboku-chō, the period of war between the ...

'' (1991), and Nene in ''

Hideyoshi , otherwise known as and , was a Japanese samurai and ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of the late Sengoku and Azuchi-Momoyama periods and regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: Military Innov ...

'' (1996). She starred as Rui in the ''

jidaigeki is a genre of film, television, and theatre in Japan. Literally meaning "historical drama, period dramas", it refers to stories that take place before the Meiji Restoration of 1868. ''Jidaigeki'' show the lives of the samurai, farmers, crafts ...

'' ''Shin On'yado Kawasemi'' (TV Asahi, 1997). She has also played the villain in one episode of

Furuhata Ninzaburo Furuhata (written: 古畑 or 降旗) is a Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Koji Furuhata (born 1933), Japanese actor *, Japanese idol and singer *, Japanese model and actress *, Japanese film director {{surname Japane ...

in 1996. She also voiced Chihiro's mother in the original

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 ...

version of ''

Spirited Away is a 2001 Japanese Anime film, animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. It was produced by Toshio Suzuki, animated by Studio Ghibli, and distributed by Toho.KFC KFC Corporation, doing business as KFC (an abbreviation of Kentucky Fried Chicken), is an American fast food restaurant chain specializing in fried chicken and chicken sandwiches. Headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, it is the world's se ...

chicken was ordered into the

recording studio A recording studio is a specialized facility for Sound recording and reproduction, recording and Audio mixing, mixing of instrumental or vocal musical performances, spoken words, and other sounds. They range in size from a small in-home proje ...

Filmography

Television

Film

Awards

References

External links

Yasuko Sawaguchi at Toho Entertainment
* * 1965 births Living people Japanese actresses People from Sakai, Osaka Asadora lead actors {{Japan-screen-actor-stub