Tadanobu Satō (佐藤 忠信) better known by his stage name Tadanobu Asano (浅野 忠信) 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, 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's Maboroshi no Hikari (1995) and Distance (2001), Hyozo Tashiro in Gohatto (1999), Kakihara in Ichi the Killer (2001), Hattori Genosuke in Zatoichi (2003), Kenji in Last Life in the Universe (also 2003), and Temujin in Mongol (2007). He has also appeared in Hollywood films, notably as Hogun in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Lord Kira Yoshinaka in 47 Ronin (2013), the Interpreter in Martin Scorsese's Silence (2016), Rear Admiral Tamon Yamaguchi in Midway (2019), and Raiden in Mortal Kombat (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, based on the James Clavell novel. Asano has worked with some of the most prominent and acclaimed directors in Japanese cinema, including Hirokazu Kore-eda, Takeshi Kitano, Nagisa Ōshima, Takashi Miike, Nobuhiko Obayashi and Kiyoshi Kurosawa, along with international directors like Martin Scorsese, Kenneth Branagh, Wong Kar-wai, Roland Emmerich, Pen-ek Ratanaruang and Sergei Bodrov. Among other accolades, he has twice won the Best Actor Award at the Yokohama Film Festival, the Upstream Prize for Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival, and the Best Actor Award at the Moscow International Film Festival.

Early life

Asano was born in the Honmoku area of Yokohama, to artist Yukihisa Satō (佐藤 幸久) and mother Junko (順子). Through his mother, Asano is of one-quarter American 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's Fried Dragon Fish (1993). His first critical success internationally was Hirokazu Kore-eda'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 Distance in 2001. His best known works internationally are the samurai films Gohatto (aka Taboo, 1999) and Zatoichi (2003), as well as the critically acclaimed Bright Future. Asano acted in Katsuhito Ishii's 2003 film The Taste of Tea, which premiered at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival. He appeared as the lead actor in Last Life in the Universe (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 in Sergei Bodrov's Oscar-nominated film Mongol. 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 film Thor as the Asgardian warrior Hogun, a member of the Warriors Three and companion to Thor. He reprised the role in 2013's Thor: The Dark World and 2017's Thor: Ragnarok. Asano appeared in the 2021 Mortal Kombat reboot as Raiden. In September 2021, Asano was announced as part of the cast of the FX limited series Shōgun, adapted from the James Clavell novel. 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 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, for whom he filmed a series of commercial spots directed by Wong Kar-wai, 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 singer Chara on the set of Iwai's Picnic (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 and Instagram accounts that he had married model and actress Kurumi Nakata who is eighteen years younger than him (b. 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 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 Venice Film Festival for his role in Last Life in the Universe. In 2014, he won the award for Best Actor at the 36th Moscow International Film Festival for his role in My Man. In 2024, he is nominated Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series in 76th Primetime Emmy Awards for his performance in Shōgun, the first time nominations in Primetime Emmy Awards.

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games