is a Japanese actor who has performed in Japan, Hollywood and Hong Kong. He won Best Supporting Actor and the Popular Star Award at the 37th Blue Dragon Film Awards for his performance in the South Korean horror film '' The Wailing'', directed by

Na Hong-jin Na Hong-jin (, born 1974) is a South Korean film director, producer and screenwriter. Na has won a multitude of awards with his films and most known for violent thriller and horror characteristics in his films. Na first became recognised after ...

Early life and education

Kunimura was born Yoshihiro Yonemura (米村喜洋 ''Yonemura Yoshihiro'') in

Yatsushiro is a city located in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan. Geography Located at the geographic center of Kyushu, Yatsushiro City is situated on the aptly named Yatsushiro Sea in between Kumamoto and Ashikita City. Climate Yatsushiro has a humid subtro ...

Kumamoto Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Kumamoto Prefecture has a population of 1,748,134 () and has a geographic area of . Kumamoto Prefecture borders Fukuoka Prefecture to the north, Ōita Prefecture to ...

, but his family moved to

Amagasaki 270px, Amagasaki Castle 270px, Aerial view of Amagasaki city center 270px, Amagasaki Station is an industrial city located in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 455,555 in 223812 households, and a population de ...

Hyōgo Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Hyōgo Prefecture has a population of 5,469,762 () and has a geographic area of . Hyōgo Prefecture borders Kyoto Prefecture to the east, Osaka Prefecture to the southeast, an ...

soon after, before moving again to

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

when he was two years old. He graduated from a theatre program operated by the

Osaka Broadcasting Corporation is an AM radio station of National Radio Network (NRN) in Osaka, Japan, and it is known as "Radio Osaka (ラジオ大阪 ''Rajio Ōsaka'')". It is also a company of Sankei Shimbun Group in Fujisankei Communications Group. Radio Osaka started ...

, a theatre company owned and operated by a local

NHK , also known as NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster. NHK, which has always been known by this romanized initialism in Japanese, is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee. NHK operates two terrestr ...

affiliate. He has cited actor

Yūsaku Matsuda was a Japanese actor. In Japan, he was best known for roles in action films and a variety of television series in the 1970s as well as a switch to a wider range of roles in the 1980s. His final film appearance was as the villain Sato in Ridley ...

as an influence.

Career

Kunimura began his acting career with a bit part in

Shirō Moritani was a film director and screenwriter from Japan. Born in Tokyo, he debuted as an assistant director in Akira Kurosawa's 1961 film ''Yojimbo''. His film '' Mount Hakkoda'' won Mainichi Film Award for Excellence Film in 1978. Filmography As ...

's 1973 disaster film ''Tidal Wave''. He went on to appear in the TV dramas ''Ayu no Uta'' and ''Yôi don,'' before holding his first starring role in

Kazuyuki Izutsu is a Japanese film director, screenwriter and film critic. Career Born in Nara Prefecture, Izutsu started making 8mm films in high school, and directed his first 35mm film, a pink film, in 1975. He earned a citation from the Directors Guild ...

's ''Gaki Teikoku''. Throughout the late 80s and early 90s, he appeared in a number of Hong Kong-produced films, including a prominent cameo role in

John Woo John Woo Yu-Sen SBS (; born September 22, 1946) is a Hong Kong filmmaker, known as a highly-influential figure in the action film genre. He was a pioneer of heroic bloodshed films (a crime action film genre involving Chinese triads) and the gun fu ...

's '' Hard Boiled,'' as a Triad gunman in the film's opening teahouse shootout. In 1989, he starred in his first American film, '' Black Rain.'' The

Ridley Scott Sir Ridley Scott (born 30 November 1937) is a British film director and producer. Directing, among others, science fiction films, his work is known for its atmospheric and highly concentrated visual style. Scott has received many accolades thr ...

-helmed Yakuza action film was shot on-location in Kunimura's hometown of Osaka, and starred his mentor Yūsaku Matsuda. Kunimura is known internationally for his work with Western directors such as

Quentin Tarantino Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American film director, writer, producer, and actor. His films are characterized by stylized violence, extended dialogue, profanity, Black comedy, dark humor, Nonlinear narrative, non-lin ...

, and

Roland Emmerich Roland Emmerich (; born 10 November 1955) is a German film director, screenwriter, and producer. He is widely known for his science fiction and disaster films and has been called a "master of disaster" within the industry. His films, most of wh ...

. He has collaborated with prominent Japanese filmmakers like

Takashi Miike is a Japanese film director, film producer and screenwriter. He has directed over one hundred theatrical, video, and television productions since his debut in 1991. His films run through a variety of different genres, and range from violent an ...

, Lee Sang-il,

Hideaki Anno is a Japanese animator, filmmaker and actor. He is best known for creating the anime series ''Neon Genesis Evangelion'' (1995)''.'' His style is defined by his postmodernist approach and the extensive portrayal of characters' thoughts and emotio ...

, and

Ryuhei Kitamura (born May 30, 1969) is a Japanese film director, producer, and screenwriter. Biography Early life Kitamura was born in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. He dropped out of high school at age 17 and relocated to Sydney, Australia, where he attended a sch ...

. In 2016, he starred in

's Korean horror film '' The Wailing,'' which earned him critical and popular acclaim. It earned him the Best Supporting Actor and Popular Star Awards at the 37th Blue Dragon Film Awards, making him the first-ever non-Korean and Japanese actor to be nominated for the award.

Filmography

Film

Television

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kunimura, Jun Japanese male film actors Japanese male television actors 1955 births Living people Actors from Kumamoto Prefecture 20th-century Japanese male actors 21st-century Japanese male actors People from Yatsushiro, Kumamoto