Masahiro Motoki (本木雅弘 ''Motoki Masahiro'', born December 21, 1965) is a Japanese

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

. He portrayed protagonist Daigo Kobayashi in '' Departures'', which won the

81st Academy Awards The 81st Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 2008 and took place on February 22, 2009, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles beginning at 5:30 ...

for

Best Foreign Language Film This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

. His performance earned him the Award for Best Actor at the 2009

Asia Pacific Screen Awards The Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) is an international cultural initiative overseen by the Asia Pacific Screen Academy and headquartered in Australia. In order to realise UNESCO's goals of promoting and preserving the different cultures th ...

, at the 3rd Asian Film Awards and at the 32nd Japan Academy Prize.

Career

Motoki started his entertainment career as a member of

boy band A boy band is loosely defined as a vocal group consisting of young male singers, usually in their teenage years or in their twenties at the time of formation. Generally, boy bands perform Love song, love songs marketed towards girls and young ...

(the name of the band contains a portmanteau of and , a homonym of ). The band made its debut in 1982 under the management of

Johnny & Associates is a Japanese talent agency, formed by Johnny Kitagawa in 1962, which trains and promotes groups of male entertainers known as . History 1962–1989 In 1962, Kitagawa launched his first group, Johnnys. In its early days, Kitagawa's agency rente ...

and was popular for a good part of the 1980s. After the band broke up Motoki turned to acting. His first main role in a film was as a Zen monk in the comedy directed by

Masayuki Suo Masayuki (written: , ,, , , , , , , , , , , , , , or ) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese animator and director *, Japanese actor *, Japanese baseball player and manager *, Japanese politician *, ...

. Motoki also starred in Suo's next film, , which practically introduced him to audiences outside Japan. He then worked with directors such as

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 ...

() and

Shinya Tsukamoto is a Japanese filmmaker, film producer, screenwriter, editor, director, cinematographer, art director, production designer and actor. With a considerable cult following both domestically and abroad, Tsukamoto is best known for his body horro ...

(). Motoki's breakthrough to international fame came with the 2008 film directed by

Yōjirō Takita Yōjirō Takita (滝田洋二郎 ''Takita Yōjirō'', born December 4, 1955) is a Japanese filmmaker. Takita received an Academy Awards, Oscar for Academy Award for Best International Feature Film, Best Foreign Language Film for his 2008 drama '' ...

, in which he plays a cellist turned mortician. The film received the

award at the

, as well as six acting awards for Motoki. The film project started from an idea of Motoki's after he read a book written by a professional mortician.

Family

He married essayist and musician Yayako Uchida, the daughter of actress

Kirin Kiki (15 January 1943 – 15 September 2018) was a Japanese actress for Japanese cinema and television. Biography Kiki was born on January 15, 1943, in Kanda, Tokyo. Her father was a master of the ''biwa'' lute and a former police officer. Her moth ...

and rock'n roll singer Yuya Uchida, in 1995. As a

mukoyōshi A ; () is an adult man who is adopted into a Japanese family as a daughter's husband, and who takes the family's surname. Generally in Japan, a woman takes her husband's name and is adopted into his family. When a family, especially one with a ...

, he took his wife's surname, which is thus his legal surname. The couple have three children.

Filmography

Film

* (1982) * (1982) * (1983) * (1985) * (1989) * (1989) * (1989) * (1989) * (1990) * (1991) * (1991) * (1992) * (1993) * (1993) * (1994) * (1994) * (1995) * (1996) * (1996) * (1997) * (1998) * (1999) * (2003) * (2003) * (2006) (voice only) * (2007) * (2008) * (2015) * (2015) -

Emperor Hirohito Emperor , commonly known in English-speaking countries by his personal name , was the 124th emperor of Japan, ruling from 25 December 1926 until his death in 1989. Hirohito and his wife, Empress Kōjun, had two sons and five daughters; he was ...

* (2016) - Sachio Kinugasa *'' The Works and Days (of Tayoko Shiojiri in the Shiotani Basin)'' (2020)

Television

* (1981) * (1987) * (1987) * (1987) * (1988) * (1990) * (1991) - Chigusa Tadaaki * (1991) * (1992) * (1992) * (1993) * (1993) * (1994) * (1995) * (1996) * (1998) -

Tokugawa Yoshinobu Prince was the 15th and last ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan. He was part of a movement which aimed to reform the aging shogunate, but was ultimately unsuccessful. He resigned of his position as shogun in late 1867, while aiming ...

* (1999) * (2000) * (2000) * (2001) * (2001) -

Prince Shōtoku , also known as or , was a semi-legendary regent and a politician of the Asuka period in Japan who served under Empress Suiko. He was the son of Emperor Yōmei and his consort, Princess Anahobe no Hashihito, who was also Yōmei's younger half- ...

* (2001) * (2002) * (2005) * (2005) -

Natsume Sōseki , born , was a Japanese novelist. He is best known around the world for his novels ''Kokoro'', '' Botchan'', ''I Am a Cat'', '' Kusamakura'' and his unfinished work '' Light and Darkness''. He was also a scholar of British literature and writer ...

* (2005) * (2009–11) -

Akiyama Saneyuki was a Meiji-period career officer in the Imperial Japanese Navy. He was famous as a planner of Battle of Tsushima in the Russo-Japanese War. The Japanese general Akiyama Yoshifuru was his elder brotherDupuy, Encyclopedia of Military Biography ...

*''Man of Destiny'' (2012) - Ryōta Yuminari *''

Giri/Haji ( ja, 義理/恥, 'Duty/Shame') is a British crime drama television series which premiered on BBC Two in the United Kingdom on 17 October 2019, and was released internationally on Netflix on 10 January 2020. A co-production between the BBC an ...

'' (2019) *''

Kirin ga Kuru Awaiting Kirin is a 2020 Japanese historical drama television series starring Hiroki Hasegawa as Akechi Mitsuhide, a samurai and general during the Sengoku period. The series is the 59th NHK taiga drama, premiering on January 19, 2020. It is t ...

'' (2020) -

Saitō Dōsan , also known as Saitō Toshimasa (斎藤利政), was a Japanese samurai during the Sengoku period. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"Saitō Dōsan"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 809. He was also known as the for his ruthless tactics. His hono ...

*''Ryūkō Kanbō'' (2021)

Dubbing

*''

Life of Pi ''Life of Pi'' is a Canadian philosophical novel by Yann Martel published in 2001. The protagonist is Piscine Molitor "Pi" Patel, an Indian boy from Pondicherry, India who explores issues of spirituality and metaphysics from an early age. He s ...

'' (Pi Patel (

Irrfan Khan Irrfan Khan () (born Sahabzade Irfan Ali Khan; 7 January 196729 April 2020), also known simply as Irrfan, was an Indian actor who worked in Indian cinema as well as British and American films. Widely regarded as one of the finest actors in In ...

))

References

External links

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Asian Film Awards Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Motoki, Masahiro 1965 births Japanese male actors Johnny & Associates Living people Musicians from Saitama Prefecture Taiga drama lead actors Best Actor Asian Film Award winners Asia Pacific Screen Award winners