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 ...

and

model A model is an informative representation of an object, person or system. The term originally denoted the Plan_(drawing), plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin ''modulus'', a mea ...

Biography

Masao Kusakari was born in Fukuoka Prefecture to a Japanese mother and an American father, the latter who died in the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

. Considered stunningly good looking, his debut into the public eye began when he became a model for Shiseido Cosmetics in the early 1970's. He joined

Toho is a Japanese film, theatre production and distribution company. It has its headquarters in Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is one of the core companies of the Osaka-based Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group. Outside of Japan, it is best known as the producer an ...

in 1974 and began his career as a screen actor.日本映画人名事典』男優篇上巻、キネマ旬報社、1996 P.552 He won his first major award at the

Elan d'or Awards The are awards presented annually by the All Nippon Producers Association (ANPA) in Japan to recognize outstanding achievements in domestic motion pictures and television. The first ceremony was held in 1956. Up until 1960, the Elan d'or Awards ...

in 1975, and a year later, appeared in

Kaze to Kumo to Niji to is a 1976 Japanese historical television series. It is the 14th NHK taiga drama. Kaze to kumo to Niji to deals with the Heian period in Japan. Based on Chōgorō Kaionji's novels ''Taira no Masakado'' and ''Umi to Kaze to Niji to''. The drama was ...

, a dream of his since early childhood to star in a taiga drama. From then to the early 1980's, Kusakari was one of the most popular actors in Japan. He won popularity again through his role in

Sanada Maru The was a small fortification attached to Osaka castle. It is famous for being impregnable and playing a key role in defending the castle in the winter of 1615. Later, it was forcefully destroyed despite being exempt from the reconciliation con ...

in 2016. In 2017, Kusakari won Best Supporting Actor of 10th Tokyo Drama Awards for his role in

. In 2019, Kusakari appeared in the

Asadora , colloquially known as , is a serialized, 15 minutes per episode, Japanese television drama program series broadcast in the mornings by Japanese public broadcaster NHK. The first such series aired in 1961 with the black-and-white , starring Take ...

Natsuzora is a Japanese television drama series and the 100th Memorial Asadora series, following ''Manpuku''. It premiered on April 1, 2019, and concluded on September 28, 2019. The story is loosely based on the life of animator Reiko Okuyama. Plot As N ...

and played an important role that has a great influence on leading character Natsu's life.

Filmography

Film

Television dramas

Dubbing

Awards and prizes

References

External links

Official profile
* 1952 births Japanese male actors Living people Japanese people of American descent Actors from Fukuoka Prefecture Models from Fukuoka Prefecture Japanese male models {{Japan-actor-stub