, is a French-Japanese actress, director and former model.

Early life

Noémie Nakai was born on December 2, 1990, in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

, Japan. She has a French mother and a Japanese father. She took acting lessons when she was very young in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, and arrived by chance in modeling by shooting for advertisements in order to follow her friends. In 2013, she got her first real acting role in the drama Shûden Bye Bye. Nakai is a graduate of the

Lycée International de Saint-Germain-en-Laye In France, secondary education is in two stages: * ''Collèges'' () cater for the first four years of secondary education from the ages of 11 to 15. * ''Lycées'' () provide a three-year course of further secondary education for children between ...

in France and

Keio University , mottoeng = The pen is mightier than the sword , type = Private research coeducational higher education institution , established = 1858 , founder = Yukichi Fukuzawa , endowmen ...

in Japan. She also studied at the

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public university, public research university in Nottingham, United Kingdom. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. The University of Nottingham belongs t ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Career

On the eve of her thirties, she won the Busan Award in October 2019 as a director in the Asian Project Market section (co-production platform allowing emerging directors to meet market professionals on an international level) of the

Busan International Film Festival The Busan International Film Festival (BIFF, previously Pusan International Film Festival, PIFF), held annually in Haeundae-gu, Busan (''also'' Pusan), South Korea, is one of the most significant film festivals in Asia. The first festi ...

for the Topography of Solitude project. Her short film ''Tears Teacher'' spotted at the Hot Docs Festival was acquired by the Op Docs section of

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

. This ten-minute documentary is dedicated to Hidefumi Yoshida, a teacher who has been a tear therapy practitioner since 2015, who organizes meetings where men and women cry bitterly and anonymously write down painful episodes of their lives. “Emotional outbursts” are frowned upon in Japan. ''Tears Teacher'' was selected in the short documentary category of the 2021 Sundance Festival available for streaming on the New York Times website. In 2022, Noémie Nakai played Luna in ''

Tokyo Vice ''Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan'' is a 2009 memoir by Jake Adelstein of his years living in Tokyo as the first non-Japanese reporter working for one of Japan's largest newspapers, ''Yomiuri Shinbun''. It was publi ...

'', a television series for

HBO Max HBO Max is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in the United States on May 27, 2020, the service is built around the libraries of HBO, Warner Bros., Cartoon Netw ...

directed by

Michael Mann Michael Kenneth Mann (born February 5, 1943) is an American director, screenwriter, and producer of film and television who is best known for his distinctive style of crime drama. His most acclaimed works include the films ''Thief'' (1981), ' ...

Art studies

* Le Cours Simon in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

(2004-2008) * School of

Le Vésinet Le Vésinet () is a suburban commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. It is a part of the affluent outer suburbs of western Paris, from the centre of Paris. In 2019, it had a population of 15,943. ...

in France (2001-2004) * Music production on the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight ( ) is a county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the largest and second-most populous island of England. Referred to as 'The Island' by residents, the Isle of ...

in England (2002-2003) * Singing class / voice exercises in Tokyo * Dance class (

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

modern dance Modern dance is a broad genre of western concert or theatrical dance which included dance styles such as ballet, folk, ethnic, religious, and social dancing; and primarily arose out of Europe and the United States in the late 19th and early 20th ...

)

Personal life

In 2018, Nakai moved to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

to pursue director opportunities and splits her time between England and Japan.

Filmography

Noémie Nakai starred in a dozen films and TV series.

Film

Television

Video games

Music videos

Koda Kumi , known professionally as , is a Japanese singer from Kyoto, known for her urban and R&B songs. After debuting with the single "Take Back" in December 2000, Koda gained fame in March 2003 when the songs from her seventh single, "Real Emotion ...

- "Slow" feat.

Omarion Omari Ishmael Grandberry (born November 12, 1984), better known by his stage name Omarion, is an American R&B singer, songwriter, actor and dancer. He rose to prominence as the lead singer of the boy band B2K. The group achieved success in the e ...

(2020) * V6 * (2012) Music video for Rabbit "Nikki" * Rottengraffty

Appearance

* Astalift *

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechri ...

* Peach John *

Shiseido is a Japanese multinational cosmetic company founded in Tokyo, Japan in 1872. Its product categories consist of: skin care, makeup, body care, hair care, and fragrances. The company is one of the oldest cosmetic companies in the world and ...

* (2012) TV Commercial for Matsumoto Kiyoshi Argelan organic shampoo (Tokyo, Japan) * (2014) TV Commercial for GU * (2014) TV commercial for Morinaga Mashbon * (2014) Advertisement for United Arrows * (2014) Advertisement for Grand Hyatt Fukuoka * (2014) TV Commercial for Laforet - Summer sale

Magazines

* Akasugu * Snowgirl * Volt * Zexy

Model

* (2011) Sony Tablet S - Model * (2012) Commercial for Ridez 2012 S/S - Model * (2013) Commercial for Emobile - Model (Tokyo, Japan) * (2013) Prints ads for Victorian House Reintei Weddings (Kobe, Japan) * (2013) Print ads for Vernal make-up brand.

Radio

* (2013) "Hello world" radio emission on J-Wave- Guest (Tokyo, Japan)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nakai, Noemie 1990 births Living people Actresses from Tokyo Japanese film directors 21st-century Japanese actresses Japanese people of French descent Models from Tokyo Metropolis