is a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

actress 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 ...

. She has won three

Japanese Academy Awards The , often called the Japan Academy Prize, the Japan Academy Awards, and the Japanese Academy Awards, is a series of awards given annually since 1978 by the Japan Academy Film Prize Association (日本アカデミー賞協会, ''Nippon Akademii- ...

: the 2000 Best Actress award for '' Railroad Man'', and the 1979 awards for both Best Actress ('' The Incident'') and Best Supporting Actress (''Seishoku no ishibumi''). She also won the award for best actress at the 12th

Hochi Film Award The are film-specific prizes awarded by the ''Hochi Shimbun , previously known as , is a Japanese-language daily sports newspaper. In 2002, it had a circulation of a million copies a day. It is an affiliate newspaper of ''Yomiuri Shimbun''. ...

for '' Eien no 1/2''. At the

25th Moscow International Film Festival The 25th Moscow International Film Festival was held from 20 to 29 June 2003. The Golden St. George was awarded to the Italian-Spanish film ''The End of a Mystery'' directed by Miguel Hermoso. Jury * Sergei Bodrov (Russia – President of the J ...

she won the award for Best Actress for her role in ''

Owl Owls are birds from the order Strigiformes (), which includes over 200 species of mostly solitary and nocturnal birds of prey typified by an upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vision, binaural hearing, sharp talons, and feathers a ...

''. She has received a total of 12 nominations. She was the favoured lead actress of director

Kaneto Shindo was a Japanese film director, screenwriter, film producer, and writer, who directed 48 films and wrote scripts for 238. His best known films as a director include '' Children of Hiroshima'', '' The Naked Island'', '' Onibaba'', '' Kuroneko'' an ...

after his previous lead actress, Nobuko Otowa, died in 1994, and featured in four of his films from '' Will to Live'' in 1999 to ''

Postcard A postcard or post card is a piece of thick paper or thin cardboard, typically rectangular, intended for writing and mailing without an envelope. Non-rectangular shapes may also be used but are rare. There are novelty exceptions, such as wood ...

'' in 2011. Otake has also acted on the stage. She performed during the last segment of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics Closing Ceremony along Tokyo’s Suginami Children Chorus, singing the song "''Hoshimeguri no Uta"'' (Star Tour Song) composed by

Kenji Miyazawa was a Japanese novelist and poet of children's literature from Hanamaki, Iwate, in the late Taishō and early Shōwa periods. He was also known as an agricultural science teacher, a vegetarian, cellist, devout Buddhist, and utopian social act ...

, as the

Olympic flame The Olympic flame is a symbol used in the Olympic movement. It is also a symbol of continuity between ancient and modern games. Several months before the Olympic Games, the Olympic flame is lit at Olympia, Greece. This ceremony starts the Olymp ...

was extinguished. In 2021, Otake took the lead role of Dr. Ruth Wolff in a Japanese stage adaptation of ''The Doctor''.

Personal life

Otake was born and grew up mostly in Tokyo. In 1982 she married Seiji Hattori, a Tokyo Broadcasting director who died in 1987. One year later, Otake married

Akashiya Sanma is a Japanese comedian, TV presenter, radio personality and actor most commonly known as Sanma-san. His real name is . His talent agency is Yoshimoto Kogyo and his shishô (master) back when he studied ''rakugo'' is Shōfukutei Matsunosuke. Tog ...

, but got divorced in 1992. In the early 1990s Otake lived with playwright

Hideki Noda is a Japanese professional racing driver. He participated in three Formula One Grands Prix, débuting in the 1994 European Grand Prix, but did not score any championship points. He replaced Yannick Dalmas in the Larrousse car for the last thre ...

. Otake has two children, Nichika, a son by Hattori and Imaru, a daughter by Sanma. After her divorce she kept custody.

Filmography

Film

Television

Dubbing

*'' Cats'', Old Deuteronomy (

Judi Dench Dame Judith Olivia Dench (born 9 December 1934) is an English actress. Regarded as one of Britain's best actresses, she is noted for her versatile work in various films and television programmes encompassing several genres, as well as for her ...

) *''

West Side Story ''West Side Story'' is a musical conceived by Jerome Robbins with music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents. Inspired by William Shakespeare's play '' Romeo and Juliet'', the story is set in the mid ...

'' (1979 TBS edition), Maria (

Natalie Wood Natalie Wood ( Zacharenko; July 20, 1938 – November 29, 1981) was an American actress who began her career in film as a child and successfully transitioned to young adult roles. Wood started acting at age four and was given a co-starring r ...

)

Commercials

In 2012, she became a representative for NTT DoCoMo's "Raku-Raku Smartphone", a

smartphone A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, whic ...

aimed at the over-55s.

Honours

*Kinuyo Tanaka Award (1992) *

Medal with Purple Ribbon are medals awarded by the Government of Japan. They are awarded to individuals who have done meritorious deeds and also to those who have achieved excellence in their field of work. The Medals of Honor were established on December 7, 1881, and we ...

(2011)

References

External links

* * 1957 births Living people 20th-century Japanese actresses 21st-century Japanese actresses People from Tokyo Asadora lead actors Recipients of the Medal with Purple Ribbon {{Japan-actor-stub