Shizuko Hoshi is a Japanese-American actress, theater director, dancer and choreographer. Born in Japan, she is a graduate of Tokyo Women's College and

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

."Susie" Hoshi early history in table tennis
/ref> She was married to actor

Mako , better known by the mononym name Mako (sometimes stylised MAKO), is a Japanese voice actress, singer and a member of the band Bon-Bon Blanco, in which her prominent role is as the maraca player. She has also performed in a Japanese television d ...

, the founding artistic director of

East West Players East West Players is an Asian American theatre organization in Los Angeles, founded in 1965. As the nation's first professional Asian American theatre organization, East West Players continues to produce works and educational programs that give v ...

in Los Angeles, and worked closely with the

Asian-American theatre Asian American theatre is theatre written, directed or acted by Asian Americans. From initial efforts by four theatre companies in the 1960s, Asian-American theatre has grown to around forty groups today. Early productions often had Asian themes o ...

company from 1965 to 1989.

Career

Shizuko Hoshi arrived in the United States in 1957 and enrolled at the

. Hoshi won the US Open women's singles titles in table tennis in 1958 and 1959. She stopped tournament play following her marriage to Mako. While at East West Players, Hoshi received many awards for performance, directing and choreography, including a Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for Featured Performance in

Wakako Yamauchi Wakako Yamauchi (October 23, 1924 – August 16, 2018) was a Japanese American writer. Her plays are considered pioneering works in Asian-American theater. Biography Yamauchi (née Nakamura) was born in Westmorland, California. Her mother and f ...

's ''And the Soul Shall Dance'', as well as

Drama-Logue Award The Drama-Logue Award was an American theater award established in 1977, given by the publishers of Drama-Logue newspaper, a weekly west-coast theater trade publication. Winners were selected by the publication's theater critics, and would recei ...

s for Best Director for ''Hokusai Sketchbooks'', ''Asa ga Kimashita'', ''

A Chorus Line ''A Chorus Line'' is a 1975 musical with music by Marvin Hamlisch, lyrics by Edward Kleban, and a book by James Kirkwood Jr. and Nicholas Dante. Set on the bare stage of a Broadway theater, the musical is centered on seventeen Broadway dancers ...

'' and ''Mishima''. Her film credits include ''

Memoirs of a Geisha ''Memoirs of a Geisha'' is a historical fiction novel by American author Arthur Golden, published in 1997. The novel, told in first person perspective, tells the story of Nitta Sayuri and the many trials she faces on the path to becoming and wo ...

'', ''

Come See the Paradise ''Come See the Paradise'' is a 1990 American drama film written and directed by Alan Parker, and starring Dennis Quaid and Tamlyn Tomita. Set before and during World War II, the film depicts the treatment of Japanese Americans in the United States ...

'' and ''

M. Butterfly ''M. Butterfly'' is a play by David Henry Hwang. The story, while entwined with that of the opera ''Madama Butterfly'', is based most directly on the relationship between French diplomat Bernard Boursicot and Shi Pei Pu, a Peking opera singer. T ...

''. She appeared in the indie film, '' Charlotte Sometimes'' and narrated the Academy Award-winning Live Action Short Film, ''

Visas and Virtue ''Visas and Virtue'' is a 1997 narrative short film directed by Chris Tashima and starring Chris Tashima, Susan Fukuda, Diana Georger and Lawrence Craig. It was inspired by the true story of Holocaust rescuer Chiune "Sempo" Sugihara, who is known ...

''. She has also appeared on television, in such shows as ''

Chicago Hope ''Chicago Hope'' is an American medical drama television series, created by David E. Kelley. It originally aired on CBS from September 18, 1994, to May 4, 2000. The series is set in a fictional private charitable hospital in Chicago, Illinois. ...

'' and '' M*A*S*H*''. In 1995, Hoshi co-directed the English language premiere of the Japanese comedy ''The Fall Guy''

off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Personal life

Hoshi was married to Mako until his death in 2006. They have two daughters (both of whom are actresses) and two grandchildren.

Filmography

Television

References

External links

* Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American female table tennis players American sportspeople of Japanese descent American theatre directors of Japanese descent American actresses of Japanese descent American film actresses American stage actresses American television actresses American film actors of Asian descent University of Southern California alumni Japanese emigrants to the United States 20th-century American actresses 21st-century American actresses American dancers of Asian descent {{US-tv-actor-stub