Tokyo (Silene Oliveira, ) is a

fictional character In fiction, a character (or speaker, in poetry) is a person or other being in a narrative (such as a novel, play, radio or television series, music, film, or video game). The character may be entirely fictional or based on a real-life perso ...

in the

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...

series '' Money Heist'', portrayed by

Úrsula Corberó Úrsula Corberó Delgado (born 11 August 1989) is a Spanish actress and model. She is best known for her roles as Ruth Gómez in ''Física o química'' (2008–2010), Margaret of Austria, Duchess of Savoy, Margarita de Austria in the television ...

. The ''

de facto ''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with ''de jure'' ("by la ...

'' protagonist of the series, she is the

unreliable narrator An unreliable narrator is a narrator whose credibility is compromised. They can be found in fiction and film, and range from children to mature characters. The term was coined in 1961 by Wayne C. Booth in ''The Rhetoric of Fiction''. While unr ...

and a runaway robber who is scouted by the

Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...

to participate in his heists.

Character biography

Tokyo is a young thief on the run from the police after a failed robbery in which her boyfriend was killed. Her mother tried to hand her over to the police before she was involved in the heist, but later died of cardiac arrest, potentially from stress. She was hired by the

to help in carrying out a heist of the Royal Mint in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

. Together with the other seven robbers chosen for the heist, she is taken to a secluded villa where they plan the heist for five months. The Professor asks each of the robbers to choose a city name to hide their identities during the robbery and she chooses

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

. Tokyo is a flirty and rebellious character, and she has a relationship with Rio, that stops and starts throughout the first heist. She shares a good friendship with

Nairobi Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper h ...

, the two having gotten drunk together many times. She doesn't like being told what to do and shows dislike for

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

in the first series.

Development

The producers found Tokyo among the hardest characters to develop, as they were originally looking for an older actress to play the character who had nothing to lose before meeting the Professor. Úrsula Corberó eventually landed the role for bringing a playful energy to the role; her voice was heavily factored in during casting, as she was the first voice the audience hears in the show. Corberó described Tokyo at the beginning of the show as "a girl who really lacks self-esteem, has been very lonely, has had a very bad time ndhas not had a father figure at home", resulting in a vulnerability that the character doesn't know how to express. Actor

Álvaro Morte Álvaro Antonio García Pérez (born 23 February 1975), known professionally as Álvaro Morte, is a Spanish actor. He gained worldwide recognition for playing the role of ' The Professor' in the television series ''Money Heist''. Early life � ...

(the Professor) regarded Tokyo as one of the Professor's favourite gang members, since both characters confide in and confront each other like best friends despite being opposite sexes.

Characterisation

Sandra Faginas of Spanish newspaper '' La Razón'' praised the character, saying Tokyo was "a wonderful cocktail of passion and reason" that was "born splendidly in script". She regarded Tokyo as a "free soul touching every companion and approaching them in different ways: Rio with passionate tenderness, the Professor with cold respect, Nairobi with joy and attunement, and Berlin with challenging discipline". John Doyle of ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

'' saw Corbero "as a strong female lead, her character doesn't conform to much at you'd see in an equivalent British or American crime drama". Meanwhile, Alfonso Rivadeneyra García of Peruvian newspaper '' El Comercio'' disliked the hypersexualization of Tokyo in part 3 as fan service. Keyvan Azh of German ''

Focus Focus, or its plural form foci may refer to: Arts * Focus or Focus Festival, former name of the Adelaide Fringe arts festival in South Australia Film *''Focus'', a 1962 TV film starring James Whitmore * ''Focus'' (2001 film), a 2001 film based ...

'' regarded Tokyo as a one-dimensional protagonist relying on the "cheap stylistic device" of tell, don't show. For the role of Tokyo, Corberó was nominated for the

Premios Feroz The Feroz Awards ( es, Premios Feroz) are Spain-based film and television awards presented by the Asociación de Informadores Cinematográficos de España (''Association of Cinematographic Informers of Spain''). They are considered the Spanish equ ...

in 2017 in the category Best Leading Actress of a Series, and won the Iris Awards in 2018 for Best Actress.

References

External links

Tokio
on

IMDb IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tokyo Money Heist characters Female characters in television Television characters introduced in 2017 Fictional thieves Fictional outlaws Fictional female murderers Fictional Spanish people