is a Japanese stage, film, and television actor.
Biography
Kamikawa was born in Hachioji, Tokyo in 1965. He graduated from Hachioji-Kita high school in Tokyo. While studying economics in Chuo University, he acted in a minor theatrical group which was touring around Japan and performing at local schools. Kamikawa left Chuo University without a diploma, and joined the group Caramel Box to become a full-time actor.
In 1995, Kamikawa starred in a TV drama by
NHK
, also known as NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster. NHK, which has always been known by this romanized initialism in Japanese, is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee.
NHK operates two terrestr ...
, ''Daichi no Ko'', and played the leading role, Lu Yixin. The original author,
Toyoko Yamasaki
was a Japanese novelist.
A native of Osaka, Yamasaki worked as a journalist for the Mainichi Shimbun from 1945 to 1959 after graduating from Kyoto Women's University in Japanese literature. She published her first story, ''Noren'' (1957), a st ...
, initially wanted
Masahiro Motoki
Masahiro Motoki (本木 雅弘 ''Motoki Masahiro'', born December 21, 1965) is a Japanese actor. He portrayed protagonist Daigo Kobayashi in '' Departures'', which won the 81st Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film. His performance earne ...
to play the role. However, since the most of the drama was filmed in China and required a lot of travel, Motoki was not able to meet the tight filming schedule. Then one of the staff found Kamikawa, who was still unknown, in a magazine. Toyoko Yamasaki later commented that Kamikawa had been the right choice.
Kamikawa is nicknamed "cyborg" by his colleagues due to his extraordinary ability to memorize scripts. Although he did not understand or speak Chinese when he was offered the role of Lu Yixin, he somehow memorized all his lines in Chinese by ear for the role.
In 2006, he played
Yamauchi Kazutoyo
, also spelled Yamanouchi (1545/1546? – November 1, 1605). He was retainer of Oda Nobunaga and later Toyotomi Hideyoshi. His father Yamauchi Moritoyo, was a descendant of Fujiwara no Hidesato, a senior retainer of the Iwakura Oda clan (op ...
, the leading role of the NHK
Taiga drama ''Kōmyō ga Tsuji''.
In 2009, he left the group Caramel Box.
On December 4, 2009, he married a former stage actress who was 25 years old at the time.
He played the
Anti-Spiral in ''
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
''Gurren Lagann'', known in Japan as , is a Japanese mecha anime television series animated by Gainax and co-produced by Aniplex and Konami. It ran for 27 episodes on TV Tokyo between April and September 2007. It was directed by Hiroyuk ...
''.
Filmography
Live-action television
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NHK_
,_also_known_as_NHK,_is_a_Japanese_public_broadcaster._NHK,_which_has_always_been_known_by_this_romanized_initialism_in_Japanese,_is_a__statutory_corporation_funded_by_viewers'_payments_of_a__television_license_fee.
NHK_operates_two__terrestr_...
,_1995)_–_Lu_Yixin_()
*_,_(NHK,_''
NHK_
,_also_known_as_NHK,_is_a_Japanese_public_broadcaster._NHK,_which_has_always_been_known_by_this_romanized_initialism_in_Japanese,_is_a__statutory_corporation_funded_by_viewers'_payments_of_a__television_license_fee.
NHK_operates_two__terrestr_...