is a Japanese actor.

Early life

Kase was born in

Yokohama is the List of cities in Japan, second-largest city in Japan by population as well as by area, and the country's most populous Municipalities of Japan, municipality. It is the capital and most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a popu ...

Kanagawa prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the List of Japanese prefectures by population, second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-dens ...

. He moved to

Bellevue, Washington Bellevue ( ) is a city in the Eastside (King County, Washington), Eastside region of King County, Washington, United States, located across Lake Washington from Seattle. It is the third-largest city in the Seattle metropolitan area, and the f ...

in the United States soon after his birth, due to his father's job being transferred. His father Yutaka Kase, was former chairman and representative director of

Sojitz is a '' sogo shosha'' (general trading company) based in Tokyo, Japan. It is engaged in a wide range of businesses globally, including buying, selling, importing, and exporting goods, manufacturing and selling products, providing services, and p ...

, a major Japanese general trading company.

Career

Kase made his screen debut in Sogo Ishii's '' Gojoe: Spirit War Chronicle'' in 2000. That same year, Kase received his major break when he starred in the critically acclaimed film '' I Just Didn't Do It'' (2007), directed by

Masayuki Suo is a Japanese people, Japanese film director. He is best known for his two Japan Academy Prize (film), Japan Academy Prize-winning films, ''Sumo Do, Sumo Don't'' (1992) and ''Shall We Dance? (1996 film), Shall We Dance?'' (1996). Life and caree ...

, for which he won the Best Actor Award at the 31st Japan Academy Prize and the 2nd Asia Film Award, among other domestic and international film awards. In 2010, Kase played a ''yakuza'' mobster in Takeshi Kitano’s highly anticipated return to the crime genre Outrage (アウトレイジ, ''Autoreiji'') which competed for the

Palme d'Or The (; ) is the highest prize awarded to the director of the Best Feature Film of the Official Competition at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festiv ...

at the

2010 Cannes Film Festival The 63rd Cannes Film Festival took place from 12 to 23 May 2010. American filmmaker Tim Burton served as jury president for the main competition. Thai filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul won the Palme d'Or, the festival's top prize, for the dram ...

. The film was a major success, grossing 634 million yen at the Japan Box office, leading to two sequels. In 2023, Kase reunited with Takeshi Kitano in the Japanese film '' Kubi'' about the

Honnō-ji Incident The was the assassination of Japanese daimyo Oda Nobunaga at Honnō-ji, a temple in Kyoto, on 21 June 1582 (2nd day of the sixth month, Tenshō 10). Nobunaga was on the verge of unifying the country, but died in the unexpected rebellion of ...

. In the film, Kase portrayed the historical figure, Oda Nobunaga, a charismatic military leader revered and feared as a demon king in Japan. His wildly mad-like performance was highly praised by many journalists at the Cannes Film Festival. In Japan, this portrayal of Nobunaga, which diverges greatly from his public image of being cold yet violent but also deeply human and virtuous, has sparked debate. Some audience members felt that the character setting demeaned the historical figure, while others believed the acting was so realistic it seemed to overwrite the actual image of Nobunaga himself. When director Takeshi Kitano shared this original idea with the late director Akira Kurosawa, he was told that if Kitano were to make it, it could become a masterpiece on par with ''

Seven Samurai is a 1954 Japanese epic samurai action film directed by Akira Kurosawa from a screenplay co-written with Shinobu Hashimoto and Hideo Oguni. Taking place in 1586 in the Sengoku period of Japanese history, it follows the story of a villag ...

''. This work won several awards at the 47th Japan Academy Prize, including Excellence in Cinematography, Excellence in Lighting, Excellence in Art Direction, Excellence in Sound Recording, and Excellence in Editing. Ryo Kase, who played Nobunaga, also won the award for Excellent Supporting Actor.

International Films

From the beginning of his career, Kase took advantage of his English fluency and participated in international films from various countries in Asia, Europe, and America. His first American film was

Letters from Iwo Jima is a 2006 Japanese-language American war film directed and co-produced by Clint Eastwood, starring Ken Watanabe and Kazunari Ninomiya. The film portrays the Battle of Iwo Jima from the perspective of the Japanese soldiers and is a companion ...

(2006) directed by

Clint Eastwood Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western (genre), Western TV series ''Rawhide (TV series), Rawhide'', Eastwood rose to international fame with his role as the "Ma ...

, where he delicately portrayed a complex character of a former military policeman turned young soldier. He made his

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Film Festival (; ), until 2003 called the International Film Festival ('), is the most prestigious film festival in the world. Held in Cannes, France, it previews new films of all genres, including documentaries, from all around ...

debut with Abbas Kiarostami's

Like Someone in Love "Like Someone in Love" is a popular song composed in 1944 by Jimmy Van Heusen, with lyrics by Johnny Burke. It was written (along with "Sleigh Ride in July") for the 1944 film, '' Belle of the Yukon'', where it was sung by Dinah Shore. It was a h ...

(2012). He has also appeared in Michel Gondry's Tokyo! (2008), Gus Van Sant's

Restless Restless or The Restless may refer to: Film and television * ''Restless'' (1998 film), a Chinese-American romance film * ''Restless'' (2000 film), a Finnish romantic film * ''The Restless'' (2006 film), a South Korean fantasy film * ''Restless'' ...

(2011) with

Mia Wasikowska Mia Wasikowska ( ; born 25 October 1989) is an Australian actress. She made her screen debut on the Australian television drama '' All Saints'' in 2004, followed by her feature film debut in '' Suburban Mayhem'' (2006). She first became known t ...

, Hong Sang-soo's

Hill of Freedom ''Hill of Freedom'' () is a 2014 South Korean arthouse film written and directed by Hong Sang-soo. It premiered in the ''Orizzonti'' ("Horizons") section of the 71st Venice International Film Festival, and won Best Film at the 34th Korean Associa ...

(2014), and Martin Scorsese's

Silence Silence is the absence of ambient hearing, audible sound, the emission of sounds of such low sound intensity, intensity that they do not draw attention to themselves, or the state of having ceased to produce sounds; this latter sense can be exten ...

(2016). In Paul Weitz's

Bel Canto , )—with several similar constructions (, , , pronounced in English as )—is a term with several meanings that relate to Italian singing, and whose definitions have often been misunderstood. ''Bel canto'' was not only seen as a vocal technique ...

, he starred alongside

Julianne Moore Julie Anne Smith (born December 3, 1960), known professionally as Julianne Moore, is an American actress and children's author. Prolific in film since the early 1990s, she is known for her portrayals of emotionally troubled women in independent ...

and

Ken Watanabe is a Japanese actor. He is best known for playing tragic hero characters, such as General Tadamichi Kuribayashi in '' Letters from Iwo Jima'' and Lord Katsumoto Moritsugu in ''The Last Samurai'', for which he was nominated for the Academy Awa ...

. In the film

Minamata is a city located in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan. It is on the west coast of Kyūshū and faces Amakusa islands. Minamata was established as a village in 1889, re-designated as a town in 1912 and grew into a city in 1949. As of March 2017, the ci ...

, inspired by a photo collection of Japan's pollution lawsuit taken by the late photographer Eugene Smith, he co-starred with

Johnny Depp John Christopher Depp II (born June 9, 1963) is an American actor and musician. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Johnny Depp, multiple accolades, including a Golden Globe Award as well as nominations for ...

and

Hiroyuki Sanada Hiroyuki Sanada (; ; born 12 October 1960) is a Japanese actor. He has received numerous accolades, including a Golden Globe Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards, a British Academy Television Award, a Japan Academy Film Prize, two Hochi Film Award ...

. In 2014, when Hong Sang-soo's Hill of Freedom was released, he was selected as the Best Actor by

CINE21 ''Cine21'' is a South Korean film magazine published by ''The Hankyoreh'' newspaper. The magazine was first published on 24 April 1995 in Seoul, and subsequent issues have continued to be released weekly. The first editor-in-chief An editor-in ...

, a Korean film magazine, despite being a foreigner. In Kiyoshi Kurosawa's To the Ends of the Earth (2019), he won the Best Supporting Actor award at the 14th Asia Film Awards.

Filmography

Film

Television

Writings

"Minna no Ozu-kai" in '' Ozu Yasujiro Taizen'' (''The Complete Book of Ozu Yasujiro'') by Matsuura Kanji and Miyamoto Akiko (

Asahi Shimbun is a Japanese daily newspaper founded in 1879. It is one of the oldest newspapers in Japan and Asia, and is considered a newspaper of record for Japan. The ''Asahi Shimbun'' is one of the five largest newspapers in Japan along with the ''Yom ...

Publications Inc. 2019)

Bibliography

* ''Bellevue Ryo Kase'' (July 2006, Media Factory)

Awards and nominations

2004

* 14th Japan Film Professional Awards Best Actor

2007

* 17th Japan Film Professional Awards: Best Actor for '' I Just Didn't Do It'' * 81st

Kinema Junpo , commonly called , is Japan's oldest film magazine and began publication in July 1919. It was first published three times a month, using the Japanese ''Jun'' (旬) system of dividing months into three parts, but the postwar ''Kinema Junpō'' ha ...

Award: Best Actor for ''I Just Didn't Do It'' * 21st Takasaki Film Festival: Best Supporting Actor

2008

* 31st Japan Academy Film Prize: Best Actor (nomination) for ''I Just Didn't Do It'' * 32nd

Hochi Film Award The are film-specific prizes awarded by the '' Hochi Shimbun''. Categories *Best Picture *Best International Picture *Best Animated Picture (since 2017) *Best Actor *Best Actress *Best Supporting Actor *Best Supporting Actress *Best New Artist ...

: Best Actor for ''I Just Didn't Do It'' * 50th

Blue Ribbon Awards The are film-specific prizes awarded solely by movie critics and writers in Tokyo, Japan, established in 1950 by , established under the name of the "Association of Tokyo Film Journalists Award", which was formed mainly by film reporters from th ...

: Best Actor for ''I Just Didn't Do It'' *

29th Yokohama Film Festival The was held on 3 February 2008 in Kannai Hall, Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan. Awards * Best Film: '' I Just Didn't Do It'' * Best Actor: Ryō Kase – '' I Just Didn't Do It'' * Best Actress: Eriko Sato – '' Funuke Show Some Love, You Losers!'' * ...

: Best Actor for ''I Just Didn't Do It'' * 3rd Osaka Cinema Festival: Best Actor for ''I Just Didn't Do It'' *

2nd Asian Film Awards The 2nd Asian Film Awards were given in a ceremony on 17 March 2008 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre as part of the Hong Kong International Film Festival. The top winner was ''Secret Sunshine'' from South Korea, which won Best F ...

: Best Actor (nomination) for ''I Just Didn't Do It'' * 27th Zenkoku Eiren Awards: Best Actor for ''I Just Didn't Do It''

2010

* 1st Nippon Theater Staff Film Festival: Best Supporting Actor

2013

* 67th

Mainichi Film Award The are a series of annual film awards, sponsored by ''Mainichi Shimbun'' (毎日新聞), one of the largest newspaper companies in Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of t ...

: Best Supporting Actor for '' Beyond Outrage''

References

External links

Agency profile

Facebook
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kase, Ryo 1974 births Living people Japanese male film actors Japanese male television actors Male actors from Yokohama 21st-century Japanese male actors Japanese expatriates in the United States People from Bellevue, Washington Male actors from Washington (state)