Tadanobu Satō (佐藤 忠信, Satō Tadanobu, born November 27, 1973), better known by his stage name Tadanobu Asano (浅野 忠信, Asano Tadanobu), is a Japanese actor, director, and musician, who has had an extensive career working in both Japanese and international cinema. He has been nominated for five Japan Academy Film Prizes, twice for Best Actor and three times for Best Supporting Actor, and winner of its Most Popular Performer award.
Asano was born in the Honmoku area[2] of Yokohama, to artist Yukihisa Satō (佐藤 幸久, Satō Yukihisa)[2] and mother Junko (順子). Through his mother, Asano is of one-quarter American ancestry. His maternal grandfather was Willard Overing, a U.S. citizen of Norwegian descent, whom Asano never met.[2] Asano has an older brother, Kujun Satō, born in 1971,[3] who is a musician and a partner in Anore Inc. (now Adonis A), a talent agency Asano and their father Yukihisa Satō founded.
Career
Asano's father, an actors' agent, suggested he take on his first acting role in the TV show Kinpachi Sensei at the age of 16. His film debut was in the 1990 Swimming Upstream (Bataashi Kingyo), though his first major critical success was in Shunji Iwai's Fried Dragon Fish (1993). His first critical success internationally was Hirokazu Kore-eda's Maboroshi no Hikari (1995), in which he played a man who inexplicably throws himself in front of a train, widowing his wife and orphaning his infant son. He also worked with Kore-eda in the pseudo-documentaryDistance in 2001. His best known works internationally are the samurai films Gohatto (aka Taboo, 1999) and Zatoichi (2003), as well as the critically acclaimed Bright Future.
In addition to his acting career, Asano directed commercial TV spots for his then-wife, Chara.[11] He formed the band MACH-1.67 with director Sogo Ishii in 1996 and has also played in the bands Peace Pill and Safari.[12] He is an artist and a model, most notably for Japanese fashion designers Jun Takahashi and Takeo Kikuchi, for whom he filmed a series of commercial spots directed by Wong Kar-wai, including the short film wkw/tk/1996@7'55"hk.net.
Asano and his father left the actors' agency Anore Inc. (now Adonis A) in 2022. After leaving the agency, he continued to give it his support.[13]
Personal life
Asano met J-pop singer Chara on the set of Iwai's Picnic (1994). They were married in March 1995 while Chara was pregnant with their first child, a daughter named Sumire, who was born on July 4 that same year.[14] In 1999, they had a son named Himi.[15] In July 2009, Chara announced on her website that the couple was divorcing. She received custody of both their children.[16]
In August 2022, Asano announced through his Twitter and Instagram accounts that he had married model and actress Kurumi Nakata who is eighteen years younger than him (b. 1991). The two had reportedly been in a relationship for over six years.[17][18]
^"Thor: Ragnarok Press Kit" (PDF). Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 9, 2017. Retrieved October 25, 2017.
^"浅野忠信&中田クルミ結婚発表、18歳差婚「幸せな報告ができてうれしい」" [Tadanobu Asano & Kurumi Nakata announce their marriage, 18 years apart: "I'm happy to report this happy news"]. スポーツ報知 (in Japanese). August 23, 2022. Archived from the original on November 26, 2023. Retrieved June 24, 2024.
^Riggs, Thomas (2007). Contemporary Theatre, Film & Television. Gale Cengage Learning. p. 7. ISBN978-0-7876-9050-2.