Tadanobu Asano (浅�忠信 Asano Tadanobu), born Tadanobu Sato (�藤 忠信 Sat� Tadanobu, born November 27, 1973 in Yokohama) is a charismatic and versatile Japanese actor who has been described by critics as that country's answer to Johnny Depp.

Born to a half-Native American mother, his lighter-than-black eyes drew him qualifiably different attentions from his male and female schoolmates. His father, an actors' agent, suggested he take on what became his first role, in the TV show "Kinpachi Sensei", at the age of 16. His film debut was in the 1990 Swimming Upstream (Bataashi Kingyo; 1990), though his first major critical success was in Shunji Iwai's Fried Dragon Fish (1993). His first critical success internationally was Hirokazu Koreeda'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. His best known works internationally are the samurai films Gohatto (1999) and Zatoichi (2003), as well as the critically acclaimed film Akarui Mirai ("Bright Future"). It was on the set of Iwai's Picnic (1996) that he met and fell in love with J-Pop idol Chara. They married soon after learning she was pregnant with their first child, Sumile (Sumire- violet, or 'smile').

While best known for characters who are psychologically offbeat, if not downright psychotic; e.g. Kakihara in Ichi the Killer (2001), Asano is described by those who know him as a down-to-earth family man. He has directed commercial TV spots for Chara, and manages to find time to take Sumile and his son, Himi, to the zoo. Hesitant to identify himself as an actor, he most readily describes himself as a vocalist, referring to Mach 1.67, the band he has with director Sogo Ishii. He is also 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, one released under the name wkw/tk/1996@7′55″hk.net.

He appeared as the lead actor in Last Life in the Universe (2003), by Thai director Pen-Ek Ratanaruang, and starred in a followup film by Pen-Ek, Invisible Waves, in 2006.

He won the Most Popular Performer award at the 1997 Japanese Academy Awards for Acri, and was nominated in the Best Supporting Actor category in 2004 for his performance in Zatôichi.

The profligacy of his film career is due in part to the fact that he no longer appears in TV programmes, which in Japan are more lucrative than film work.

Filmography

Actor

• Tsurugidake: Ten no Ki (TBA)
• Coin Locker Babies (2008)
• Kaabee (2007)
• Sad Vacation (2007)
• Mongol (2007) - Temudjin
• Tokyo Zombie (2006) - Fujio
• Invisible Waves (2006) - Kyôji
• Ranpo Jigoku (2005) - Kogorô Akechi; A man; Masaki
• Taga Tameni (2005) - Tamio Murase
• Eli, Eli, lema sabachitani? (2005) - Mizui
• Umoregi (2005) - San-chan
• Naisu no mori: The First Contact (2005) - Masaru Tanaka
• Chichi to Kuraseba (2004) - Kinoshita
• Survive Style 5+ (2004) - Aman
• Vital (2004) - Hiroshi Takagi
• Cha no aji (The Taste of Tea) (2004) - Ayano, the Uncle
• Tori (2004) - ?
• Kôhi jikô (Café Lumière) (2003) - Hajime Takeuchi
• Zatôichi (The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi) (2003) - Hattori Genosuke
• Ruang rak noi nid mahasan (Chikyü de saigo no futari, Last Life in the Universe) (2003) - Kenji
• Watashi no guranpa (My Grandpa) (2003) - Shinichi Nakafuji
• Akarui mirai (Bright Future) (2003) - Mamoru Arita
• Dead End Run (2003) - ?
• Mizu no onna (Woman of Water) (2002) - Yusaku
• Koroshiya 1 (Ichi the Killer) (2001) - Kakihara
• Distance (2001) - Sakata
• Electric Dragon 80.000 V (2001) - Dragon Eye Morrison
• Party 7 (2000) - Okita Souji
• Kaza-hana (2000) - Sawaki
• Gojoe reisenki (Gojoe: Spirit War Chronicle) (2000) - Shanao
• Gohatto (Taboo) (1999) - Samurai Hyozo Tashiro
• Jirai wo fundara sayônara (One Step on a Mine, It's All Over) (1999) - Ichinose, Taizo
• Hakuchi (1999 film) (Hakuchi: The Innocent) (1999) - Isawa
• Sôseiji (Gemini) (1999) - Man with Sword
• San tiao ren (Kujaku, Away with Words) (1999) - Asano
• Samehada otoko to momojiri onna (Shark Skin Man and Peach Hip Girl) (1998) - Kuroo Samehada
• Neji-shiki (Screwed) (1998) - Tsube
• Love & Pop (1998) - Captain XX
• Tokyo biyori (1997) - ?
• Yume no ginga (Labyrinth of Dreams) (1997) - Tatsuo Niitaka
• Focus (1996) - Kanemura
• Swallowtail (Swallowtail & Butterfly) (1996) - Customer in club
• Acri (The Legend of Homo-Aquarellius) (1996) - Hisoka
• Helpless (1996) - Kenji
• PiCNiC　(1996) - Tsumuji
• Wkw/tk/1996@7'55"hk.net (1996) - Man
• Maboroshi no hikari (Maborosi) (1995) - Ikuo
• Yonshimai monogatari (1995) - Akira Higuchi
• 119 (Quiet Days of Firemen) (1994) - Satoshi Matsumoto
• Fried Dragon Fish (1993) (TV) - Natsuro
• Seishun dendekedekedeke (The Rocking Horsemen) (1992) - Seiichi Shirai
• Aitsu (Waiting for the Flood) (1991) - Sadahito Iwata
• Bataashi kingyo (Swimming Upstream) (1990) - Ushi
• San-nen B-gumi Kinpachi sensei 3 (1988) (TV) - Masahiro Azuma(as Sato Tadanobu)

External links

• Tadanobu Asano at the Internet Movie Database
• Tadanobu Asano's official website
• Asano Tadanobu's JMDb Listing (Japanese)