Tadanobu Asano

He has also appeared in Hollywood films, notably as Hogun in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Lord Kira Yoshinaka in 47 Ronin (2013), the Interpreter in Silence (2016), Rear Admiral Tamon Yamaguchi in Midway (2019), and Raiden in Mortal Kombat (2021), based on the fighting video game of the same name. He gained additional recognition in 2024 for his portrayal of Lord Kashigi Yabushige on the American television series Shōgun, based on the James Clavell novel, for which he won the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film. Asano has worked with some of the most prominent and acclaimed directors in Japanese cinema, including Hirokazu Kore-eda, Takeshi Kitano, Nagisa Ōshima, Takashi Miike, Nobuhiko Obayashi and Kiyoshi Kurosawa, along with international directors Martin Scorsese, Kenneth Branagh, Wong Kar-wai, Roland Emmerich, Pen-ek Ratanaruang and Sergei Bodrov. Among other accolades, he has twice won the Best Actor Award at the Yokohama Film Festival, the Upstream Prize for Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival, and the Best Actor Award at the Moscow International Film Festival.

Tadanobu Asano studied at Kanagawa Prefectural Yokohama Suiran High School. The recorded working language is Japanese. Distinctions recorded are Asian Film Award for Best Supporting Actor, Elan d'or Award for Newcomer of the Year, Blue Ribbon Awards for Best Actor and Mainichi Film Award for Best Actor.

• Name — Tadanobu Asano • Native Name — 浅野 忠信 • Birth Name — Tadanobu Satō • Born — 27 November 1973 • Birthplace — Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan • Occupation — * Actor • director • musician • Years Active — 1988–present • Children — 2 • Website — asanotadanobu.com

Asano was born in the Honmoku area of Yokohama, to artist Yukihisa Satō (佐藤 幸久, Satō Yukihisa) 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 and Dutch descent, whom Asano never met. Asano has an older brother, Kujun Satō, born in 1971, who is a musician and a partner in Anore Inc. (now Adonis A), a talent agency Asano and their father Yukihisa Satō founded.

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 1990's Bataashi Kingyo (film) ("Flutter Kick Goldfish", but given the English-language title Swimming Upstream) based on the manga series of the same title, 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-documentary Distance 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. Asano acted in Katsuhito Ishii's 2003 film The Taste of Tea, which premiered at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival. He appeared as the lead actor in Last Life in the Universe (2003) by Thai director Pen-Ek Ratanaruang and starred in Ratanaruang's 2006 follow-up film, Invisible Waves. In 2007, he starred as the young Genghis Khan in Sergei Bodrov's Oscar-nominated film Mongol. In Villon's Wife (2009), he played the part of an alcoholic writer, stating that, since he doesn't drink alcohol, he based his performance on people he knew. In 2011, he starred in the Marvel Studios film Thor as the Asgardian warrior Hogun, a member of the Warriors Three and companion to Thor. He reprised the role in 2013's Thor: The Dark World and 2017's Thor: Ragnarok. • Illustration — Asano as Raiden in Mortal Kombat II (2026) Asano appeared in the 2021 Mortal Kombat reboot as Raiden. In September 2021, Asano was announced as part of the cast of the FX limited series Shōgun, adapted from the James Clavell novel of the same name. In addition to his acting career, Asano directed commercial TV spots for his then-wife, Chara. He formed the band MACH-1.67 with director Sogo Ishii in 1996 and has also played in the bands Peace Pill and Safari. 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.

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. In 1999, they had a son named Himi. In July 2009, Chara announced on her website that the couple was divorcing. She received custody of both their children. 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. born 1991). The two had reportedly been in a relationship for over six years.

• Year — Title — Role — Notes — Ref. References • 1988 — Kinpachi-sensei — Masahiro Azuma • 1993 — Fried Dragon Fish — Natsuro — TV movie • Haru no Ichizoku — Tomoki • 2006 — Japanorama — Himself — Documentaries • 2011 — Sutekina Kakushi Dori: Kanzen Muketsu no Concierge — Artist — TV movie • Yonimo kimyô na Monogatari — Killer — TV movie • 2017 — A Life: A Love — Masao Danjō • 2019 — Idaten — Shōjirō Kawashima — Taiga drama • 2021 — Welcome Home, Monet — Shinji Oikawa — Asadora • 2024 — Shōgun — Kashigi Yabushige — Miniseries

• Year — Title — Role — Developer — Notes — Ref. References • 2011 — Shadows of the Damned — Garcia Hotspur — Grasshopper Manufacture — Debut video game dubbing role