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Tadanobu Asano

November 17, 2003 • Film, Profiles

Tadanobu Asano first became well known in the West, at least to fans of the new wave of Japanese extreme crime films, as the owner of the mutilated face displayed on the posters and DVD labels for Takeshi Miike’s ultra-violent gangster movie Ichi the Killer. His U.S. fan base broadened after the North American release of Katsuhito Ishii’s Shark Skin Man & Peach Hip Girl and Nagisa Oshima’s gay-themed samurai movie GOHATTO (Taboo), in which he co-starred with “Beat” Takeshi Kitano.

Born in 1973 in Yokohama, Asano began his career with a noted performance as a love-struck teenager in Joji Matsuoka’s Swimming Upstream (1990). He starred in Hirokazu Kore-Eda’s international film festival and art house hit MABOROSI (Illusions) in 1995, and won a break-through mainstream starring role in Shinji Aoyama’s 1996 crime drama HELPLESS. He has been associated ever since with the careers of Japan’s edgiest young directors, including Sogo Ishii, with whom he has made three films: LABYRINTH OF DREAMS (1997), GO JOE (2000), and ELECTRIC DRAGON 80,000v (2002).

He was seen most recently in Cure-director Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s BRIGHT FUTURE, a competition entry at Cannes in 2003, and in Thai director Pen-Ek Ratanaruang’s LAST LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE (Venice 2003). Asano will also appear in the upcoming North American releases of Bright Future by Kiyoshi Kurosawa and Last Life in the Universe by Pen-ek Ratanuruang. Tadanobu Asano is also a talented illustrator and a composer/guitarist.

—Courtesy of Miramax Films

Partial Filmography:

* Bata-ashi Kingyo aka Swimming Upstream (1990)
* Aitsu (1991)
* Seishun Den Deke Deke Deke aka The Rocking Horseman (1992)
* Nemuranai machi (1993)
* 119 (1994)
* Yon shimai monogatari (1995)
* Picnic (1996)
* Helpless (1996)
* Acri (1996)
* Focus (1996)
* Yume no Ginga aka Labyrinth of Dream (1997)
* Tokyo Biyori (1997)
* Nejishiki aka Wind Up Type (1998)
* Samehada Otoko to MoMojiri Onna (1998)
aka Sharkskin man and Peach Hip Girl
* Kujaku aka A way with words (1999)
* Hakuchi aka The Innocent (1999)
* Soseiji aka Gemini (1999)
* One step on a mine, it’s all over (1999)
* Gohatto aka Taboo (1999)
* Gojoe Reisenki aka Gojoe (2000)
* Party 7 (2000)
* Kaza hana (2001)
* Distance (2001)
* Electric Dragon 80000V (2001)
* Koroshiya 1 aka Ichi the Killer (2001)
* Woman of Water (2002)
* Akarui Mirai aka Bright Future (2003)
* Dead End Run (2003)
* Last Life In The Universe (2003)
* Zatoichi (2003)

Resources:
Midnighteye interview
Official Asano site

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