Tadanobu Asano

better known by his stage name 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.

Among his best-known roles are in Hirokazu Kore-eda's ''Maboroshi no Hikari'' (1995) and ''Distance'' (2001), Hyozo Tashiro in ''Gohatto'' (1999), Kakihara in ''Ichi the Killer'' (2001), Hattori Genosuke in ''Zatoichi'' (2003), Kenji in ''Last Life in the Universe'' (also 2003), and Temujin in ''Mongol'' (2007). 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 Martin Scorsese's ''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.

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 like 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. Provided by Wikipedia