Tatsuya Nakadai

Cast

“You’re willing to take a plunge from any height. There’s just something about being in front of the camera. And being in front of an audience is the same thing. It’s hopeless. I guess I’m just a ham.”

Biography

Tatsuya Nakadai (born Motohisa Nakadai December 13, 1932) is a Japanese leading film actor.

He became a star after he was discovered working as a Tokyo shop clerk by filmmaker Masaki Kobayashi during the early 1950s. He became the favorite leading man of internationally-acclaimed director Akira Kurosawa after a well publicized fallout between Kurosawa and the legendary Toshirō Mifune.

Beginning in the late 1950s, he worked with a number of Japan’s best-known filmmakers, starring or co-starring in 5 Kurosawa films, along with significant films made by Hiroshi Teshigahara (The Face of Another_), Mikio Naruse (When a Woman Ascends the Stairs_), Kihachi Okamoto (Kill! and Sword of Doom_), Hideo Gosha (Goyokin), Shiro Toyoda (Portrait of Hell_) and Kon Ichikawa (Enjo and Odd Obsession).

Notably, his long-term collaboration with Masaki Kobayashi invites comparison to the working relationship between Akira Kurosawa and… read more