to pursue a career in acting. He began by joining the sho-gekijo theatrical troupe "Under Thirty," which was known for the membership of another famous actor, Watanabe Eriko

Watanabe Eriko

is a Japanese actress. She won the award for Best Supporting Actress at the 21st Hochi Film Awards for Shall We Dance?.-Filmography:*Oshin *Crest of Betrayal *Shall We Dance? *Swing Girls *Ichi...

, at the time. Though like many new theatre actors at the time, he struggled to make ends meet until he got his first big break in 1992, in the television drama "Night Head

Night Head

is an anime television series adapted from a 1992 Japanese TV drama, . It began airing on the anime television network Animax on July 27, 2006.The series has been licensed on February 14, 2008 for a North American release by Media Blasters.-Premise:...

" alongside Takeda Shinji, as one of two brothers with supernatural powers.

In 1993 he won the "Newcomer of the Year" award for his drama Kira kira Hikaru, and the Popularity Award in 1996 for his work in the drama Love Letter.
He also won the Japanese Academy Award as best supporting actor three times, the Hochi Film Award

Hochi Film Award

The are film-specific prizes awarded solely by the Hochi Shimbun.- Categories :*Best Picture*Best International Picture*Best Actor*Best Actress*Best Supporting Actor*Best Supporting Actress*Best New Artist*Special Award*Best Director- Winner :...

 for Love Letter, No Way Back and Hanako.

Selected filmography

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1989	Kimi wa Boku ni Suki ni naru
1990	Boiling Point	Okinawa-Rengou Kumichou
	Byouin e Ikou
1991	12 Nin no Yasashii Nihonjin
1992	Kira kira hikaru	Mutsuki Kishida
1993	Tsuribaka Nisshi 6 Tsuribaka Nisshi 6 is a 1993 Japanese film directed by Tomio Kuriyama.-Awards:17th Japan Academy Prize*Won: Best Actor - Toshiyuki Nishida*Nominated: Best Actor - Rentaro Mikuni...
1994	Undo	Yukio
	Night Head
	Ghost Pub Ghost Pub is a 1994 Japanese film directed by Takayoshi Watanabe.-Reception:19th Hochi Film Awards* Won: Best Actor - Kenichi Hagiwara* Won: Best Supporting Actress - Shigeru Muroi* Won: Best Newcomer - Tomoko Yamaguchi...	Sugimoto Nobuya
1995	Love Letter	Akiba Shigeru
1996	Yatsuhaka-mura	Kosuke Kindaichi Kosuke Kindaichi Kosuke Kindaichi is a famous fictional Japanese detective created by Seishi Yokomizo, a renowned mystery novelist. His first case, The Honjin Murder Case, a story of locked room murder in old family which many people regard as one of the best Japanese detective stories, was published on April 1946...
1997	Kizu Darake no Tenshi	Mitsuru Kida
2000	Face Face (2000 film) is a 2000 Japanese film directed by Junji Sakamoto. At the 24th Japan Academy Prize it won one award and received four other nominations.- Awards and nominations :24th Japan Academy Prize.*Won: Best Director - Junji Sakamoto*Nominated: Best Picture...	Hiroyuki Nakagami
	Zawazawa Shimokitazawa
	Shin jingi-naki tatakai	Kaneo
2002	Inochi Inochi is a 2002 Japanese movie directed by Shinohara Tetsuo starring Esumi Makiko and Etsushi Toyokawa. It is based on a memoir of the same title by the Korean-Japanese author Yu Miri.-Plot summary:...	Yutaka Higashi
	Dog Star	Shiro
2003	Moon Child	vampire Luca
2004	Tange Sazen Tange Sazen is a fictional character of a swordsman from Japanese literature and from cinema of Japan. The character is the loyal Sōma clan samurai Tange Samanosuke who is attacked and mutilated as a result of betrayal, losing his right eye and right arm...	Tange Sazen
2005	The Man Behind the Scissors Hasami otoko is a 2005 film directed by Japanese director Toshiharu Ikeda.Based on a novel by Masayuki Shuno, the film is a psychological thriller about series of murders committed using scissors, the people who carried out the murders, and the police who are trying to catch them.-Plot:The film opens with a...	Yasunaga
	Year One in the North	Ashirika
	The Great Yokai War	Yasunori Katō Yasunori Kato is a fictional character, the antagonist of the Japanese historical fantasy series Teito Monogatari, created by Hiroshi Aramata.Since his first cinematic appearance in 1988, Yasunori Kato has gone on to become a well known and well respected archetype in Japanese popular culture having inspired a...
	Loft	Makoto Yoshioka
2006	Hula Girls Hula Girls is an award-winning Japanese film, directed by Sang-il Lee and co-written by Lee and Daisuke Habara, and first released across Japanese theaters on September 23, 2006...	Yojiro Tanikawa
	Nihon Chinbotsu	Yusuke Tadokoro
2007	Tsubaki Sanjuro	Hanbei Muroto	Remake of the Kurosawa film
	Hannin ni Tsugu	Makijima
2008	10 Promises to My Dog	Yuichi Saito
	Ishiuchi jinjô kôtô shôgakkô: Hana wa chiredomo	Yoshihito Yamazaki
	20th Century Boys 20th Century Boys is a science fiction-mystery manga created by Naoki Urasawa. It won the 2001 Kodansha Manga Award in the General category, an Excellence Prize at the 2002 Japan Media Arts Festival, and the 2003 Shogakukan Manga Award in the General category. The last two volumes of the story were serialized under...	Otcho
2009	20th Century Boys 2: The Last Hope 20th Century Boys is a science fiction-mystery manga created by Naoki Urasawa. It won the 2001 Kodansha Manga Award in the General category, an Excellence Prize at the 2002 Japan Media Arts Festival, and the 2003 Shogakukan Manga Award in the General category. The last two volumes of the story were serialized under...
	20th Century Boys 3: Redemption 20th Century Boys is a science fiction-mystery manga created by Naoki Urasawa. It won the 2001 Kodansha Manga Award in the General category, an Excellence Prize at the 2002 Japan Media Arts Festival, and the 2003 Shogakukan Manga Award in the General category. The last two volumes of the story were serialized under...
2010	Hisshiken torisashi	Kanemi Sanzaemon
	Postcard Postcard (film) is a 2010 Japanese drama film written and directed by Kaneto Shindō. The film has been selected as the Japanese entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 84th Academy Awards.-Cast:* Etsushi Toyokawa as Keita Matsuyama* Shinobu Ōtake as Tomoko Morikawa...	Keita matsuyama
2011	Go	Oda Nobunaga Oda Nobunaga was the initiator of the unification of Japan under the shogunate in the late 16th century, which ruled Japan until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was also a major daimyo during the Sengoku period of Japanese history. His opus was continued, completed and finalized by his successors Toyotomi...	NHK Taiga Drama Taiga drama is the name NHK gives to the annual, year-long historical fiction television series it broadcasts in Japan. Beginning in 1963 with the black-and-white Hana no Shōgai, starring kabuki actor Onoe Shōroku and Takarazuka star Awashima Chikage, the network has hired a producer, director, writer, music...

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