Yūko Tanaka

Yūko Tanaka (田中 裕子, Tanaka Yūko, born April 29, 1955) is a Japanese actress from Osaka Prefecture, Japan.[1] She has won several acting awards during a long career working in both film and television, after she graduated from Meiji University.

Yūko Tanaka
田中 裕子
Born (1955-04-29) April 29, 1955
Ikeda, Osaka Prefecture, Japan
OccupationActress
Years active1979–present
Height160 cm (5 ft 3 in)
Spouse(s)
​
(m. 1989)​
RelativesRyuzo Tanaka (brother)

Life and career

Early career

At the beginning of her career in 1979, Tanaka had a leading role in the NHK TV drama series Sister Ma (マー姉ちゃん, Ma Nee-chan)[2] and she also voiced the role of Judy in the Fuji Television anime movie Daddy-Long-Legs (あしながおじさん), based on the novel by Jean Webster, which was broadcast in October 1979.[3] Tanaka appeared in her first theatrical film in 1981, the historical drama Eijanaika and later that year she starred in Edo Porn, a fictional biography of the artist Hokusai.[4] Tanaka received a number of accolades for her work in these two films including Best Supporting Actress and one of the Best Newcomer of the Year awards from the Japan Academy.[5] She also won the Blue Ribbon Award for Best Supporting Actress[6] as well as the Hochi Film Award for Best Supporting Actress.[7] Tanaka returned to television drama in late 1981 with the Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS) series Making Memories (想い出つくり, Omoide zukuri) about three office ladies (OL) reaching their 25th birthdays. The series, which also starred Masako Mori and Yūko Kotegawa, ran from September to December 1981.[8]

In May 1982, Tanaka starred in the film The Rape (ザ・レイプ, Za reipu) directed by Yōichi Higashi,[4] a role which earned her a nomination for Best Actress from the Japan Academy.[9] Later that year, Tanaka played "Keiko", the love interest of Torajirō (Tora-san), in the comedy, Tora-san, the Expert, part of a long running series of films.[4] In early 1983, Tanaka played the part of a prostitute in the murder mystery Amagi Pass (天城越え, Amagi goe) with Tsunehiko Watase.[4] Reviewer Kevin Thomas at the Los Angeles Times called Tanaka "So gorgeous and talented" that the film "becomes something extraordinary."[10] For her part in the film she won both the Blue Ribbon Award and the Kinema Junpo award for Best Actress.[6][11]

Oshin and afterwards

As part of the celebration of their 30th anniversary in 1983, the Japanese TV network NHK inaugurated a new NHK Serial TV Novel titled Oshin (おしん). The serial told the story of a peasant girl, Oshin, born in 1900, who endures poverty and mistreatment but in later life finds success and happiness. Oshin as a young girl was played by Ayako Kobayashi but Tanaka took over the role as the adult Oshin. The series ran in almost 300 fifteen-minute episodes broadcast from April 1983 to March 1984 and its peak rating (62.9%) made it "the most popular drama in Japanese TV history".[12] The series was also popular outside Japan and Tanaka became a "household name" in China in the 1980s.[13]

After Oshin, Tanaka returned to feature films with starring roles in the comedy Capone Cries a Lot which was distributed by Shochiku in February 1985, and in the August 1985 drama Demon (夜叉, Yasha) opposite Ken Takakura.[4] Tanaka received a nomination for Best Supporting Actress from the Japan Academy for the two films.[14]

Over the next ten years, Tanaka mostly worked in television, appearing in a dozen TV movies[1] and in the lavish NHK historical series chronicling the period of the Meiji Restoration, As If In Flight (翔ぶが如く, Tobu ga Gotoku), which ran in 48 episodes from January to December 1990.[15] During this period, Tanaka also appeared in two films, one of them the July 1987 sentimental drama about a teacher, Children on the Island aka 24 Eyes (二十四の瞳, Nijuyon no Hitomi).[4] Kevin Thomas at the Los Angeles Times called her "exquisite in her portrayal".[16] In May 1988, Tanaka starred as Kino (Catherine in the novel) in Wuthering Heights, director Yoshishige Yoshida's film adaptation of the classic Emily Brontë novel set in medieval Japan.[4]

Personal life

Tanaka met singer and actor Kenji Sawada when they were both in the 1982 film Tora-san, the Expert and they also appeared together in the 1985 movie Capone Cries a Lot. Sawada at the time was married to singer Emi Īto but they separated in 1986 and were divorced in 1987. Tanaka and Sawada married in November 1989.[17]

Later career

When director Yōji Yamada reworked a script from his popular Otoko wa Tsurai yo film series after the death of "Tora-san" star Kiyoshi Atsumi as Niji wo Tsukamu Otoko (虹をつかむ男) in December 1996, Tanaka, who had earlier worked with Yamada in Tora-san, the Expert, was chosen to play the true love of a manager of a failing movie theater (Toshiyuki Nishida).[18] In July 1997, Tanaka provided the voice of Lady Eboshi in the anime fantasy Princess Mononoke[4] and in the 1999 Osaka Story (大阪物語, Ōsaka monogatari), Tanaka played one half of a manzai comedy duo whose failing marriage affects their daughter Wakana (Ikewaki Chizuru).[19]

Tanaka continued performing in both film and television roles throughout the 2000s[1] including starring with Ken Takakura in the 2001 Yasuo Furuhata drama, The Firefly (ホタル, Hotaru), about Japanese families after World War II.[20] The film was nominated for 13 awards by the Japan Academy including a Best Actress nomination for Tanaka.[21] In the January 2005 film Hibi (火火), Tanaka took on the role of real life ceramic artist Kiyoko Koyama. When her son was diagnosed with leukemia, Kiyoko worked to form a patients' group for bone marrow transplants, and she was instrumental in the formation of the Japan Marrow Donor Program (JMDP).[22][23] The film was directed by Banmei Takahashi who is better known for his early work in pink film.[24] The movie brought Tanaka both the Hochi Film Award and the Kinema Junpo Award for Best Actress.[7][25]

Tanaka's next film role was a fifty-year-old single woman who meets an old flame while delivering milk in the July 2005 romantic drama The Milkwoman (いつか読書する日, Itsuka dokusho suruhi).[26] She won a Best Actress Award for her roles in this film and Hibi at the 2006 Japanese Professional Movie Awards.[27] Tanaka voiced the character of the wizard Cob (クモ) in the July 2006 anime movie Tales from Earthsea which was also released in an English language version in the United States in August 2010.[28][29]

Tanaka returned to television drama starring as the Empress Dowager Cixi in the NHK historical drama The Pleiades (蒼穹の昴, Sokyu no Subaru). The Sino-Japanese production ran in 28 episodes in Japan from January to July 2010 and in China from March 2010, with both versions receiving excellent ratings.[13] She also reunited with previous co-star Ken Takakura in Yasuo Furuhata's film Anata e aka Dearest (あなたへ) in August 2012.[30][31] The next year she took the part of Keisuke Kinoshita's mother in the June 2013 Dawn of a Filmmaker: The Keisuke Kinoshita Story, a drama based on the life of the famous Japanese film director, and she also played a leading role in Shinji Aoyama's The Backwater (共喰い, Tomogui) in September 2013.[32]

Filmography

Films
Year Title Role Director Notes Ref(s)[1]
1981 Eijanaika Omatsu Shohei Imamura
Edo Porn Oei Kaneto Shindo
1982 The Rape Michiko Yahagi Yōichi Higashi Leading role
Tora-san, the Expert Yoji Yamada
1983 Amagi Pass Hana Ōtsuka Haruhiko Mimura Leading role
1985 Capone Cries a Lot Seijun Suzuki Leading role
Demon Yasuo Furuhata
1987 Children on the Island Yoshitaka Asama Leading role
1988 Wuthering Heights Kinu Yoshishige Yoshida Leading role
1996 Niji wo Tsukamu Otoko Yaeko Yoji Yamada
1997 Princess Mononoke Lady Eboshi (voice) Hayao Miyazaki
1999 Osaka Story Harumi Jun Ichikawa
Ojuken Yōjirō Takita
2000 Zawa-zawa Shimokita-zawa Jun Ichikawa
2001 The Firefly Yasuo Furuhata
2002 Pi-Pi kyodai Yoshiyasu Fujita
2005 Hibi Kiyoko Kōyama Banmei Takahashi Leading role
The Buried Forest Kōhei Oguri
The Milkwoman Minako Ōba Akira Ogata Leading role
2006 Tales from Earthsea Cob (voice) Gorō Miyazaki
2008 The Homeless Student Michiyo Kawai Hideo Jojo
2010 Haru's Journey Masahiro Kobayashi
2012 Dearest Yasuo Furuhata
2013 Dawn of a Filmmaker: The Keisuke Kinoshita Story Tama Kinoshita Keiichi Hara
The Backwater Shinji Aoyama
2014 Homeland Tomiko Nao Kubota
2015 Midnight Diner Machiko Joji Matsuoka
2019 The Island of Cats Yoshie Mitsuaki Iwagō
One Night Koharu Kazuya Shiraishi [33]
2020 Ora, Ora Be Goin' Alone Momoko Shūichi Okita Leading role
2021 Gift of Fire

TV dramas
Year Title Role Network Notes Ref(s)[1]
1981 Omoide Zukuri Kaori TBS
1983–1984 Oshin Oshin NHK Leading role, Asadora
1990 Tobu ga Gotoku Saigō Ito NHK Taiga drama
2008 Bōshi NHK
2010 Mother Hana Mochizuki NTV
The Firmament of the Pleiades Empress Dowager Cixi NHK Leading role
2013 Woman: My Life for My Children Sachi Uesugi NTV
2015 Mare Fumi Okesaku NHK Asadora
2016 Kono Machi no Inochi ni Ayako Wowow TV movie
2017 Ties: A Miraculous Colt Kayoko Matsushita NHK TV movie
2018 Anone Anone Hayashida NTV
2019 Natsuzora Hideko Takahashi NHK Asadora
2020 Taiyō no Ko NHK TV movie [34]

TV anime
Year Title Role Notes Ref(s)
1979 Daddy-Long-Legs Judy [1]

Honours

References
  1. たなか・ゆうこ (in Japanese). AllCinema. Retrieved 2013-08-02.
  2. "23 (1979) マー姉ちゃん" (in Japanese). nhk.or.jp/archives. Retrieved 2013-07-31.
  3. あしながおじさん (in Japanese). AllCinema. Retrieved 2013-07-31.
  4. 田中裕子 (in Japanese). JMDB]. Retrieved 2013-07-31.
  5. "Japan Academy 1982 Prizes" (in Japanese). www.japan-academy-prize.jp. Archived from the original on 2006-12-09. Retrieved 2013-07-31.
  6. "ブルーリボン賞受賞一覧 (Blue Ribbon Award List)" (in Japanese). hochi.yomiuri.co.jp. Retrieved 2013-07-31.
  7. 報知映画賞 歴代受賞一覧表 (in Japanese). hochi.yomiuri.co.jp. Retrieved 2013-07-31.
  8. Clements, Jonathan; Motoko Tamamuro (2003). The Dorama Encyclopedia: A Guide to Japanese TV Drama Since 1953. Berkeley: Stone Bridge Press. p. 175. ISBN 1-88065681-7.
  9. "Japan Academy 1983 Prizes" (in Japanese). Japan Academy Prizes]. Archived from the original on 2006-11-10. Retrieved 2013-08-01.
  10. Thomas, Kevin (December 7, 1985). "Movie Review : Emotional Avalanche In 'Amagi Pass'". LA Times. Retrieved 2013-08-02.
  11. "Kinema Junpo Awards for 1984". IMDb. Retrieved 2013-08-02.
  12. Clements p. 228
  13. "Behind the scenes with the Empress Dowager Cixi". ChinaDaily. Retrieved 2013-08-01.
  14. "Japan Academy 1986 Prizes" (in Japanese). Japan Academy Prizes. Archived from the original on 2006-12-13. Retrieved 2013-08-02.
  15. Clements p. 13-14
  16. Thomas, Kevin (October 9, 1987). "'Children On The Island' Founders". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2013-08-03.
  17. 伊藤エミさん死去 沢田研二と離婚 慰謝料は18億円超も沢田姓で通す (in Japanese). www.sponichi.co.jp. Retrieved 2013-08-04.
  18. 虹をつかむ男 (in Japanese). AllCinema. Retrieved 2013-08-04.
  19. 大阪物語(1999) (in Japanese). MovieWalker. Retrieved 2013-08-04.
  20. ホタル (in Japanese). MovieWalker. Retrieved 2013-08-08.
  21. "Japan Academy 2002 Prizes" (in Japanese). Japan Academy. Archived from the original on 2006-12-06. Retrieved 2013-08-08.
  22. "Female potter smashes tradition". Japan Times. January 19, 2005. Retrieved 2013-08-08.
  23. "Son's memory spurs leukemia fight, Donors needed for marrow transplants, Japan". nathanpguest.info. Retrieved 2013-08-08.
  24. Sharp, Jasper (2008). Behind the Pink Curtain: The Complete History of Japanese Sex Cinema. Guildford: FAB Press. p. 211. ISBN 978-1-903254-54-7.
  25. "Kinema Junpo Awards for 2006". IMDb. Retrieved 2013-08-08.
  26. いつか読書する日 (in Japanese). AllCinema. Retrieved 2013-08-08.
  27. 第15回日本映画プロフェッショナル大賞 (in Japanese). nichi-pro.filmcity.jp. Retrieved 2013-08-08.
  28. ゲド戦記 (in Japanese). AllCinema. Retrieved 2013-08-09.
  29. "Tales From Earthsea (2006)". AllMovie. Retrieved 2013-08-09.
  30. Umstead, Ben (June 12, 2013). "Japan Cuts Unleashes Their 2013 Line Up!". Twitch Film.
  31. あなたへ (in Japanese). MovieWalker. Retrieved 2013-08-09.
  32. Fujii, Jinshi (February 22, 2013). "Blood and Transmigration - Shinji Aoyama's Tomogui (The Backwater)". Yomiuri Shimbun.
  33. "佐藤健×白石和彌"念願"タッグで舞台「ひとよ」映画化！鈴木亮平＆松岡茉優と三兄妹に". Cinema Cafe. Retrieved May 9, 2019.
  34. "新型爆弾を開発せよ！ 戦時下の科学者の苦悩を描く青春群像劇". NHK. Retrieved March 16, 2020.
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