Name	Koji Yakusho
Height
Naionality	Japanese
Date of Birth	1-January-1956
Place of Birth	Isahaya, Nagasaki, Japan
Famous for	Acting

Koji Yakusho is a Japanese actor. He was born Koji Hashimoto in Isahaya, Nagasaki, the youngest of five brothers. After graduation from the Nagasaki Prefectural High School of Technology in 1974, he worked at the Chiyoda municipal ward office, or yakusho, in Tokyo, from which he later took his stage name. In 1976, he saw a production of Maxim Gorky's The Lower Depths and was inspired, first to watch, and then later to take part in, as many plays as possible. In the spring of 1978 he auditioned for the Mumeijyuku acting studio, and was one of four chosen out of 800 applicants. While at the school he met actress Saeko Kawatsu, whom he married in 1982. Their son was born in 1985. In 1983, he landed the role of Oda Nobunaga in the year-long NHK drama Tokugawa Ieyasu and was catapulted to fame. He also appeared in a TV version of Miyamoto Musashi from 1984 to 1985. For several years, he played Kuji Shinnosuke, one of the title characters in thejidaigeki Sambiki ga Kiru!. He played a major character in Juzo Itami's 1986 Tampopo.


In 1988, he was given a special award for work in cinema by the Japanese Minister of Education, Science, Sports and Culture and continued to appear in films and in a number of TV shows through the 90s. In 1996 and 1997, Yakusho enjoyed several major successes. The Eel, directed by Shohei Imamura, in which he played the eel-loving lead, won the Palme d'Or at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival. Lawrence Van Gelder in the New York Times called his performance "unerring." A Lost Paradise, about a double-suicide, was second only to Princess Mononoke at the Japanese box office.