
Masahiro Motoki
Acting
Biography
Masahiro Motoki (本木雅弘 Motoki Masahiro, born December 21, 1965 in Okegawa, Japan) is a Japanese actor. He portrayed protagonist Daigo Kobayashi in Departures, which won the 81st Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film. His performance earned him the Award for Best Actor at the 2009 Asia Pacific Screen Awards, at the 3rd Asian Film Awards and at the 32nd Japan Academy Prize.
Born: December 21, 1965
Known For

Yonimo Kimyou na Monogatari Tokubetsuhen

A Wednesday Love Affair

Silence of the Sea
The day before his exhibition, world-renowned painter Tamura discovers that his own work contains a forgery. Meanwhile, the body of a woman with countless ukiyo-e tattoos is discovered at the sea. From the two incidents, the name of Ryuji emerges.

Awaiting Kirin
After the Onin War, the world is plunged into chaos. Amid this situation, heroes of the warring states begin to emerge in an attempt to unify the country and rule in these turbulent times. In the mid-1540s, there is a young wandering samurai in Mino which is strategically located between the East and West. His name is Akechi Mitsuhide. At this time, there is plenty of internal strife within the Toki clan which rules Mino. Surrounded by the Oda of Owari, the Imagawa of Suruga and the Asakura of Echizen, Mino has constantly faced the risk of invasion. Mitsuhide is pulled into battle and destroys the enemy. His bravery as well as stratagem catches the attention of Saito Toshimasa, the chief retainer of the Toki clan, and he is singled out. This man who is also known as Saito Dosan will go on to takeover the Toki and make Mino his own.

Clouds Over the Hill
Saka no Ue no Kumo is an NHK 21st Century special drama which was aired over three years starting from November 29, 2009. The series runs 13 episodes at 90 minutes each. The first series, with 5 episodes, was broadcast in 2009, while series two and three, each with 4 episodes, were broadcast in late 2010 and 2011. While most episodes were shot in Japan, one of the episodes in series two was shot in Latvia. The TV series is based on the novel Saka no ue no kumo by Ryōtarō Shiba and adopted by Hisashi Nozawa. The theme song of the drama series is titled "Stand Alone". It was composed by Joe Hisaishi, written by Kundo Koyama and performed by British soprano singer Sarah Brightman.

The Works and Days (of Tayoko Shiojiri in the Shiotani Basin)
An eight-hour fiction shot for a total of twenty-seven weeks, over a period of fourteen months, in a village population forty-seven in the mountains of Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. It is a geographic description of the work and non-work of a farmer. A portrait, over five seasons, of a family, of a terrain, of a soundscape, and of duration itself. A film-as-adaptive-landscape. A georgic in five books.

Asura
In 1979 Tokyo, four distinct sisters uncover their aging father's affair, causing their happy facades and bottled-up emotions to slowly unravel.

Departures
Daigo, a cellist, is laid off from his orchestra and moves with his wife back to his small hometown where the living is cheaper. Thinking he’s applying for a job at a travel agency he finds he’s being interviewed for work with departures of a more permanent nature – as an undertaker’s assistant.

Shall We Dance?
A bored accountant spots a beautiful woman in the window of a ballroom dance studio. He secretly starts taking dancing lessons to be near her, and then over time discovers how much he loves dancing. His wife, meanwhile, has hired a private detective to find out why he has started coming home late smelling of perfume.

Giri/Haji
Family duty sends a lawman to London to look for his mob-assassin brother as a yakuza war threatens to engulf Tokyo. Trust is even tougher to find.
Filmography
as Takao Satomi
as Ryuji Tsuyama
as Takahashi
as Archive Footage
as Saitou Toshimasa / Saito Dousan [the "Viper of Mino"]
as Fukuhara
as Sachio Kinugasa
as Mishima
as Emperor Showa
as Ryota Yuminari
as Himself
as 秋山真之
as Daigo Kobayashi
as Naoki Mizushima
as Snake (voice)
as Tomonaga Akiyuki
as Narukawa Shuhei
as Hidemi Ozaki
as Musashi Miyamoto
as Umayado no ouji
as Prince Shōtoku
as Eiichiro Sakura
as Black Jack
as Takagi Koichi
as Yukio Daitokuji
as Wada
as Hiroo Terada
as Hiromasa Kimoto
as Junichi Mitsuya
as Kogoro Akechi
as Aoki Kosuke
as Shukichi Yasumi
as 孙悟空
as Kenji
as Shuhei Yamamoto
as 山根光彦
as Hirata
as Ichitaro Kosugi
as Shiono Yohei
as Takeo Youki
as Shuji Sayama
as Hisashi Kono
as Rei Kazama
as Daisuke
as Araki Murashige