Masahiko Tsugawa

Masahiko Tsugawa (津川 雅彦)
Background information
Birth name	Kato Tsugawa Paradis
Born	2 January 1940 (1940-01-02) (age 71)
Origin	Kyoto, Kyoto, Japan
Occupations	Actor, Film director

Masahiko Tsugawa (津川 雅彦, Tsugawa Masahiko^?), born Masahiko Kato (加藤雅彦 Katō Masahiko) on January 2, 1940 in Kyoto, Japan is a Japanese actor and director.

He made his debut at the age of 16 in the Kō Nakahira film Crazed Fruit in 1956. Tsugawa's family was heavily involved in the film industry since before his birth. Tsugawa attended school until dropping out of the Waseda University Graduate School to pursue acting alone.

He gradually grew in popularity and appeared in films like Otoko wa tsurai yo: Watashi no tora-san and Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack. He was eventually adopted as one of director Juzo Itami's favourite actors, and went on to appear in nearly every one of his movies since Tampopo.

Tsugawa recently debuted as a director under the pseudonym Makino Masahiko with his film Nezu no Ban. He chose this name because he is the nephew of the Japanese director Makino Masahiro, his mother's brother. Legend has it that Tsugawa was so awed by the director while watching him at work as a young child that he asked if he could use Makino as his last name should he ever be a director, because of the similarities of the first names.

Tsugawa comes from an illustrious film family. His older brother Hiroyuki Nagato is an actor. His wife Yukiji Asaoka is an actress. His grandfather is the director Shōzō Makino, his father, Kunitarō Sawamura, and his mother, Tomoko Makino, were both actors. His aunt and uncle through his father are the actors Sadako Sawamura and Daisuke Katō.

He is still acting today.

Selected filmography

1. Crazed Fruit (1956)
2. Otoko wa tsurai yo: Watashi no tora-san (1973)
3. Tampopo (1985)
4. The Funeral (1984)
5. A Taxing Woman (1987)
6. A Taxing Woman 2 (1988)
7. A-ge-man (1990)
8. Daibyonin (1993)
9. Supermarket Woman (1996)
10. Marutai no Onna (1997)
11. Gamera 3: Awakening of Irys (1999)
12. Chūshingura 1/47 (2001)
13. Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001)
14. The Man in White (2003)
15. The Uchōten Hotel (2006)
16. Death Note (film) (2006)
17. Hideo Nakata's Kaidan (2007)
18. Genghis Khan: To the Ends of the Earth and Sea (2007)
19. Asahiyama Zoo Story: Penguins in the Sky (2009) (Directer)

Awards and honors

Honor

• 2006 Awarded Medal of Honor with Purple Ribbon from H.M. The Emperor of Japan

Awards

• 1982 Blue Ribbon Awards for Best Supporting Actor
• 1986 Japanese Academy Awards Best Supporting Actor nomination for Hitohira no yuki
• 1987 Mainichi Film Award Best Actor
• 1988 Japanese Academy Awards Best Actor nomination for Wakarenu riyu
• 1988 Japanese Academy Awards Best Supporting actor for A Taxing Woman^[1]
• 1993 Japanese Academy Awards Best Actor nomination Bokuto kidan
• 1994 Nikkan Sports Film Award Best Supporting Actor
• 1995 Japanese Academy Awards Best Supporting Actor nomination for Shudan-sasen
• 1999 Japanese Academy Awards Best Actor nomination for Puraido: Unmei no toki

Trivia

Masahiko has a minor role as Zushio as youngster boy in Sansho the Bailiff (1954)- aged 14.

References

1. ^ "第 11 回日本アカデミー賞優秀作品" (in Japanese). Japan Academy Prize. http://www.japan-academy-prize.jp/prizes/?t=11. Retrieved 2010-12-16. 

External links

• Masahiko Tsugawa at the Internet Movie Database
• Masahiko Tsugawa at the Japanese Movie Database (Japanese)

Persondata
Name	Tsugawa, Masahiko
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	January 2, 1940
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death