Yôko Narahashi
Yoko Narahashi is a producer, award-winning director, casting director and lyricist based in Los Angeles and Tokyo. The daughter of a Japanese diplomat to International Civil Aviation Organization of the United Nations, Yoko grew up in Montreal and Ottawa receiving her formal education in Canada. Graduating from International Christian University in Tokyo, she then trained at the Neighborhood Playhouse under Sanford Meisner in New York. Among the plays and musicals she has directed are "Hair," "The Magic Monkey" and the award winning "The Winds of God" which performed at the Lee Strasberg Institute, the Actors Studio and the United Nations, in New York, as well as in Los Angeles, Australia and New Zealand. The Winds of God also marked Narahashi's feature film directorial debut in 1995 and won her the Japan Film Critics Award for Best New Director. Narahashi has been a casting director for Hollywood feature film productions since she worked with Director and Producer Steven Spielberg on Empire of the Sun in 1987. Her Hollywood casting credits include Angelina Jolie's "Unbroken", Carl Rinsch's "47 Ronin", James Mangold's "The Wolverine", Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's "Babel", Rob Marshall's "Memoirs of a Geisha", and Edward Zwick's "The Last Samurai". She was also Associate Producer for The Last Samurai, starring Tom Cruise and Ken Watanabe, and more recently, was Producer for the 2013 World War II film Emperor, starring Tommy Lee Jones and Matthew Fox. Lyricist for Godiego, a popular rock group, among others.
Yôko Ren
Yôko Ren is known for Kaubôi bibappu (1998).
Yôko Shimada
Kumamoto City-born Shimada Yoko is best known in the west as Mariko from the 1980 mini-series Shogun. The lady-in-waiting role created an interest in Japan and its culture overseas and introduced Japanese history to foreign audiences. She won the Golden Globe For Best Performance by an Actress in a TV-Series - Drama category and was nominated for a Prime-time Emmy Award for her work on the serial in 1981. Shimada, who spoke some English for the serial, had been acting for years prior to Shogun however. She began learning ballet since age three and wanted to become a ballerina until her high high school days. Her family had moved to Tokyo when she was eight. She obtained an agent and began acting while in junior high school. The TV serial Zoku Hyouten made her famous beginning 1970. She released a nude photo book, called Kir Royal, in 1992. She was 39 and the photo book became a bestseller shifting half a million copies. At 57 she starred in an 'AV' pornography video called Mikkai in 2011. This was a tribute to her body even at that age. Shimada has a reservation for a space burial.
Yôko Sômi
Yôko Sômi was born on May 31, 1965 in Niigata, Japan. She is known for Kurenai no buta (1992), Hagane no renkinjutsushi (2009) and Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City (2012). She was previously married to Akio Ôtsuka.
Yôko Wong
Yôko Wong was born in Bhutan.
Yôko Yamamoto
Yoko Yamamoto was born on March 17, 1942 in the Nakano ward of Tokyo, Japan. After graduating from Kokugakuin High School, she started working for Nomura Shoken (a major stock brokerage firm in Japan), but in 1963, one of her colleagues entered her in Nikkatsu Studio's audition. She was selected and started her career for Nikkatsu Studio and made her screen debut on movie "Hana to Dotou" in 1964. She is perhaps best known in the west in her role as Itoko Koyanagi in the movie Daikyojyu Gappa a.k.a. Monster from a Prehistoric Planet (1967). Yamamoto's career took off when she started to star in TV dramas such as "Shirobanba", "Shichinin no mago", "Shiroi Kage" and "Shiroi Kassouro". The TV program she stars in usually had high ratings, and she was in demand throughout the '70s, '80s, and '90s. In 1980, she started to branch out into stage acting, and has been active to this day.
Yôsuke Akimoto
Yôsuke Akimoto was born on 5 February 1944 in Tokyo, Japan. He is an actor, known for Akira (1988), Pâfekuto burû (1997) and Cowboy Bebop: The Movie (2001).
Yôsuke Asari
Yôsuke Asari was born on August 14, 1987 in Tokyo, Japan. He is an actor, known for Denji sentai Megarenjâ (1997), Chôriki sentai Ôrenjâ (1995) and Space Battleship Yamato (2010).
Yôsuke Eguchi
Yôsuke Eguchi was born on December 31, 1967 in Tokyo, Japan. He is an actor, known for Rurôni Kenshin: Meiji kenkaku roman tan (2012), Goemon (2009) and Rurôni Kenshin: Kyôto taika-hen (2014). He has been married to Chisato Moritaka since June 1999. They have two children.
Yôsuke Hatta
Yôsuke Hatta is known for Ousama Ranking (2021), One-Punch Man (2015) and Death Parade (2015).
