Mari Yamamoto

Last updated

Mari Yamamoto (born February 4, 1986) is a Japanese actress and journalist.

Contents

Born in Japan, Yamamoto would move with her family to London in 1991, before eventually returning to live in Tokyo in 1994 at the age of 8. She described the experience as akin to being an outsider, where she'd be considered "very Japanese everywhere in the world" but "wasn’t quite Japanese enough" in Japan itself. [1] [2]

Yamamoto would study international relations at the International Christian University in Tokyo, where she would obtain her Bachelor of Arts, [2] before moving to New York City to study method acting at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute. [3] During this time she was also part of The Bats acting company at The Flea Theater. [4] She returned to Tokyo following this, and began working in journalism, writing articles for The Daily Beast alongside American journalist Jake Adelstein. [5] [3] Adelstein's book Tokyo Vice was being adapted into a television series for HBO Max, which would see Yamamoto recruited to work on the show's writing staff. She would become a producer on the series in its second season. [3]

In 2022, Yamamoto starred in a recurring role in the Apple TV+ series Pachinko as Hana. [6] That same year she would join the cast of Apple's Monarch: Legacy of Monsters . [7] In March 2024, she was cast to star opposite Brendan Fraser in the film Rental Family . [8]

Filmography

Film

YearTitleRoleNotes
2014 Allure Hana
2015 Bourek Fujiko
Sayonara
2017 Jimami Tofu Yuki
2021 Kate Kanako
TBA Rental Family Post-production

Television

YearTitleRoleNotes
2022–2024 Tokyo Vice Script consultant (season 1); associate producer (season 2)
2022 Pachinko HanaRecurring role, 5 episodes
2023–2024 Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Keiko MiuraMain role, 8 episodes

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ken Watanabe</span> Japanese actor (born 1959)

Ken Watanabe is a Japanese actor. To English-speaking audiences, he is known for playing tragic hero characters, such as General Tadamichi Kuribayashi in Letters from Iwo Jima and Lord Katsumoto Moritsugu in The Last Samurai, for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Among other awards, he has won the Japan Academy Film Prize for Best Actor twice, in 2007 for Memories of Tomorrow and in 2010 for Shizumanu Taiyō. He is also known for his roles in Christopher Nolan's films Batman Begins and Inception, as well as Memoirs of a Geisha, and Pokémon Detective Pikachu.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brendan Fraser</span> Canadian-American actor (born 1968)

Brendan James Fraser is an American-Canadian actor. Fraser had his breakthrough in 1992 with the comedy Encino Man and the drama School Ties. He gained further prominence for his starring roles in the comedies With Honors (1994) and George of the Jungle (1997) and emerged as a star playing Rick O'Connell in The Mummy trilogy (1999–2008). He took on dramatic roles in Gods and Monsters (1998), The Quiet American (2002), and Crash (2004), and further fantasy roles in Bedazzled (2000) and Journey to the Center of the Earth (2008).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yamaguchi-gumi</span> Japanese organized crime (yakuza) group

The Sixth Yamaguchi-gumi is Japan's largest yakuza organization. It is named after its founder Harukichi Yamaguchi. Its origins can be traced back to a loose labor union for dockworkers in Kobe before World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sega Sammy Holdings</span> Japanese conglomerate company

Sega Sammy Holdings Inc. is a Japanese global holding company and conglomerate formed from the merger of Sega and Sammy Corporation in 2004. Both companies are involved in the amusement industry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maki Horikita</span> Japanese former actress (born 1988)

Maki Horikita is a Japanese former actress. During her career from 2003 until 2017, she starred in numerous Japanese television dramas, television and magazine advertisements, and movies, including roles in Nobuta wo Produce, Hanazakari no Kimitachi e and Umechan Sensei.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gugu Mbatha-Raw</span> English actress (born 1983)

Gugulethu Sophia Mbatha-Raw is an English actress. She began acting at the National Youth Music Theatre and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and gained acclaim for her roles as Juliet in Romeo and Juliet and Octavia in Anthony and Cleopatra in 2005 at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester. She made her West End and Broadway debut portraying Ophelia in Hamlet in 2009. For her role as the titular character in Jessica Swale's 2015 play Nell Gwynn, she received an Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actress nomination.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Min Jin Lee</span> American writer and lawyer (born 1968)

Min Jin Lee is a Korean American author and journalist based in Harlem, New York City; her work frequently deals with the Korean diaspora. She is best known for writing Free Food for Millionaires (2007) and Pachinko (2017), a finalist for the National Book Award, and runner-up for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. In 2024, the New York Times asked 503 novelists, nonfiction writers, poets, critics and other book lovers to vote for 100 Best Books of the 21st Century and Lee's book Pachinko was number 15 on the list. Pachinko was number 5 on the Reader's Version of 100 Best Books of the 21st Century. The Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald Museum awarded the 2024 Fitzgerald Prize for Literary Excellence to Min Jin Lee, recognizing her for continuing the American storytelling tradition with the craft, wit, and social insight exemplified by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Joshua Lawrence "Jake" Adelstein is an American journalist, crime writer, and blogger who has spent most of his career in Japan. He is the author of Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan, which inspired the 2022 Max original streaming television series Tokyo Vice, starring Ansel Elgort as Adelstein.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joby Harold</span> British film director and screenwriter

Joby Harold is an English screenwriter, producer and director who runs Safehouse Pictures with his producing partner, Tory Tunnell. The company was co-founded in 2005.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yusaku Maezawa</span> Japanese billionaire entrepreneur

Yusaku Maezawa is a Japanese billionaire entrepreneur and art collector. He founded Start Today in 1998 and launched the online fashion retail website Zozotown in 2004, now Japan's largest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ikumi Yoshimatsu</span> Japanese actress, stunt woman, author, activist and beauty queen

Ikumi Yoshimatsu is a Japanese actress, stunt woman, book author, opinion leader, social activist and beauty queen who was crowned Miss International 2012 in Okinawa. It was Japan's first Miss International win in the 52-year history of the pageant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ansel Elgort</span> American actor and singer (born 1994)

Ansel Elgort is an American actor and singer. He began his acting career with a supporting role in the horror film Carrie (2013). He gained wider recognition for starring as a teenage cancer patient in the romantic drama film The Fault in Our Stars (2014) and for his supporting role in The Divergent Series (2014–2016).

<i>Tokyo Vice</i> 2009 memoir by Jake Adelstein

Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan is a 2009 memoir by Jake Adelstein of his years living in Tokyo as the first non-Japanese reporter working for one of Japan's largest newspapers, Yomiuri Shimbun. It was published by Random House and Pantheon Books. Max adapted the memoir into a 2022 television series. According to Gavin J. Blair of The Hollywood Reporter, there were individuals that disputed whether certain events in the book happened as stated.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maya Erskine</span> American actress

Maya Erskine is an American actress, singer, activist, and writer. She is known for her roles as Maggie in Man Seeking Woman, Mikki in Betas, and Mizu in Blue Eye Samurai. From 2019 to 2021, she starred in Hulu's original TV comedy series PEN15 alongside Anna Konkle; the duo, who co-created, co-wrote, and co-executive produced the series, played fictional versions of their 13-year-old selves. The series received critical acclaim and was nominated for four Primetime Emmy Awards. In 2024, she began starring as Jane Smith in the Prime Video series Mr. & Mrs. Smith, for which she was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series.

<i>Pachinko</i> (novel) 2017 novel by Min Jin Lee

Pachinko is the second novel by Harlem-based author and journalist Min Jin Lee. Published in 2017, Pachinko is an epic historical fiction novel following a Korean family who immigrates to Japan. The story features an ensemble of characters who encounter racism, discrimination, stereotyping, and other aspects of the 20th-century Korean experience of Japan.

<i>Tokyo Vice</i> (TV series) 2022 American crime drama television series

Tokyo Vice is an American crime drama television series created by J. T. Rogers and based on the 2009 memoir by Jake Adelstein. It stars Ansel Elgort, Ken Watanabe, Rachel Keller, Hideaki Itō, Show Kasamatsu, Ella Rumpf, Rinko Kikuchi, Tomohisa Yamashita, Miki Maya, and Yōsuke Kubozuka. The series centers on Adelstein (Elgort), an American journalist investigating the yakuza in Tokyo. The first season of Tokyo Vice premiered on April 7, 2022, on HBO Max, and the second season premiered on February 8, 2024, on Max. The series received generally positive reviews, with praise for its setting, aesthetic, and characters. In June 2024, the series was canceled after two seasons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anna Sawai</span> Japanese actress and singer (born 1992)

Anna Sawai is a Japanese actress and singer. Born in New Zealand, she moved to Japan with her family at age 10. She landed her first acting role at age 11 as the title character in the 2004 Nippon TV production of Annie. Sawai later made her film debut in James McTeigue's 2009 martial arts film Ninja Assassin.

Pachinko is an American drama television series created by Soo Hugh based on the 2017 novel by Min Jin Lee. The series premiered on Apple TV+ on March 25, 2022. It received critical acclaim, particularly for its cinematography, writing, and the performances of the cast. The second season premiered on August 23, 2024.

<i>Monarch: Legacy of Monsters</i> American monster television series

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters is an American monster television series created by Chris Black and Matt Fraction and produced by Legendary Television. Based on Godzilla by Toho Co., Ltd, it is the sixth installment and second television series in the Monsterverse franchise. Following the events of Godzilla (2014), the series follows members of the Monarch organization as they encounter Godzilla and other monsters called Titans, across a half century.

Rental Family is an upcoming American comedy-drama film directed and co-written by Hikari and starring Brendan Fraser, Mari Yamamoto, Takehiro Hira and Akira Emoto.

References

  1. Letonja, Jana (February 5, 2024). "In Conversation with Mari Yamamoto". Numéro . Retrieved 18 March 2024.
  2. 1 2 Shoji, Kaori (May 18, 2019). "Mari Yamamoto: Staying international on and off camera". The Japan Times . Retrieved 18 March 2024.
  3. 1 2 3 Engstrom, Alison (February 27, 2024). "In Conversation with Mari Yamamoto". Rose & Ivy Journal. Retrieved 18 March 2024.
  4. Gioia, Michael (November 20, 2012). "Ed Sylvanus Iskandar Will Direct NYC Premiere of Amy Freed's Restoration Comedy at The Flea". Playbill . Retrieved 18 March 2024.
  5. "Mari Yamamoto". The Daily Beast . 18 May 2021. Retrieved 18 March 2024.
  6. Schager, Nick (March 21, 2022). "Pachinko Is Apple TV+'s Stunning Tribute to Korean Women". The Daily Beast . Retrieved 18 March 2024.
  7. Cordero, Rosy (August 18, 2022). "Pachinko Star Mari Yamamoto Boards Apple Series Based On Legendary's Monsterverse Franchise". Deadline Hollywood . Retrieved 18 March 2024.
  8. Lang, Brent (March 5, 2024). "Mari Yamamoto Starring Opposite Brendan Fraser in Searchlight's Rental Family (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety . Retrieved 18 March 2024.