Contents
Takeshi Kitano
Hana-bi, Sonatine and a career spanning crime films, comedy and Takeshi’s Castle.
Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence · Sonatine
- Born
- 18 January 1947
- Birthplace
- Tokyo, Japan
More people
Takeshi Kitano
Takeshi Kitano became a television star as Beat Takeshi before gaining international recognition as an actor and director of spare, often violent films.
Early life
Working-class Tokyo
Grew up in Adachi with a father who worked as a house painter.
Comedy apprenticeship
Left engineering studies and learned performance from Senzaburo Fukami in Asakusa.
Career
- 1970s
Two Beat
Built a successful comedy duo with Beat Kiyoshi.
- 1980s
Television fame
Became a major entertainer and appeared in Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence.
- 1989
Directing debut
Took over the direction of Violent Cop.
- 1990s onward
International cinema
Sonatine and Hana-bi established his filmmaking reputation abroad.
Selected work
Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence
Played Sergeant Hara in the wartime drama.
Sonatine
Directed and starred in a story of gangsters waiting between outbreaks of violence.
Hana-bi
A former policeman faces debt, illness and the consequences of violence.
Beyond work
Painting
Took up painting during recovery from a 1994 motorcycle accident; his pictures appear in Hana-bi.
Writing
Has published fiction and essays alongside his screen career.
Sources & photo credit
Life, career and references ↗Venice Film Festival history ↗Photo: Dick Thomas Johnson from Tokyo, Japan. CC BY 2.0 · Original image. Cropped and displayed in monochrome.
