Masanobu Ando

Masanobu Ando
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is a Japanese actor.
Ando has appeared in films such as Takeshi Kitano's Kids Return (1996), Kinji Fukasaku's Battle Royale (2000), Takashi Miike's Sukiyaki Western Django (2007), and Chen Kaige's Forever Enthralled (2008). He also appears in Tsai Ming-liang's award-winning film No No Sleep (2015), in a series of statically filmed urban scenes without dialogue.
Career
When Masanobu Ando completed school his direction towards a specific career path was not immediately concrete. In 1994 he was approached by a talent scout on the street and was offered an acting role, which began a new journey for Ando and his acting career. Ando's career took off after starring in his first film, Takeshi Kitano's Kids Return (1996), which became one of Kitano's most successful films in Japan. He played the role of Shinji, a high school student who gave up school to pursue boxing with his best friend. Ando became a popular young actor in Japan during the late 1990s, but his career slowed down in the 2000s, when he took fewer roles and was only in one or two films per year. He is most famous in the West for his psychopath-killer role of Kazuo Kiriyama in Kinji Fukusaku's Battle Royale (2000), a blockbuster dystopia film, which managed to be one of the most famous blood and gore films of the decade.
In 1998 he visited Russia to film for a Japanese show, Seinen wa Kouya wo Mezasu, where he travelled from Vladivostok to Khabarovsk along the Trans-Siberian Railway. Ando co-starred in Takashi Miike's Big Bang Love, Juvenile A with Ryuhei Matsuda. He played a supporting role in Shinya Tsukamoto's Nightmare Detective. Ando also appeared in Katsuhito Ishii's Smuggler.
He has taken part in the Toronto Film Festival.
Around 2016, the twentieth anniversary of his entry into the film industry, Ando made a comeback and starred in several films, including Sailor Suit and Machine Gun: Graduation, Gonin Saga, and Sadako vs. Kayako.
Personal life
Ando is married and has two children.
Filmography
Film
Rex: kyoryu monogatari (1993)
Kids Return (1996) - Shinji
Innocent World (1998)
Adrenaline Drive (1999) - Satoru Suzuki
Poppoya (1999) - Toshiyuki Yoshioka
Monday (2000) - Mitsuo Kondo, the dead man
Space Travelers (2000) - Makoto Fujimoto ("Black Cat")
Battle Royale (2000) - Kazuo Kiriyama - otoko 6-ban
Transparent: Tribute to a Sad Genius (2001) - Kenichi Satomi
Red Shadow (2001) - Akakage
Drive (2002) - Kodama Makato
Karaoke Terror (2003) - Sugioka
Tokyo 10+01 (2003) - Fake
Short Films (2003)
Sonic Four: Peace Vibe (2003)
69 (2004) - Tadashi "Adama" Yamada
Black Kiss (2004) - Tatsuo Sorayama
Synesthesia (2005) - Takashi Nohara
Aegis (2005) - Don-chol
Big Bang Love, Juvenile A (2006) - Shiro Kazuki
Green Mind, Metal Bats (2006) - Ishioka
Crickets (2006) - Taichi
Strawberry Shortcakes (2006) - Kikuchi
Nightmare Detective (2006) - Detective Wakamiya
Sakuran (2006) - Seiji
Sukiyaki Western Django (2007) - Yoichi
Forever Enthralled (2008) - Ryuichi Tanaka
The Butcher, the Chef and the Swordsman (2010)
Seediq Bale (2011, part 1, 2) - Genji Kojima, Constable at Tonbara clan
Smuggler (2011) - Spine
R-18 Bungaku-sho Vol.1: Jijojibaku no Watashi (2013) - Yamura
Petal Dance (2013) - Naoto
No No Sleep (2015, Short)
Gonin Saga (2015) - Seiji Shikine
Le coeur régulier (2016) - Jiro
Sadako vs. Kayako (2016) - Spiritual Medium Kyozo
Kashin (2016) - Yasunori Ochi
Sailor Suit and Machine Gun: Graduation (2016) - Hajime Gakuto
Still Life of Memories (2018) - Haruma
Lenses on Her Heart (2018) - Yuji Kiba
Code Blue the Movie (2018) - Hiroki Shinkai
Day and Night (2019) - Kenichi Kitamura
The Fable: The Killer Who Doesn't Kill (2021) - Suzuki
Zokki (2021)
Rurouni Kenshin: The Beginning (2021) - Takasugi Shinsaku
The Setting Sun (2022) - Jiro Uehara
My Brother, The Android and Me (2022)
Thousand and One Nights (2022), Yōji
Rohan at the Louvre (2023), Ryūnosuke Tatsumi
Television
My Friend's Lover (1997) - Tomoya Kashiwagi
When the Saints Go Marching In (1998) - Ren Takahara
Blue Days (1998) - Juri Sawaki
Seinen wa Kouya o Mezasu (1999, TV Movie) - Jun
Gakko no Kaidan: Haru no Noroi Special (2000, TV Movie) - Satô (segment "Kyôfu shinrigaku nyûmon")
Higashino Keigo Mysteries (2012) - Bito Shigehisa / Akiyama Yuichi
Code Blue (2017)
Your Turn to Kill (2019)
Awaiting Kirin (2020–21) - Shibata Katsuie
Ship of Theseus (2020)
The Sun Stands Still: The Eclipse (2020)
Fishbowl Wives (2022) - Takuya
Awards
1996: Hochi Film Award – Newcomer Award (Kids Return)
1996: Golden Arrow Award – Newcomer Award (film) (Kids Return)
1996: Nikkan Sports Film Award – Best Newcomer (Kids Return)
1996: Japanese Movie Critics Awards – Best Newcomer (Kids Return)
1996: Kinema Junpo Award – Best New Actor (Kids Return)
1997: Japan Academy Prize – Newcomer of the Year (Kids Return)
1997: Mainichi Film Awards – New Talent Award (Kids Return)
1997: Tokyo Sports Film Award – Best Newcomer (Kids Return)
1997: Yokohama Film Festival – Best New Talent (Kids Return)
References
External links
Official website
1975 births
Living people
People from Kawasaki, Kanagawa
Japanese male television actors
20th-century Japanese male actors
21st-century Japanese male actors
Japanese male film actors
Former Stardust Promotion artists