Kuranosuke Sasaki

Kuranosuke Sasaki (佐々木 蔵之介, Sasaki Kuranosuke, born February 4, 1968; real name Hideaki Sasaki 佐々木秀明, Sasaki Hideaki) is a Japanese actor, known primarily for his roles in Japanese television drama.

Kuranosuke Sasaki
佐々木 蔵之介
Sasaki in 2023
Born	Hideaki Sasaki (1968-02-04) February 4, 1968 (age 57) Kyoto, Japan
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1990–present
Website	www.k-factory.net/profiles/kuranosuke-sasaki

Biography

He was born into a family of a sake brewery in Kyoto, Japan. After graduating from Kobe University and resigning from an advertising agency, he played an active part in a Japanese theatrical group called "Planet Pistachio," as a stage actor, from 1990 to 1998.^{[citation needed]}

He later extended the range of activities to TV dramas and movies, and has played important roles in many works in Japan. He made his film debut starring in Mamiya Kyodai in 2006, and his TV series debut starring in Gira Gira in 2008.^{[citation needed]}

When Sasaki was a freshman and received a phone call from his college company to decide on a stage name, his father suggested the name Kuranosuke, with a double meaning; for Kura, a sake cellar/brewery for their sake brewery, and for Ōuchi Kuranosuke, a famous historical drama role.^[1]

Sasaki's initial plan was to join the family business of sake brewing as the eldest son when he graduated from college. Learning sales strategy at an advertisement company was also part of his plan.^[1]

His family was not supportive when he aspired to be an actor, until he played a part in Audrey (NHK, 2000). His father sold sake named "Audrey", and then a premium junmai sake Hancho for a limited period while the TV drama was aired; Kuranosuke played a lead in Hancho.^[2]

Selected filmography

TV series

Year	Title	Role	Note	Ref
2000	Audrey	Kohtaro Miki	Asadora	[3]
2001	Handoku!!!	Makoto Takano
2003	Bijo ka Yajū	Hiroshi Kobukuro
	The Great White Tower	Yūta Takeuchi
2004	Last Present	Satoshi Oda
2004–05	Rikon Bengoshi	Toshifumi Yanagida	2 seasons
2005	Roomshare no Onna	Shūhei Sugita
	M no Higeki	Akira Kubo
	Kon-ya hitori no bed de	Shunsuke Kuzumi
2006	Shimokita Sundays	Tsubasa Akutagawa
	Boku no aruku michi	Hideharu Ohtake
2006–14	Team Medical Dragon	Keisuke Fujiyoshi	4 seasons
2007	Fūrin Kazan	Sanada Yukitaka	Taiga drama	[3]
	Bambino!	Atsushi Kuwabara
2008	Saitō-san	Tōru Mano
	Shikaotoko Awaniyoshi	Shigehisa Fukuhara
	Absolute Boyfriend	Gaku Namikiri
	Monster Parent	Keigo Miura
	Gira Gira	Kōhei Nanase	Lead role
2009	Triangle	Ryō Akimoto
	Orthros no Inu	Takayuki Sawamura
	The Waste Land	Seiki Akitsu		[4]
	Challenged	Keiichirō Hanawa	Lead role	[3]
2009–13	Hanchō	Tsuyoshi Adumi	Lead role; 6 seasons
2010	Himitsu	Heisuke Sugita
2011	Boku to Star no 99 Nichi	Yamato Takanabe
2016	Kaitō Yamaneko	Shūgo Sekimoto		[5]
2017	Hiyokko	Shogo Makino	Asadora	[3]
2019	Ieyasu, Edo wo Tateru	Ōkubo Tadayuki	Miniseries	[3]
	Sherlock: Untold Stories	Reiji Etō		[6]
2020	The Man Who Stood for Autonomy of Japan: Prime Minister Yoshida Shigeru	Hayato Ikeda	TV movie
2020–21	Awaiting Kirin	Hashiba Hideyoshi	Taiga drama	[7]
2023	My Home Hero	Tetsuo Tosu	Lead role	[8]
2024	Dear Radiance	Fujiwara no Nobutaka	Taiga drama	[9]

Movies

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref
2003	Bayside Shakedown 2
	Densha Otoko	Hisashi
2005	Summer Time Machine Blues	Kōtarō Hoseki
2006	Kenchō no hoshi	Keita Sakurai
	Mamiya kyodai	Akinobu Mamiya	Lead role
	Rainbow Song	Shinsuke Higuchi
2007	Tsukigami	Sahei Bessho
	Tsubaki Sanjūrō	Kimura
2008	700 Days of Battle: Us vs. the Police	Chūzai-san
	After School	Masayuki Kitazawa
	20th Century Boys : Beginning of the End	Fukubē
2009	20th Century Boys 2 : The Last Hope	Fukubē
	20th Century Boys 3 : Redemption	Fukubē
	Daremo mamotte kurenai	Kōji Umezawa
2010	Ōoku	Fujinami
2011	Gaku	Masato Noda
2013	A Boy Called H
2014	Samurai Hustle	Masaatsu Naito	Lead role	[10]
2015	Solomon's Perjury 1: Suspicion	Fujino
	Solomon's Perjury 2: Judgment	Fujino
	Till Death Do Us What?	Kōta Shimizu	Lead role	[11]
2016	The Inerasable	Yoshiaki Hiraoka
	Samurai Hustle Returns	Masaatsu Naito	Lead role	[12]
2017	Flower and Sword	Maeda Toshiie
	March Comes in Like a Lion	Kai Shimada
	Hamon: Yakuza Boogie	Yasuhiko Kuwabara	Lead role
	A Beautiful Star	Katsumi Kuroki
2018	We Make Antiques!	Sasuke Noda	Lead role	[13]
	Recall	Hirohisa Aizawa
2019	Aircraft Carrier Ibuki	Toshiya Niinami	Lead role
	Iwane: Sword of Serenity	Sasaki Reien
	We Are Little Zombies
	One Night	Michio Dōshita
2020	The Memory Eraser	Takahara
	We Make Antiques! Kyoto Rendezvous	Sasuke Noda	Lead role	[13]
2021	The Woman of S.R.I. The Movie	Wataru Kagano		[14]
	Akira Shimada	Narrator	Documentary	[15]
2022	The Pass: Last Days of the Samurai	Koyama Ryōun		[16]
	Homestay	Osamu Kobayashi		[17]
	The Hound of the Baskervilles: Sherlock the Movie	Reiji Etō		[18]
2023	We Make Antiques! Osaka Dreams	Sasuke Noda	Lead role	[13]
	Shylock's Children	Michiharu Kuroda		[19]
	Godzilla Minus One	Akitsu		[20]
2024	My Home Hero: The Movie	Tetsuo Tosu	Lead role	[8]
2026	Bakumatsu Hippocrates-tachi		Lead role	[21]
TBA	Emergency Interrogation Room: The Final	Hiromichi Morishita		[22]

Awards

• 2015 the 38th Japan Academy Prize (film award) - the Best Actor, Samurai Hustle^[23]

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Television

• 2016 Suntory non-alcohol beverage^[24]
• 2016 Kansai Electric Power Company^[25]