Personal Info
Birth date
1965-12-21 (59 Years)
Gender
Male
Known for
Acting
Place of birth
-
Also known as
本木 雅弘
Motoki Masahiro
모토키 마사히로
Masahiro Motoki
Biography
Masahiro Motoki (本木雅弘 Motoki Masahiro, born December 21, 1965 in Okegawa, Japan) is a Japanese actor. He portrayed protagonist Daigo Kobayashi in Departures, which won the 81st Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film. His performance earned him the Award for Best Actor at the 2009 Asia Pacific Screen Awards, at the 3rd Asian Film Awards and at the 32nd Japan Academy Prize.
Filmography
Giri/Haji
7.442
Overview:
Soulful thriller set in Tokyo and London, exploring the butterfly effect of a single murder across two cities. A dark, witty and daring examination of morality and redemption.Awaiting Kirin
8.4
Overview:
After the Onin War, the world is plunged into chaos. Amid this situation, heroes of the warring states begin to emerge in an attempt to unify the country and rule in these turbulent times. In the mid-1540s, there is a young wandering samurai in Mino which is strategically located between the East and West. His name is Akechi Mitsuhide. At this time, there is plenty of internal strife within the Toki clan which rules Mino. Surrounded by the Oda of Owari, the Imagawa of Suruga and the Asakura of Echizen, Mino has constantly faced the risk of invasion. Mitsuhide is pulled into battle and destroys the enemy. His bravery as well as stratagem catches the attention of Saito Toshimasa, the chief retainer of the Toki clan, and he is singled out. This man who is also known as Saito Dosan will go on to takeover the Toki and make Mino his own.Asura
7.9
Overview:
In 1979 Tokyo, four distinct sisters uncover their aging father's affair, causing their happy facades and bottled-up emotions to slowly unravel.The Only One I Can't See
7
Overview:
A private lawyer (Hiroshi Mikami) who is infatuated with the widow of the Mamiya conglomerate (Emi Shindo) and aims for her inheritance. But he had multiple personalities. One day, university student Kawashima Megumi is mistaken for her older sister, Maiko. She is given a key to a coin locker, and finds inside the diary of Maiko's real father, a zaibatsu leader. Using her sister's name, Megumi gets close to the widow of the zaibatsu leader.Dakishimetai!
NYR
Overview:
Asako Ikeuchi and Natsuko Hayakawa have been close friends for more than 25 years. Natsuko's husband Keisuke had affairs, so she asks Asako to let her stay at her house. Keisuke was once Asako's boyfriend. They will soon be 30 years old. There are other nice guys around Asako. It's a drama about their love and friendship.Clouds Over the Hill
8.1
Overview:
Saka no Ue no Kumo is an NHK 21st Century special drama which was aired over three years starting from November 29, 2009. The series runs 13 episodes at 90 minutes each. The first series, with 5 episodes, was broadcast in 2009, while series two and three, each with 4 episodes, were broadcast in late 2010 and 2011. While most episodes were shot in Japan, one of the episodes in series two was shot in Latvia. The TV series is based on the novel Saka no ue no kumo by Ryōtarō Shiba and adopted by Hisashi Nozawa. The theme song of the drama series is titled "Stand Alone". It was composed by Joe Hisaishi, written by Kundo Koyama and performed by British soprano singer Sarah Brightman.Kimi to Deatte kara
NYR
Overview:
The drama is about a cold-hearted corporate warrior who is involved in a car accident, and how he and the woman who loves him so earnestly struggle with the aftermath of the accident and regain the love in their twisted hearts.White Love Story
NYR
Overview:
A tale of one-sided love. Kurumi works in a travel agency; she falls in love with Kousuke after an accidental meeting on a train. Kousuke is a skiing ace; he is still in love with Noriko, a classmate from college. Noriko is trapped by her hopeless love for a married man. Kurumi follows Kousuke and his friends on a skiing trip to snowy Hokkaido. What can unravel this tangled web of one-sided love? -- Fuji Creative (Source: DramaWiki)The Neighbours Are Secretly Laughing
NYR
Overview:
The story starts with a serial killer, whose victims are lone women and acts are perpetrated in Mizuno Maki's neighborhood (it is suggested that Motoki is this serial killer). Motoki is a police officer with 2 faces: he has an obsession for housewife Maki and is very gentle with her, and on the other side he rapes & tortures one of her friend, Kanda Uno. His ultimate goal seems to make Maki fall in love with him: so he uses her friend Uno to affect her relationship with her husband & he gradually introduces himself into her life. Another person is also obsessed with Maki (she is a sort of public personality as she runs a cooking club with other housewives and appears in magazines), harassing her all the time on the phone, spying on her, etc...: this person is close to her as he knows things from her past (her son drowned in an accident). Motoki also had an ordeal in his past: his mother was killed in a fire, by her lover.Man of Destiny
NYR
Overview:
A newspaper reporter (Masahiro Motoki) uncovers a secret "Okinawa pact" between the Japanese and U.S. government. A woman who is the deputy director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs becomes a key figure in the story.Touch
7.475
Overview:
Soon after the break of the pandemic and realizing that his clock is ticking, Kristofer gets the urge to embark on a journey to try to find out what really happened when his Japanese girlfriend mysteriously vanished without a trace from London fifty years earlier.Departures
7.8
Overview:
Daigo, a cellist, is laid off from his orchestra and moves with his wife back to his small hometown where the living is cheaper. Thinking he’s applying for a job at a travel agency he finds he’s being interviewed for work with departures of a more permanent nature – as an undertaker’s assistant.Tekkonkinkreet
7.4
Overview:
Two penniless orphans, Black and White, struggle to survive on the mean streets of Treasure Town. When a megacorporation threatens to tear down the town to build an amusement park, Black and White engage in the fight of their life.Shall We Dance?
7.3
Overview:
A bored accountant spots a beautiful woman in the window of a ballroom dance studio. He secretly starts taking dancing lessons to be near her, and then over time discovers how much he loves dancing. His wife, meanwhile, has hired a private detective to find out why he has started coming home late smelling of perfume.Prince Shotoku
6
Overview:
In the late 6th century the leaders of the Yamato Dynasty had no clear plan for the creation of a unified state. Battles still raged among various warrior clans. Shotoku Taishi, second son of Emperor Yomei, strived to create a new nation out of this chaos. NHK captures this great man from a time in history rarely depicted on screen, in a story of epic proportions. Shotoku Taishi is known mainly through legends and myths and has been viewed as more god than man. The elaborate and colorful costumes of the time and the beauty of ancient Japan enhance this fascinating historical drama.The Bird People in China
7.186
Overview:
Wada, a salary man, is enlisted to venture off to China to investigate a potential Jade mine. After his arrival, Wada encounters a violent, yet sentimental, yakuza, who takes the liberty of joining his adventure through China. Led on their long and disastrous journey to the mine by Shen, the three men come across something even more magical and enticing.Gonin
6.621
Overview:
Five men plot to steal a large sum of money from the local yakuza, but everything does not go as planned and the men find themselves hunted down by contract killers.On the Single Bed Tonight
NYR
Overview:
Tomonaga Akiyuki and his wife Yu have been married seven years. Akiyuki is a graphic designer, and is quite happy in his work and private life. One day, he attends the wedding of his younger half-brother Ichinose Ryo. However, Ryo runs off with a young woman who appears at the wedding, leaving the bride Jumonji Azusa at the altar. Akiyuki bows his head and apologizes to Jumonji, and this is the prelude to a growing intimacy between them. Is it love, or is Jumonji after revenge? And what do Yu and Ryo think as they become aware of this relationship? Akiyuki and Yu, it seems, are headed for divorce. Further complications arise for Akiyuki and Yu when Akiyuki’s close friend Shunsuke and lawyer Reiko, advising on divorce, get involved.Gemini
6.6
Overview:
When his mother's untimely death quickly follows his father's, a doctor begins to believe a killer may be targeting him and his amnesiac wife.The Long Excuse
6.7
Overview:
A recently widowed writer whose wife died in a bus crash comes to terms with his grief—or lack of it—in caring for the children of a working man who also lost his wife in the same accident.Sumo Do, Sumo Don't
6.6
Overview:
A college senior, Shuhei, is blackmailed by a professor into joining the school's sumo team. He is aided by a group of misfits who must team together to defeat their rivals or face disgrace and the disbandment of the sumo club.The Emperor in August
6.3
Overview:
In July 1945, during the end of World War II, Japan is forced to accept the Potsdam Declaration. A cabinet meeting has continued through days and nights, but a decision cannot be made. The U.S. drops atomic bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. General Korechika Anami is torn over making the proper decision and the Emperor of Japan worries about his people. Prime Minister Kantaro Suzuki leads the cabinet meeting, while Chief Secretary Hisatsune Sakomizu can't do anything, but watch the meeting. At this time, Major Kenji Hatanaka and other young commissioned officers, who are against Japan surrendering, move to occupy the palace and a radio broadcasting station. The radio station is set to broadcast Emperor Hirohito reading out the Imperial Rescript on the Termination of the War.The Longest Night in Shanghai
6.227
Overview:
A successful Japanese make-up artist collides with a tough-talking Shanghai taxi driver in this romantic dramedy that twists traditional roles by making the beauty expert a male and the cab driver a feisty female. Although he works in a glamorous industry, Naoki Mizushima can't help but notice that his life is anything but beautiful. Can the uncouth Lin Xi help him make over his life for the better?Prince of Happiness
NYR
Overview:
This is the tragic love story of Shuhei and Umi. Shuhei is the only surviving son of a hospital director. He loves to play the piano as accompaniment to Umi's cello. Umi is the only daughter of a couple who own a little restaurant. As she is a great cellist, Umi obtained a scholarship to attend a famous music school in Austria. While Shuhei dreams of going to Austria with her, being the sole heir in his family, he has to take up medicine to become a doctor. Ryosuke is Shuhei's best friend, but he secretly covets Umi for himself. On graduation day, Ryosuke purposely lied to the young lovers, causing them to miss meeting each other. On her way home, Umi was knocked over by a truck, and lost the full mobility to her fingers, dashing her dream of becoming a cellist. Shuhei meanwhile, thinks that Umi had given up on him, and left for Austria.Spy Sorge
7.5
Overview:
A foreign spy using the Sorge alias is assigned to Tokyo the capital of Japan just prior to the outbreak of World War II and in the midst of the Japanese imperial ambitions in Eastern Asia. The spy becomes acquainted with a sympathetic communist who like he is attached to the ideals of freedom and rule of the masses. Sorge is able to feed the Soviet Union useful information regarding the Axis allies and their movements in Asia and beyond.The Big Bee
5.714
Overview:
Set in 1995. A helicopter, operated remotely, is hovering in the sky over a nuclear power plant. The power company, prefectural government and media all receive a fax. The fax contains a threat that if the nuclear power plant is not taken offline the helicopter will be dropped. 8 hours is given as the deadline. Making the situation even more dire, a young child is in the helicopter.Acting
2025Hachigatsu no Koe wo Erabu Otoko as Unknown
2025Asura (7 Episodes) as Takao Satomi
2024Silence of the Sea as Ryuji Tsuyama
2024Touch as Takahashi
2022The Works and Days (of Tayoko Shiojiri in the Shiotani Basin) as Neighbour
2022小泉今日子４０周年スペシャル as Unknown
2021Ryuukou Kanbou as Unknown
2020Awaiting Kirin (44 Episodes) as Saitou Toshimasa / Saito Dousan [the "Viper of Mino"]
2019Giri/Haji (8 Episodes) as Fukuhara
2016The Long Excuse as Sachio Kinugasa
2015The Big Bee as Mishima
2015The Emperor in August as Emperor Showa
2012Man of Destiny (10 Episodes) as Ryota Yuminari
2010MIRACLE GIRLS: Neva-da Stop Dreaming as Unknown
2009Making of "Departures" as Himself
2009Clouds Over the Hill (13 Episodes) as 秋山真之
2008Departures as Daigo Kobayashi
2007The Longest Night in Shanghai as Naoki Mizushima
2006Tekkonkinkreet as Snake (voice)
2005On the Single Bed Tonight (10 Episodes) as Tomonaga Akiyuki
2005Natsumeke no Shokutaku (1 Episode) as Unknown
2003Prince of Happiness (11 Episodes) as Narukawa Shuhei
2003Spy Sorge as Hidemi Ozaki
2003Ganryujima as Musashi Miyamoto
2001Prince Shōtoku as Unknown
2001Prince Shotoku (2 Episodes) as Umayado no ouji
2001A Wednesday Love Affair (11 Episodes) as Eiichiro Sakura
2000Making of Gemini as Self
2000Black Jack as Black Jack
1999The Neighbours Are Secretly Laughing (10 Episodes) as Takagi Koichi
1999Gemini as Yukio Daitokuji
1998The Bird People in China as Wada
1996Kimi to Deatte kara (13 Episodes) as Unknown
1996Tokiwa: The Manga Apartment as Hiroo Terada
1996Shall We Dance? as Hiromasa Kimoto
1995Gonin as Junichi Mitsuya
1995The Mystery of Rampo as Kogoro Akechi
1995White Love Story (11 Episodes) as Aoki Kosuke
1994Last Song as Shukichi Yasumi
1994Anata Dake Mienai (11 Episodes) as Unknown
1993Saiyūki as 孙悟空
1992My Santa Boy as Unknown
1992Dioxin from Fish! as Kenji
1992Sumo Do, Sumo Don't as Shuhei Yamamoto
1992The Only One I Can't See (11 Episodes) as 山根光彦
1991Nowhere Man as Unknown
1991Playtime Never Ends as Hirata
1991Tales of the Bizarre: Vol. 2 as Unknown
1991Heat Wave as Ichitaro Kosugi
1991Mamatte Kirei!? (10 Episodes) as Unknown
1990Yonimo Kimyou na Monogatari Tokubetsuhen (5 Episodes) as Unknown
1990Balloon as Unknown
1990Koi no Paradise (12 Episodes) as Unknown
1989Fancy Dance as Shiono Yohei
1989Raffles Hotel as Takeo Youki
1989Beppin Town as Shuji Sayama
1989Four Days of Snow and Blood as Hisashi Kono
1988Dakishimetai! (12 Episodes) as Unknown
1985Barrow Gang BC as Unknown
1983Headphone Lullaby as Rei Kazama
1982Highschool Scramble as Unknown
1982Come On Girls! as Daisuke