Machiko Kyō

Machiko Kyō
Kyō in 1959
Native name 京 マチ子
Born (1924-03-25) March 25, 1924
Osaka, Japan
Occupation Actress
Years active 1936–2006

Machiko Kyō (Japanese: 京 マチ子, Hepburn: Kyō Machiko); born March 25, 1924) is a Japanese actress who was active primarily in the 1950s.

Life and career

Kyō, an only child, was born Yano Motoko in Osaka in 1924. Her father left when she was 5 and she was raised by her mother and grandmother. She adopted Machiko Kyō as her stage name when she entered the Osaka Shochiku Kagekidan in 1936 at age 12. She trained as a revue dancer before entering the film industry through Daiei in 1949. Two years later, she achieved international fame as the female lead in Akira Kurosawa's film Rashomon, which won first prize at the Venice Film Festival and stunned audiences with its nonlinear narrative. She went on to star in many more Japanese productions, most notably Kenji Mizoguchi's Ugetsu (1953), Kon Ichikawa's Odd Obsession (1959), and Yasujirō Ozu's Floating Weeds (1959).

Her sole role in a non-Japanese film was as the young geisha Lotus Blossom in The Teahouse of the August Moon opposite Marlon Brando and Glenn Ford, for which she received a Golden Globe nomination.

Kyō continued to act through her 80's. Her final role was as "Matsuura Shino" in the NHK television drama series Haregi Koko Ichiban in 2000. In 2017 she was presented with an award of merit at the 40th Japanese Academy Awards.[1] After retiring from film, she moved back to Osaka, where she still resides.

Kyō never married, although her romantic relationship with Daiei's president Masaichi Nagata was well-publicized in her native country.

Selected filmography

Films

Television

Honours

References

  1. ↑ "会長特別賞". Japan Academy Film Prize. Japan Academy Film Prize. Retrieved 30 January 2017.
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