Biography
Tsutomu Yamazaki is a Japanese actor born on 2 December 1936 in Matsudo, Chiba Prefecture. He trained at the Haiyuza Theatre Company and joined Bungakuza in 1959. His film debut came in 1960 in Kihachi Okamoto's Daigaku no sanzôkutachi.
Yamazaki is known for roles in Akira Kurosawa films including High and Low (1963) as Ginjirô Takeuchi, Red Beard (1965) and Kagemusha (1980). Other notable credits include Tampopo (1985), Departures (2008) and Blade of the Immortal (2017). He has appeared in Juzo Itami comedies and the television series Hissatsu Shiokinin.
He received the Elan d'or Award for Newcomer of the Year in 1961 and the Blue Ribbon Award for Best Actor in 1984 for The Funeral and Farewell to the Ark. Yamazaki has been nominated for seven Japanese Academy Awards, winning Best Actor for The Funeral and A Taxing Woman, and Best Supporting Actor for GO (2001) and Departures.
