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Rie Miyazawa

Acting Born Apr 6, 1973 Tokyo, Japan 24 credits

Biography

Rie Miyazawa is a Japanese actress and former teen idol. She is regarded as one of Japan's top actresses, and her accolades include six Japan Academy Film Prizes and three Kinema Junpo Awards

Miyazawa began her career as a child model, seeing wide exposure as the original face of Mitsui Rehouse, and made her acting debut in the 1988 film Seven Day's War, for which she won the Japan Academy Award for Newcomer of the Year at age sixteen. Her short-lived music career began with the single "Dream Rush" in 1989, and the next year she performed at the prestigious Kōhaku Uta Gassen television special.

Miyazawa quickly rose to prominence as one of the top idols of the early Heisei period, attracting controversy for her 1991 nude photography book Santa Fe, which moved 1.5 million copies. Her personal struggles were further scrutinized, including a high-profile engagement to sumo wrestler Takanohana, a suicide attempt and battle with anorexia nervosa. By 1996, she went into hiatus and briefly resettled in San Diego.

She took on a few television drama roles in the late 1990s, and returned to the big screen in the Taiwanese films The Cabbie (2000) and Peony Pavilion (2001). She co-starred in the highly-acclaimed 2002 film The Twilight Samurai, which marked a full-fledged comeback for Miyazawa and remains as her most recognizable role both domestically and internationally. She saw further success in The Face of Jizo and Tony Takitani (2004), and received several accolades for Pale Moon (2014) and Her Love Boils Bathwater (2016).

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Known for

The Naked Director

as Etsuko Takamiya

Musashi

as Oshino

Full filmography

  • The Naked Director (2019) as Etsuko Takamiya
  • SMAP×SMAP (1996) as Bistro Guest
  • Byplayers: 100 Days in the Forest of Supporting Actors (2021)
  • The 13 Lords of the Shogun (2022) as Maki no kata
  • Guilty Flag (2021)
  • Blackboard (2012) as Hisako Shirahama
  • Blackboard (2012) as Shirahama Hisako
  • Musashi (2003) as Oshino
  • Asura (2025) as Tsunako
  • Princess Go (2011)
  • Princess Go (2011) as Chacha/Yododono
  • Gu Gu the Cat (2014) as Asako Kojima
  • Leaders (2014)
  • Human Specimens (2025) as Rumi Ichinose
  • FM999: 999 WOMEN'S SONGS (2021) as Eve (The First Woman)
  • Genroku Ryoran (1999) as Aguri
  • Phoenix: Eden17 (2023) as Romi (voice)
  • Tokyo Elevator Girl (1992)
  • Saiyūki (1993) as 三藏法师
  • Concerto (1996)
  • Food Fight (2000) as Miyazono Saeka
  • Precious Time (1998) as Lisa Takimura
  • North Light (2020)
  • Tears of a Swan (1989) as Mika Hazuki